I've had this grand idea of creating a "super route" across the various mountain ranges in California. And with the various Backcountry Discovery Trails across Northern California, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to leverage that fantastic network of trails while extending it further south into the Central Sierra and Basin Ranges near Mono Lake. As of today, the vast majority of the route is verified from Tahoe National Forest all the way to Mendocino. It's the portion that goes through El Dorado and the Sweetwater Mountains north of Mono Lake that we need to verify. My initial research indicates that we should be able to create a route south of Tahoe NF, but we need some boots on the ground to confirm the entire trail is indeed drivable by a 4 wheel drive vehicle!
The Route
When all is said and down, the route will traverse nearly 1,500 miles through the Basin Ranges, Central and Northern Sierra, Southern Cascades, Klamath Mountains and the Coast Ranges. Approximately 1,000 miles of the route is dirt, while the remaining 1/3 is a mix of connecting backcountry roads and some highways. The route relies on verified routes (with some edits as well) that include the CA Backcountry Discovery Trails for Tahoe, Plumas, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, Six Rivers, and Mendocino along with some added dirt to connect Mendocino NF to the coastal town of Mendocino.
We'll make the GPX for the route free, but the paid version will include all of the POIs/Waypoints along the way.
Plotting the Remaining Route
At this time we just need to verify the planned route through El Dorado NF and through the Sweetwater Mountains near Bodie Ghost Town. I'm hoping to make it down there before summer's over and will post a trail run event with limited spots if anyone wants to join (just need to figure out dates first.
Here's a sneak peak of the Sweetwater section that tops out at nearly 12k feet-- looks rad, right?
The Route
When all is said and down, the route will traverse nearly 1,500 miles through the Basin Ranges, Central and Northern Sierra, Southern Cascades, Klamath Mountains and the Coast Ranges. Approximately 1,000 miles of the route is dirt, while the remaining 1/3 is a mix of connecting backcountry roads and some highways. The route relies on verified routes (with some edits as well) that include the CA Backcountry Discovery Trails for Tahoe, Plumas, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, Six Rivers, and Mendocino along with some added dirt to connect Mendocino NF to the coastal town of Mendocino.
We'll make the GPX for the route free, but the paid version will include all of the POIs/Waypoints along the way.
Plotting the Remaining Route
At this time we just need to verify the planned route through El Dorado NF and through the Sweetwater Mountains near Bodie Ghost Town. I'm hoping to make it down there before summer's over and will post a trail run event with limited spots if anyone wants to join (just need to figure out dates first.
Here's a sneak peak of the Sweetwater section that tops out at nearly 12k feet-- looks rad, right?