Trail Report: Niagara Rim, and the trip after Fordyce

[Mike]

After Dirtman13 (Chuck), Rat Patrol (Kurt), and I ran the Fordyce Creek trail, the adventure continued. We solidified our plans each day for the next day's events. It was nice to have a flexible plan.

We ended up going to Topaz Lake, the Sonora Pass, running Niagara Rim Trail, camping at Twin Lakes, and fishing the Owens River before heading home.

Leaving the Fordyce Creek area, we took the road around Lake Tahoe; a beautiful drive:


We then dropped down on the NV side of the range and headed down US 395 to Topaz Lake:


The fishing was not good on the lake, but the swimming and playing most definitely was:


Thursday morning we headed to the Niagara Rim trail. To get there from Topaz Lake, we had to go up and over the Sonora Pass. Given that we were all towing, this was an adventure all by itself. Essentially, we had to cross this mountain range:


While climbing the 26% grades in places, we joined the first annual MJR cattle drive:


100 head of cattle were being driven up to the high pass meadows:


Needless to say, we all had to clean cow poop off the vehicles by the time that we got past them.

The Sonora Pass is loaded with spectacular views. It was tough to get pics of them though due to the steep and curvy road. Here are some of my shots:




Avalanche damage:




We made it to the Niagara Rim OHV Campground around lunchtime. We set up camp and headed to the trail:


To be continued.....

[Mike]

Niagara Rim Trail

The Niagara Rim Trail is well marked for the most part once you are on it. Most all intersections and obstacles are marked. The first obstacle is No Way Out Hill:


While climbing this hill, Chuck almost found a way out that wasn't planned for:


On a narrow, loose, and slightly off-camber section near the top, a bad bounce off of a rock outcropping put him on the very edge of the trail. Everytime the vehicle moved forwards or backwards, the front tires slid sideways towards the drop off. We used winches to ensure proper traction and he drove out of it.

Immediately at the top, Hard Brake Hill begins. This is a steep, loose dirt descent that has a rock crawl point in the middle of the drop, just to add some spice:






The trail has some easy to moderate stretches between obstacles. The next named obstacle was Sidewall Suicide:


This lava rock drop off can be tricky:


The stretches of road beteen the obstacles are loaded with great vistas:


Next we reached a big play area called the Lion's Butt. Lot's of moab-like rock and loads of traction. Chuck broke a U-joint playing on one of the toughest lines. It is the only area that was not clearly marked for continuing the trail. Head west downhill to get to the next obstacle: The Rockpile:


This is an optional obstacle. I was the first to tackle it:




I stopped at the top to wait for the others:


Meanwhile, Chuck, who wasn't going to bother with fixing his u-joint until we got back, changed his mind:


I'm glad that he did, the Rockpile is a fun play area. After the repair, Kurt was next up the Rockpile:




Then Chuck:




The obstacle is designed to be a loop. After climbing the Rockpile, you are supposed to follow the red arrows down a series of granite ledges:


It gets a little spooky in a couple of spots:


But this is the one that had me the most concerned:


Kurt and Chuck were coming down after me:


So Kurt attached a winch line to me as security, and I drove down the steep drop:


Kurt and Chuck climbed back up and took the Rockpile path back down:




From there we climbed to a nice vista point over the Sonora Hwy:


The rest of the trail was a series of hill climbs and descents that definitely kept my attention. Once back to the main roads, we headed back to camp and had a killer pasta dinner.

To be continued....

[Mike]

To Twin Lakes and Home

The night at Niagara Rim was the coldest that we experienced. But we woke to a beautiful day. We decided to drive the Jeeps over the Sonora Pass instead of towing, so we split up the drivers and headed back up to the Pass. This made it much easier for me to snap some pics on the trip:


The truck shows downhill, but this was an uphill climb on this side. There is a 26% grade on both sides of the pass:


I was able to snap several shots along the way. Here are just a few:






Finally, we made it back down to more level ground:


We were going to do some fishing in the West Walker River but when we stopped everyone was saying that the fish weren't biting. We decided to head to Twin Lakes instead. I have always thought that this stretch of mountains was really pretty from the 395:


I didn't know that this same range towers over the Twin Lakes area. It was a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, but I was the only one to have any luck fishing:


We found a campground that would accomodate all of us, but within minutes of setting up, we were being warned that a bear comes through the campsite every night.

I hope that Chuck and Kurt tell this story, because other than visit from the deer in camp, I slept through the two bear visits to camp. But in the morning, I did find this print:


The morning also found deer wandering through camp again:


I did a little fishing along the Robinson Creek but the only thing I caught were some amazing views of the mountains:


On the way home, we stopped along the Owens River at one of Kurt's favorite fishing spots:


Where true to his normal luck, he caught a nice trout:


This was another great trip with great friends. There are other stories from this week that I am sure will get shared soon. But for me, this was a very relaxing time. It's going to be hard to go back to work. Oh well, at least I have lot's of pics and video to re-live it by, and good friends to re-hash it with!

[FishPOET]

Awesome pictures and trip report. Thanks for sharing.

[50yj]

Pictures don't describe how awesome the scenery is. Driving the sonoran pass makes it difficult to concentrate on the road. Hard brake hill is scary. Good to see you guys were able to finish the trail.

[JeepGal]

So Beautiful!!! What a nice trip

Tam

[HookandLadder]

Did you tow up and down the Sonora Pass? Looks like another fun trip...wanna repeat it next year....with a baby as co pilot in my jeep!

[Mitch]

Mike,

Awesome pictures as usual. Looks like another incredible adventure.

[Mike]

Did you tow up and down the Sonora Pass? Looks like another fun trip...wanna repeat it next year....with a baby as co pilot in my jeep!

We all towed into the trail (up and over the pass), but we drove the Jeeps with the trailers empty on the way back to the 395. Chuck and I overheated the brakes on the way in, so we were reluctant to try it again on the way out. I did learn a lot about how to handle my truck on the steep roads though. And the diesel had no issues climbing the steep stuff while towing.

[Roger]

"Like"

[Mike]

A little late in posting, but here is a video of our Niagara Rim run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS2zyAQnAqM

[curtis]

Nice Video Mike. How was it going down the rockpile after the mishap at HC? To me its a real rush for about 6 months. I mean some real pucker, but it just don't git no better.LOL I do dislike steep drop offs. Only rolled a jeep once going up hill.

[dirtman13]

Great video Mike. The video sure doesn't give the full effect of that drop.

[Mike]

Nice Video Mike. How was it going down the rockpile after the mishap at HC? To me its a real rush for about 6 months. I mean some real pucker, but it just don't git no better.LOL I do dislike steep drop offs. Only rolled a jeep once going up hill.

I'm still fighting the panic. Fordyce was a rougher one on my 'flopping nerves' than Niagara was though. Regardless, the video is very editted because I was going so slow down that crazy thing. The video just doesn't do that last drop it's due justice.

[Britain]

Still, neverless, a kick azzz trip!