The Northern California Backcountry Discovery Route is a 940-mile mixed on-and-off road route that begins in Mammoth Lakes, on the eastern side of Yosemite National Park, and runs north through the Sierra Mountains to the Oregon border. I was excited to get back out on another trip in the Jeep, and this would be a long one since I would be leaving from a family reunion in Long Beach, Washington. Owing to my 700-mile trip from Washington, I would meet-up with the crew on their second day of the journey. We all use various tracking devices and apps on these trips, so they were easy to find. After linking up on Sunday afternoon, they informed me that one of the guys had developed a flat tire on the first section and would need to go into town in the morning (Monday) for new tires. The rest of us headed for some BLM land off California Highway 89 which begins right here, just south of Topaz Lake on the California – Navada border. We would see Highway 89 again much further north, near the town of Truckee. For now, though, I needed sleep. I had been on the road since 4:00 AM that morning and it was approaching 4:00 PM. Traveling when you must get somewhere as quickly as possible is the worst kind of travel but is often required on these trips due to the limitations around everyone’s work schedule. The rest of the week would involve 8-hours travel days, as we had roughly 800-miles to go, but off-road travel is much more invigorating than highway travel.
We quickly found a campsite in the eastern Sierra (we were at 7,900 feet / 2,400 meters), well north of the highway. Admittedly, this stretch of Highway 89 from the border to the Carson River, is more of a two-lane blacktop than what one might consider a “highway,” but nobody wants to camp near pavement! I popped a frozen burrito along with homemade refried beans and rice into my Hot Logic, for a late meal. A “Hot Logic” is much like a crockpot – it maintains 165-degrees and warms food (even a frozen burrito) in about 1 1/2 hours. Used mostly by truckers, it is a traveler’s best friend. Some like to cook food with camp stoves but for me the simplicity of the Hot Logic cooking my meal while I drive cannot be beat. It was a quiet night and at 7,900 feet, the sky was awash with stars and even the Milky Way was visible. With one vehicle in Gardnerville, Nevada waiting on the tire shop to open on Monday morning, the rest of us would continue on Highway 89 to State Route 4 and Bear Valley, where we would finally turn north and get off the pavement.
Despite the pavement, this was an incredibly scenic drive through a part of California that I doubt many people have experienced. We stopped in the ski town of Bear Valley for a late breakfast. Being the off-season, it was quiet which was fine with us. We soon left the pavement and worked our way down the mountain from about 8,000 feet / 2,400 meters to 5,000 feet / 1,500 meters before turning north on one of the BDR’s “Alt Harder” routes which is a more primitive off-road track. The harder route was just eleven miles long, but it took us about 1 1/2 hours to complete. Fortunately, by the time we were nearing the end of the section, our wayward tire shop compadre had reached the beginning of the trail and were able to communicate with each other over our GMRS radios, even at eleven miles which impressed me. Credit to the Midland MXTA26 6DB gain antenna mounted to the front A-Pillar of the Jeep. It has taken a beating on tight trails but has held up (I do carry a spare). Communication is important when traveling in a group, as these backroads could have us spaced out for several miles, just to minimize the dust that the vehicles in the back have to drive through.
We were now back on the regular BDR Section 3, about 60-miles east of Sacramento and approaching Lake Tahoe to our northeast. We had a lot of ground to cover, but the roads were generally smoother graveled tracks that allowed for higher speeds. The Zen of BDR travel (there are BDRs in all the western states, with Montana coming online in 2026) is covering enough ground within the time allotted, usually a week for our group, without missing out on the experience of the region, itself. Major tourist attractions such as Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, or the Grand Canyon in Arizona, are usually left for other bespoke trips as they would consume too much time and compromise the overall goal of completing the border-to-border journey. These states have plenty to offer outside of the traditional tourist attractions, though, and those amazing remote places are what makes these BDR journeys such an awesome experience. Another great BDR experience are the local diners and restaurants that are off the beaten path, but full of local atmosphere and flavor. We get so used to interstate highway travel and chain restaurants, but there is a whole other world out there, to experience.
We continued north on Section 3 to U.S. Route 50 which is a major east-west route between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe. This marked the end of Route 3 and the beginning of Route 4, which continued north on the other side of the highway. This section is called the Pony Express Trail which could be true, as the Pony Express route traversed what is basically U.S. Route 50, today. Irrespective of its historic authenticity, the route (now named Weber Mill Road) was tight and fairly rugged with many switchbacks. It soon transitioned to Ice House Road which is a two-lane paved route that continues north. By now, we were all back together including our wayward tire shop person who was now sporting four brand-new BF Goodrich KO3 tires – the gold standard in this kind of travel. The KO3 is a great tire that works well across a plethora of varied terrain. I used to run the previous KO2 version of that tire but now use a more aggressive KM3 “mud terrain” tire, due to some of the more technical off-road driving that I do. But for now, Section 4 could be done in a Toyota Prius, as it was mostly paved – save for that early Pony Express section.
We were now looking for a place to camp for the night, but we had a problem. This area had experienced a massive forest fire at some point in the past which severely limited decent places to camp. We pressed on into the night and finally settled on an actual developed, albeit primitive, site called Big Meadow Campground. Evidently, this was also BLM open rangeland because the clanging of cowbells echoed off the hills around the campground. This continued all night and into the morning, but it was actually rather pleasant and did not interrupt my sleep at all. I am not sure that anything would have bothered me, that night! Big Meadow Campground will forever now be known as Cowbell Campground. This put us near the end of Section 4, which would take us into Truckee, California by noon on Tuesday, August 26th. We were looking forward to fueling up our vehicles and ourselves, in Truckee. Yes, it would only be Day 2 for me (Day 3 for the rest of the crew), but a cheeseburger sounded pretty good.
We ended up getting into Truckee at 1:00 on Tuesday, after stopping to take in the views on Donner Summit. Truckee is quite the tourist town, owing to its close proximity to Lake Tahoe, along with its rich history of the Donner Party and later, as a major railroad stop along the first transcontinental railroad in the late 1800’s. Owing to that history, we found a diner along the modern day tracks and loaded up on burgers and milkshakes. The clock was ticking, as we had to find somewhere to camp for the night.
We were not worried about a late start out of Truckee since we had well-maintained gravel and dirt roads north, and then west through the Tahoe National Forest. Our first hint that things might not go completely according to plan was the lightning flashes ahead of us, as we headed out of town. Indeed, we were driving directly into a pretty impressive thunderstorm which is always a concern in the mountains. Truckee is at 5,800 feet / 1,770 meters and we had gained 1,000 feet / 300 meters on this track. Soon, the rain turned into hail and the edges of the road began to turn white. It was August! But this is what can happen in the mountains. Lightning was striking all over the hills and I even saw an orange ball of flame from a tree strike, thankfully in the distance. The previously dirt track that we were on was now a muddy mess, but we continued to move forward, albeit at a slower pace. At least there was no dust. As we moved west, we got out of the storm and the rain abated. It was now late in the day, and half of the crew chose a campground at Jackson Meadows Reservoir, but Dan and I balked at the $24 fee (seriously?) and found a nice spot several miles further along the route. What should have been a short and easy day had turned into something that was not, so I was happy to finally get some sleep that night.
On the morning of day four, we met back up with the guys at the campground and proceeded west through the Tahoe National Forest, on Hennesse Pass Road, for another thirteen miles / 21 kilometers or so. The road is mixed dirt and rock on this stretch, though other parts of the road are paved. In the 1800’s Heennesse Pass Road was the major thoroughfare between Virginia City, Nevada and the California gold fields. We would be turning north on Galloway Ridge Road, which is fairly wide dirt road that descends nearly 3,000 feet / 914 meters in just six miles / 10 kilometers, to the small town of Downieville. There is a warning on the map to avoid Galloway Ridge Road when it is wet, and that is certainly understandable. It is not only steep but also has a number of very sharp switchbacks. Even though it was a wide, smooth road, I should have put the Jeep into low-range, because I could smell my brakes when we stopped in Downieville. We spent an hour in the quaint little town, eating ice cream and relaxing in the nearby park.
Downieville was a great little town, and I would like to spend more time here in the future. There were cabins spread out east along the Yuba River, and I assume it is the same to the north along the Downie River, though we did not go in that direction. We were headed back east 12 miles / 19 kilometers towards another 1800’s gold town named Sierra City. This was another “Alt Harder” option on the route, although we were currently traveling along Highway 49, a modern-day upgrade to Hennesse Pass Road that we had been on, earlier. We would soon discover why this was coded a harder route, but for now we were enjoying the very scenic and relaxing drive along the Yuba River. We reached the tiny town and the directions had us turning left on a small street which appeared to be taking us into somebody’s driveway, but road continued left and turned into Sierra Buttes Road. This turned into a narrow rocky shelf road that was obviously an old wagon trail and hugged the side of the mountain as we climbed 2,000 feet / 610 meters in just four miles / six kilometers. A narrow rocky road with a shear drop-off on the left and a cliff-face on the right, we had discovered the “harder” on this “Alt Harder” section!
Even though it was a very short section, Sierra Buttes Road was one of the funnest trails that I have been on, in my Jeep. It is not technically difficult, but it is steep and narrow, and the big drop-off adds to the excitement. We took a break at the top of the ridge, but we would soon be climbing again, along a narrow and rugged spur road that travels up to the Sierra Buttes Lookout, at 8,587 feet / 2,617 meters. There were quite a few people at the lookout, most of whom who had hiked up from a trailhead further north, but also an ATV side-by-side and a Toyota pickup. We do not always see many people on these trips, so it was fun to talk to some locals and get some inside information on the area. The views from the lookout area were amazing, particularly an aqua-blue lake named Young America Lake which lay some 600 feet / 183 meters down the north-slope of the mountain. Reminding me of home in Oregon, the Pacific Cost Trail was meandering its way north, just on the other side of the lake. Like most areas in this part of California, gold mining was the major industry, and the Young America Mine was one of the richest. We still had a long ways to go on this day, so we eventually saddled-up and headed back down the mountain, to continue on our journey which would take us to the larger-but-still-small town of Graegle. Another small town, another place I would love to come back to and spend some more time. Larger and more “touristy” than Downieville, Greagle still had an old-world charm with vintage cabins and plenty of amenities. But today, Greagle marked the end of Section 5 and the begging of Section 6 (of the 9 Sections comprising the NorCal Backcountry Discovery Route). Section 6 is 115 miles / 185 kilometers long, but our goal was hamburgers at the Genesee Store in Taylorsville which was about halfway. We had some slow and rugged backcountry roads to travel, but it would put us in Taylorsville around dinner time, and sometimes a juicy cheeseburger is just what is needed, after a hard day of driving. The Genesee Store had a reputation for some of the best burgers around, so the anticipation helped us push through.
Cue the sad trombone. We rolled into Taylorsville as the sun was setting over the surrounding hills and discovered that the Genesee Store was closed. There is no way that a frozen burrito was going to make up for a juicy cheeseburger, but when life throws you a lemon, you drive on and tackle the next obstacle. We continued on the route into the waning daylight, finally finding a good spot to camp for the night. To Hot Logic’s credit, my burrito, refried beans and rice was hot and tasted mighty good! Just not as good, as a juicy cheeseburger. We were in the Bucks Lake Wilderness, just south of Lassen Volcanic National Park. In the morning we would finish up Section 6 in the town of Chester on Lake Almanor, where we would refuel and begin Section 7 that would skirt around the eastern side of Lassen Volcanic National Park. We would lose Mark shortly into Section 6, as he had been fighting issues with new engine and decided to take the short hop into Susanville, Nevada to get it looked at. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and Monday was the Labor Day holiday, so Mark would spend the next few days in Susanville but he did get his problem fixed on Tuesday and made it home to Oklahoma. These journeys are never easy, but you quickly learn to adapt and overcome the obstacles placed in front of you.