4 ms·

I've been in at least a couple of the places in that list, and probably about as far from civilization as possible in those areas. I'm willing to believe their

I've been in at least a couple of the places in that list, and probably about as far from civilization as possible in those areas. I'm willing to believe their numbers are technically correct. But I bet cityfolk have a reeeeeeaally different notion of "road" than is meant here. Take the Trinity Alps complex for example. It's got, still to this day, my least favorite approach ever. You go way up the north coast, then along 299 (if I remember right), then through a reservation, and then you get on this lovely little road that's several miles of 15-mile-an-hour white-knuckle less-than-single-lane rough gravel, with steep granite on one side and a drop straight down to a river on t'other, and a whole lot of blind corners. You do that for a while, then you see the yellow sign posted that says, "Road Narrows", and whaddaya know, it sure as heck does. It's a road that started as a trail and never really had any ambitions beyond that. There are a ton of logging roads and fire cuts all over the place too. Lots of dusty hill climbs. Other rarely-trafficked routes where the macho advertising for your 4WD meets a grim reality. Maps aren't necessarily current, either. I once bailed off the Wonderland Trail in Rainier after a partner took a bad fall. According to the map and the GPS, there was a road just a few miles out that led to a paved road that led to civilization. Great. Well, we get there, and after swimming through dense, wet vegetation for a while, start finally seeing signs that, yeah, there was a road there, about a hundred years ago. 18 miles as the bird flies can easily turn into two days' hiking in some of that terrain, too.

ebikelaw 8y ago
Consider a motorcycle.
TaylorAlexander 8y ago
I enjoy your prose. :)
sulam 8y ago
FWIW Trinity Alps has some pavement-grade approaches as well, for instance you can get onto the PCT right off a fairly major road (Sawyers Bar, which is not bad for the area -- although to be fair you've described 299 as a bad drive, which I didn't find it to be, although it's two lane undivided highway for most of it and maybe city-folk aren't used to that). However forest roads are a given for most trailheads as you've described, at least in all the California wildernesses I've spent time in. I haven't taken the road you're describing, although it sounds a lot like a forest service road I ended up on to see the eclipse north-west of Bend, OR. That was fun. Also you should probably never take 101 up to Trinity Alps: take 5 up to Redding and then cut west on 299 instead of going up the coast and cutting east. I enjoyed spotting all the places I've been in this fun guide, and the other thing I want to impress on people is that these "distance from road" measurements are crow-flies distance from the closest "road". You've done a good job describing how bad the road might be. People who have no experience with this kind of wilderness will have even less appreciation for how much work might be involved in actually getting to that the center point. It will _never_ be a 12 mile hike or whatever the distance they measure is. In many cases it's twice that, in some cases it's worse, and the trails (if there is one) are in some fairly steep terrain, so you can expect to do 15 miles on a strong day in good conditions. I went looking for my favorite wilderness and was surprised not to find it, because I know how remote it is and Trinity Alps feels significantly smaller in comparison. In looking at it, I realized they've combined the contiguous region north of Yosemite Park as the "North Yosemite Complex", which includes Emigrant (my favorite), the northern part of Yosemite, etc. I was there for four days a week ago and after I got off the main trail I saw one person while I was hiking out. The rest of the time was spent off the trail and with no sign of another soul.
dboreham 8y ago
> But I bet cityfolk have a reeeeeeaally different notion of "road" than is meant here. Yes, they mean : no throughfare usable by a regular vehicle including high clearance 4wd, including private roads, tracks etc. In the Absoroka here there are "inholdings" (I think they're the remnants of old mining claims) that the owners access via helicopter. There have been a few court cases about access over the years e.g. https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/lawsuit-seeks-to-build-road-into-wilderness/article_91245eb3-c0eb-5386-a434-63a97b487943.html https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/lawsuit-seeks-to-build...
- tolk460 8y ago
  Hello, from Paradise Valley, MT! For more information on this issue with the Emigrant mine: http://greateryellowstone.org/yellowstone-gateway http://greateryellowstone.org/yellowstone-gateway
  - dboreham 8y ago
    Small world. I remember reading your comment about vehicle fires on another thread recently, thinking "we _do_ have a lot of vehicle fires on the Interstate here, sounds like this person sees a similar high number where they live". Usually Subarus, no?
Glyptodon 8y ago
Even in the non-city-folk sense assuming that there are roads immediately adjacent to where the inscribed circle abuts wilderness boundaries seems unlikely. I'm sure the center points' actual distances from roads are often somewhat larger than the circles' radiuses.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
jmspring 8y ago
I live just north of Truckee. One day my GF had to go do some surveying over towards Nevada City. The easy way would have been out to 80, down to NC, and survey. Probably 2-2.5 hours of driving. I had the day free and said, "hey, lets try the back way -- via Downieville, Forest, Alleghany, etc. She said sure. That didn't work out so well. Everything was going great, narrow roads crossing part of the Yuba River, gorgeous country, tight switchbacks and dangerous drops. Ended up on Foote Crossing Road, crossed the Yuba, climbed up a ways on a road maybe 2-3 wider than my Tacoma. Come around a corner, a chunk of slate had slid down covering the road days before. The options were backup 2+ miles or try and move the rock. Having a tow rope, we tried to move the large rock -- it moved, just not enough. After about 2.5 hours, a group came from the other direction and helped us out. You have to be careful when out there. Before I do something like that again, despite thinking I was prepared, I'll do a bit more research and probably add a high lift jack and some other toys.
- jonnycoder 8y ago
  Yea that happened on the Foresthill/Georgetown side above the Rubicon River after the King fire a few years ago. A lot of washouts happened during the winters after the burn. It’s still pretty neat to explore and find stuff like that as long as you aren’t in a hurry.
  - Paul_Dessert 8y ago
    Do you live in Foresthill? I'm not too far away in shingle springs.
- thaumaturgy 8y ago
  Howdy neighbor! I'm not far away. I really like the Meadow Lake and Old Man Mountain area. It should be about 45 minutes flat from Truckee to Nevada City over 20. The road you took is a nice drive, but yeah, that intersection at Tyler Foote is no joke. If you take the wrong turn there, you'll end up like that woman that got stuck in mud for a few days in the middle of a storm 11 miles out in the middle of nowhere.
jartelt 8y ago
You can get to the most remote area of the Trinity Alps pretty easily from the Bay Area. You head north and then eventually get on highway 3 and take that to Trinity Alps road. You drive maybe 10 miles and the there is Stuart Fork trailhead. The hike is probably 10-13 miles to get to the area shown in the map (though the scramble up to the actual most remote area would be tough). I went to Emerald and Sapphire lakes last year (near the most remote area) and it was pretty painless. Perhaps you were just approaching the alps from another area?
thx4allthestuff 8y ago
Sounds about as friendly as the time I drove the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks, Alaska on a whim towards the Arctic Circle. Many times along the journey I was terrified that my 1996 Eagle Talon would get stuck in the gigantic mud ruts dug out by the maniac truckers that gleefully thundered by (apparently oblivious to the not-quite-cliffs only feet away). I live in Texas now, which feels relatively tiny because you'll always find some sort of civilization (i.e. potable water) right around the corner. Granted, growing up in Alaska, my definition of "right around the corner" is probably a little different from those who were raised in the Lower 48.

ebikelaw 8y ago

Consider a motorcycle.

TaylorAlexander 8y ago

I enjoy your prose. :)

sulam 8y ago

FWIW Trinity Alps has some pavement-grade approaches as well, for instance you can get onto the PCT right off a fairly major road (Sawyers Bar, which is not bad for the area -- although to be fair you've described 299 as a bad drive, which I didn't find it to be, although it's two lane undivided highway for most of it and maybe city-folk aren't used to that). However forest roads are a given for most trailheads as you've described, at least in all the California wildernesses I've spent time in. I haven't taken the road you're describing, although it sounds a lot like a forest service road I ended up on to see the eclipse north-west of Bend, OR. That was fun. Also you should probably never take 101 up to Trinity Alps: take 5 up to Redding and then cut west on 299 instead of going up the coast and cutting east. I enjoyed spotting all the places I've been in this fun guide, and the other thing I want to impress on people is that these "distance from road" measurements are crow-flies distance from the closest "road". You've done a good job describing how bad the road might be. People who have no experience with this kind of wilderness will have even less appreciation for how much work might be involved in actually getting to that the center point. It will _never_ be a 12 mile hike or whatever the distance they measure is. In many cases it's twice that, in some cases it's worse, and the trails (if there is one) are in some fairly steep terrain, so you can expect to do 15 miles on a strong day in good conditions. I went looking for my favorite wilderness and was surprised not to find it, because I know how remote it is and Trinity Alps feels significantly smaller in comparison. In looking at it, I realized they've combined the contiguous region north of Yosemite Park as the "North Yosemite Complex", which includes Emigrant (my favorite), the northern part of Yosemite, etc. I was there for four days a week ago and after I got off the main trail I saw one person while I was hiking out. The rest of the time was spent off the trail and with no sign of another soul.

dboreham 8y ago

> But I bet cityfolk have a reeeeeeaally different notion of "road" than is meant here. Yes, they mean : no throughfare usable by a regular vehicle including high clearance 4wd, including private roads, tracks etc. In the Absoroka here there are "inholdings" (I think they're the remnants of old mining claims) that the owners access via helicopter. There have been a few court cases about access over the years e.g. https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/lawsuit-seeks-to-build-road-into-wilderness/article_91245eb3-c0eb-5386-a434-63a97b487943.html https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/lawsuit-seeks-to-build...

tolk460 8y ago
Hello, from Paradise Valley, MT! For more information on this issue with the Emigrant mine: http://greateryellowstone.org/yellowstone-gateway http://greateryellowstone.org/yellowstone-gateway
- dboreham 8y ago
  Small world. I remember reading your comment about vehicle fires on another thread recently, thinking "we _do_ have a lot of vehicle fires on the Interstate here, sounds like this person sees a similar high number where they live". Usually Subarus, no?

Glyptodon 8y ago

Even in the non-city-folk sense assuming that there are roads immediately adjacent to where the inscribed circle abuts wilderness boundaries seems unlikely. I'm sure the center points' actual distances from roads are often somewhat larger than the circles' radiuses.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

jmspring 8y ago

I live just north of Truckee. One day my GF had to go do some surveying over towards Nevada City. The easy way would have been out to 80, down to NC, and survey. Probably 2-2.5 hours of driving. I had the day free and said, "hey, lets try the back way -- via Downieville, Forest, Alleghany, etc. She said sure. That didn't work out so well. Everything was going great, narrow roads crossing part of the Yuba River, gorgeous country, tight switchbacks and dangerous drops. Ended up on Foote Crossing Road, crossed the Yuba, climbed up a ways on a road maybe 2-3 wider than my Tacoma. Come around a corner, a chunk of slate had slid down covering the road days before. The options were backup 2+ miles or try and move the rock. Having a tow rope, we tried to move the large rock -- it moved, just not enough. After about 2.5 hours, a group came from the other direction and helped us out. You have to be careful when out there. Before I do something like that again, despite thinking I was prepared, I'll do a bit more research and probably add a high lift jack and some other toys.

jonnycoder 8y ago
Yea that happened on the Foresthill/Georgetown side above the Rubicon River after the King fire a few years ago. A lot of washouts happened during the winters after the burn. It’s still pretty neat to explore and find stuff like that as long as you aren’t in a hurry.
- Paul_Dessert 8y ago
  Do you live in Foresthill? I'm not too far away in shingle springs.
thaumaturgy 8y ago
Howdy neighbor! I'm not far away. I really like the Meadow Lake and Old Man Mountain area. It should be about 45 minutes flat from Truckee to Nevada City over 20. The road you took is a nice drive, but yeah, that intersection at Tyler Foote is no joke. If you take the wrong turn there, you'll end up like that woman that got stuck in mud for a few days in the middle of a storm 11 miles out in the middle of nowhere.

jartelt 8y ago

You can get to the most remote area of the Trinity Alps pretty easily from the Bay Area. You head north and then eventually get on highway 3 and take that to Trinity Alps road. You drive maybe 10 miles and the there is Stuart Fork trailhead. The hike is probably 10-13 miles to get to the area shown in the map (though the scramble up to the actual most remote area would be tough). I went to Emerald and Sapphire lakes last year (near the most remote area) and it was pretty painless. Perhaps you were just approaching the alps from another area?

thx4allthestuff 8y ago

Sounds about as friendly as the time I drove the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks, Alaska on a whim towards the Arctic Circle. Many times along the journey I was terrified that my 1996 Eagle Talon would get stuck in the gigantic mud ruts dug out by the maniac truckers that gleefully thundered by (apparently oblivious to the not-quite-cliffs only feet away). I live in Texas now, which feels relatively tiny because you'll always find some sort of civilization (i.e. potable water) right around the corner. Granted, growing up in Alaska, my definition of "right around the corner" is probably a little different from those who were raised in the Lower 48.