Best Place In Northern CA

[wheelz]

Hi,

I am wondering where the best place in Northern CA would be to stay for a month or so to do some riding off road? Is there any place that would be reasonable to stay and ride right from where I was staying? If anyone could point me in the right direction as far as what town (s) I would want to stay in while I did this it would be a big help. I would like to ride Tahoe National Forest and some other area's as well. Anyone have any suggestions for me? I am heading out in June and plan to stay until around the end of July. I was looking near Nevada City, would this be a decent area for me to be centrally located for something like this?

Thanks In Advance!

P.S. I have a MA off road reg, I am assuming I will need to get a sticker and it will have to be a Red one.

[Ed_Silva]

what time of year are you coming? I was told that Ca. has a temp. visitor

permit you might look into. maybe someone here will have more info on that.

most national forest land just requires registration, red or green, all year round.

state & county parks are the ones that limit red sticker riding times.

after you know what area, you can check further into rules for that area.

ED

[JRAMBO]

Stonyford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[racerx123]

what time of year are you coming? I was told that Ca. has a temp. visitor

permit you might look into. maybe someone here will have more info on that.

ED

You can buy a non-resident sticker for $20. You can find out more information and where to buy at the bottom of the CA OHV page (http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/).

You'll still need a spark arrestor and be under the noise limit. My red sticker Nevada bike is treated as a green sticker bike, and allowed to ride all season.

Prosser is a nice OHV area right outside of Truckee, CA. It has a nice river, small reservoir, and plenty of trails to ride.

[wheelz]

I am leaving Mass. on June 18th and am hauling my bikes out so I will probably be in the area around the 22nd or 23rd. I was looking into Grass Valley or Nevada City as an initial destination. I drove through that area about 9 years ago and it looked real nice around there.

Does anyone know if this area would be a good starting point out there? Are there any cheap cabins to rent out there somewhere that abutts either Tahoe National Forest or any other decent riding areas such as Stonyford?

Is Stonyford a better area to ride than Tahoe? What area provides the best seat time for doing some decent mileage and just enjoying the great outdoors with decent scenery? Which place would offer the most variety of a mixture of trail types? Also, I would be completely up for riding with someone when I get out there. I will even buy the beer and the gas if anyone is up for riding. This trip is 100 percent happening so don't think I have been hitting the crack pipe. lol!

[wheelz]

You can buy a non-resident sticker for $20. You can find out more information and where to buy at the bottom of the CA OHV page (http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/).

You'll still need a spark arrestor and be under the noise limit. My red sticker Nevada bike is treated as a green sticker bike, and allowed to ride all season.

Prosser is a nice OHV area right outside of Truckee, CA. It has a nice river, small reservoir, and plenty of trails to ride.

Great info, thank you very much! I have an 06 Honda CRF250R with FMF 4.1 dual titanium silencers which have spark arrestors. I also have the Q series insert as well. Here in MA, riding stealth is really important these days. They seem to mostly hate our guts and we have been losing riding areas left and right. I am going to Hatfield McCoy for an annual trip with my riding buddies at the end of April and then in June heading out to Cal. I am looking into starting a business out there and plan to ride as much as I can while I am there.

So if you were going to drive close to 3000 miles to ride somewhere in Northern CA, Prosser would be your pick of the litter?

[rjboschjr]

Great info, thank you very much! I have an 06 Honda CRF250R with FMF 4.1 dual titanium silencers which have spark arrestors. I also have the Q series insert as well. Here in MA, riding stealth is really important these days. They seem to mostly hate our guts and we have been losing riding areas left and right. I am going to Hatfield McCoy for an annual trip with my riding buddies at the end of April and then in June heading out to Cal. I am looking into starting a business out there and plan to ride as much as I can while I am there.

So if you were going to drive close to 3000 miles to ride somewhere in Northern CA, Prosser would be your pick of the litter?

NO, Rockcreek trails, just outside a small town called Georgetown. Stonyford is about 100 miles west of Navada city. And some BLM or Bureau land management area's around nevada city and Washington. These are very good riding area's.

[Kev_XR]

You only need a non resident sticker if the bike is not registered in your home state. If it is registered, you are good to go.

http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=1140

Nonresident OHV Permits

All vehicles operated off-highway on Public Lands in California are required to be street-licensed or registered as an off-highway vehicle (OHV). If you are visiting California from another state and your vehicle does not have current registration from your home state, you must purchase a California Nonresident OHV Use Permit (sticker) before you go off-roading.

Here are some links to areas in NorCal.

SF DirtBikes

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SFDirtbikes/

Links to many local websites and ThumperTalk are on the home page.

AMA D36

http://www.ama-d36.org

NorCalMotocross

http://www.norcalmotocross.com/ride/

Nor Cal Riding Areas

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/..._001042835363/

[babyarmholdingapple]

Dirtopia.com

Stoneyford and Middlecreek but up against each other on a Map and yeah a just under two hour drive door to door. You also would be closer to Forresthill and GT. Look here and do a search, I have posted extensivley on some of these spots. Big Bob seems to be the Sacramento expert. Post when you get here and us locales are always willing to show you around!

[wheelz]

Thank you so much for the info everyone! Ossidog, I will be sure to let you know when I get out there and thanks for your local hospitailty. I have a much better sense of the area than I did before you guys gave me some info. I have been looking on line a lot the last couple of months but until someone gives you first hand knowledge, it is somewhat of a crap shoot as far as really knowing what to expect. I have been wanting to ride out there for many years and this is the year I will make it happen. My 15 year old daughter is making the trip with me and she rides as well. SHe can handle pretty much everything New England has to offer as far as rocks, roots and more rocks and roots with some rocks and roots thrown in for good measure.

The riding here just keeps getting worse. I like technical single track stuff but what we have here in the few places we can ride legally is just plain nasty. The only reason they even let us ride there is because it really isn't even safe to walk through it. Out in Western MA we have a couple of decent area's (which they are trying to get shut down) to ride but in Central MA it is a total joke where they let us ride. The only way to really ride legally and have a place halfway enjoyable to ride at is to do the Hare Scrambles. The enduro's too are pretty decent (mostly all private land) but I have never been the type to buy a street registerable bike to be able to do them.

Right now I am rebuilding a KTM 250exc that I bought last fall that I will be able to compete in the enduro's with, so better days are coming as far as that goes.

I am psyched to be going to Hatfield McCoy this year. The guys I go down there with are all real cool individuals where winning means getting to the beer cooler first at the end of the day. Good riding, good people, that's what life is all about as far as I'm concerned. I'm just glad that at 42 years old after all the crashes and broken body parts I've had, I can still manage to throw a leg over one of these things and have a good time. Last year at this time, I endo'd off a jump and received a stage 3 tear in my left shoulder and busted my ankle/foot in three places and still made the trip to WV 8 days after my crash. This year I'm a lot more healthy and I'm trying to keep it that way! LOL!

Thanks again everyone!

[ndekens]

Stonyford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ditto!!!!!!

[wheelz]

I saw the pics in the Stonyford ride report thread and I gotta say, WOO HOO!!!! That place looks AWESOME!!!! If that doesn't get you foamin' at the mouth, nothing will!

[MMotohead]

Hold on now. Be aware that when it is wet, the place is awsome. When it is dry and hot it is the dustiest place you will find. That killer loamy dirt turns into silty dust. The baby powder dust hangs in the air needing riders to space out every 2 minutes or so. So I hope you ride the area after a thunderstorm, not a duststorm.

[OldeDude]

Anywhere in the greater Sacramento area is a good place for being somewhat centrally located for a lot of good riding, including Grass Valley/Nevada City. Right here in the foothills east of Sacramento there are Chalk Bluff, Foresthill, Georgetown/Rock Creek, and Elkins Flat. North and west of Sacramento are Stonyford, Middle Creek, Cow Mountain, and maybe couple of others. Of course there is also some good high country riding in the high Sierras too. Most of these places are within a couple of hours of Sacramento, and all are worth riding (or so I've been told since there are a few of them I haven't been to yet).

One thing to be ready for with summer riding out here is the dust. By the first of July most of our riding areas are really dried out, and riding in dust is a way of life. Most of us just space out to avoid riding in the dust of the person in front of us and wait at trail intersections so the person behind us knows which way we're going.

[damone]

Nevada City/Grass Valley would be a greeat place to stay. In the middle of the Sierra's and the Mendocino stuff is close enough for day rides. You can be riding in 15-20 minutes from NC GV and still get over to Nevada for some desert stuff.