Grouse Ridge Epic Ride

Yesterday I attended BONC's (Bicyclists of Nevada County) monthly Gala Ride, and It was tons of fun. This months ride was up at Grouse Ridge in Nevada County. The advanced group started at Loney Meadows and from there ascended up some cattle roads and singletrack to a great view of Bowman Lake and the surrounding mountains.


From there the ride went downhill through some technical lose rock. After that the trail turns into a painful, steep, and loose climb. Then the trail starts to roll Grouse Ridge style, steep downhill followed by super steep uphill. There were lots of backpackers and some folks trekking with some llamas. We rested at a beautiful cobalt blue lake to eat lunch. From there we climbed up to a campground and the access point to hike up to the lookout. From there we descended down some singletrack to what I think was the Grouse Ridge Trail. After that we regrouped near some Native American Petroglyphs. From there we rode some super technical, rocky singletrack to the top of the next downhill.


This descent is basically just a seasonal creek bed / rock chute, it goes almost straight down the side of the mountain except for some tight switchbacks that do nothing to impede the flow of water, and is full of baby heads, rock drops, and small boulders. Despite sounding like hell, this descent is my favorite part of this ride. After this the route levels out somewhat, into a smooth granite face bike play ground. After several miles of fun/brutal riding we recuperated at the headwaters of the South Yuba River. From there the trail parallels Lake Spaulding's shoreline but remained pretty technical with rocks, roots, and log features.

a penstock
After this we crossed the large hydroelectric penstock, bushwhacked a little to find the very end of end of Pioneer Trail and took the end of Upper Pioneer Trail to the bridge that crosses over the South Yuba. From this point we took Bowman Lake Rd. to Bear Valley and ended our journey. This was an awesome all-mountain back country ride, for all of you who live for technical rock trails the Grouse Ridge area is a must ride destination. We were out there for 7 hours probably more than 5 of which were riding. This ride was 24.18 miles in distance, had 3979 ft of assent, and 5063 ft of descent. This ride is so brutal that it was probably the equivalent of a 50 mile ride on normal trails. Thanks for looking -Ruffrider