Return to Toads + Hole in the Ground

Well this weekend we returned to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Tahoe (Pictures Here) and then on Monday I finally made it to Hole in the Ground Trail (Pictures – Link works now).) Rather than shuttling Toad’s we climbed up Oneidas Road to Armstrong pass and then through Freel Meadow which is a much more challenging ride. The initial climb itself is about 2500′ then you head out cross country along the Rim Trail and tack another 500+ feet to the total. That said the extended ride is well worth the effort. The scenery from the Tahoe Rim Trail at this point is absolutely incredible and the singletrack is awesome. Mostly it’s fairly buffed smooth stuff but there are a good number of challenging technical sections as well.

Originally we had planned on going to Christmas Valley but our guide flaked on us. Hole in the Ground turned out to be a great second day ride. There was still quite a bit of climbing but it wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t manage it after the exertions climbing to Armstrong Pass the day before. Rocks and granite slabs are the biggest features of Hole in the Ground trail. Everywhere you go there are chunks of granite you need to work one way or the other. If you can still stomach it there are a ton of granite slabs (California Slickrock) and boulders to play on all around the trail as well.

Cannell Plunge – Labor Day Weekend (Updated 8/30)

Y’all are invited to an incredible ride weekend for Laborday weekend. Smack in the center of the state is one of the best rides in the state, the Cannell Plunge. Imagine 25+ miles of incredible single track loaded with technical downhills, incredible scenery, screaming-fast white knuckle downhills, beautiful buffed singletrack, and even optional death marches for the criminally insane. This grand finale is an awesome 8 mile downhill that descends over 5000′.


This is a tough ride but it is truly one of the best rides this beautiful state has to offer. I’ve ridden a lot of places and very very few have the sheer variety of fun that you find on this trail. A couple years ago I met Mountain Bike Bill there and he was equally impressed.

Here’s the gameplan for the weekend:

  • Saturday Noon we are meeting at the riverside park in Kernville and will riding a trail called Just Outstanding AKA Shirley Meadows. This is a 16 mile downhill and we will be shuttling it.

  • Sunday 8:00 AM we will meet again at the riverside park to ride the Plunge. We have a shuttle reserved for 10 people plus we can shuttle up to 10 more which should be plenty for our purposes.

  • Sunday post ride (~4:00PM-???) Tri Tip BBQ, party.

  • Monday : It looks like we will have a rafting trip on Monday. Full details about the rafting trip will be available when we get to Kernville.

Continue reading Cannell Plunge – Labor Day Weekend (Updated 8/30)

Big Boulder Trail in Downieville

Pimpbot talked me into this ride late last night. Wherewolf, UncleMTB, CHUM and Kip were riding Downieville and Pimpy wanted in. So… I threw my stuff together, got up at the crack of dawn (literally) and hauled butt up to Downieville. Only to miss the crew at Packer Saddle by about 15 minutes… So it was just Erich (Pimpbot) and I.

Eventually we caught up to them on Big Boulder due maily to an incident involving a bike in the bushes and a beesting on UncleMTB’s neck.

Absolutly awesome day and IMO some of my best pictures ever.

The Map Revisited

Rev 2 of my Trailhead Map is mostly ready. I actually crashed version 1 and don’t feel like fixing it because this version was so close to being ready. So what you get is almost all of the features I’d intended but I don’t have the database built completely yet. However even at this point I think it is pretty unique and cool. Currently the map includes the Folsom/ Auburn Area trails like the old one did plus a few others. I have a database backend on it now so I can add trails to it very quickly so I expect it will grow very quickly.

While working on this I’ve realized that my site has really started to become quite large and cumbersome at it is quite a chore trying to keep everything up to date. Also at one point in time I lost quite a bit of content and I need to rebuild it but time is just slipping by.

If anyone would like to help me add locations to the trailhead map please Contact Me! and I would love to set you up. Incidentally for those who have used my contact me link on the site and found it broken it is now a web form. You can email me at ogre -at ogrehut -dot- com or just use the form (which emails me).