Yes, we returned to South Yuba yet again, only this time we went all the way from Washington to Purdon Crossing (with a Trail Princess picking us up on the far end). Our original idea was to start on the Pioneer trail, ride across the Pioneer trail then to drop down on Alpha Road to Washington. Unfortunately, Pioneer trail was under 2-5 feet of snow. So we skipped Pioneer and started at the top of Alpha road. There was about 1/2 mile to 1 mile of road which had 18″ snow drifts we had to hike over. Alpha Road really isn’t worth the effort by itself but, adding it to the end of the existing shuttle run saves driving with minimal additional climbing.
The South Yuba Trail itself is phenominal singletrack. I cannot think of a single section of that trail which wasn’t great. The trail is super tight serpentine singletrack and much of it is on very steep hills or cliff faces along the South Yuba River Ravine so hopefully you are confident of your riding abilities because it’s a long way down. What the trail is not is super technical, there are a few sketchy sections but no drops bigger than 6″ or so, but a 6″ drop is plenty scary when the trail is 24″ wide and you have a 100′ drop off the side.
Anyhow, Some Teaser Pictures for now, I video taped this trip so check out the helmet cam footage.