Riding atop Peavine Ridge & the descent into Jaybird Canyon

[pashnit]

Just finished rebuilding the Ice House Rd webpage , and mentioned Peavine Ridge. One of the spur roads off this well-known motorcycle ride that circles around with Wentworth Springs Rd.

But always curious about Peavine Ridge. The rest of the pics.




Our locale for the day... You can sort of make out Peavine Ridge Rd at bottom left.

[pashnit]

But first, rode up Ice House Rd a bit to get some shots of the Crystal Range. Right over that mountain range is Lake Tahoe.

Keep an eye out for logging trucks.

[pashnit]

Back to Peavine Ridge which starts out like this, wide open spaces, no center line.



The peaky peak at center is Pyramid Peak, one of the more visible landmarks for miles and miles in this region of the Sierra Nevada Mtns.



It's wide open expanses b/c the Cleveland Fire in 1992 burned all of this, 24,000 acres, but its all been replanted and growing back fast.

[pashnit]

The panoramic version, in the valley below is Hwy 50, the main drag between Sacramento & South Lake Tahoe.

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[pashnit]

See the deer?

Just georgeous up here!



Came to a fork in the road. No dirt tires on this baby. Actually, I'd explored that road (White Meadow Rd) about a year prior on the hayabusa (till the pavement ended). It connects back to the valley below. Name change to Jaybird Powerhouse Rd so I continued on.



Yes, that's snow. And ice. I had to stop and walk it first. It was sanded so gingerly I went. ST1100 with its upright riding position is perfect for this sort of thing, very well balanced bike!



View to the west- I'm headed into that canyon to the river bottom.

[pashnit]

The descent into Jaybird Canyon was a dirty sandy twisty affair.



And icy. I had to walk this one first also to see if I could make it around.





Check out these switchbacks on the satellite. Straight down the canyon! These snowy ones above are the very top one on the satellite. Fortunately, right after this, I dropped below the snowline. You can see the generating plant and penstock too (the straight line). The ones below are the last switchback in the satellite pic which was a total 180 swap in direction.

[pashnit]

Steep! Love this pic. Feels rugged.



Another angle of this hairpin.



All this for water. Hydro power. This penstock feeds the water into the generating plant.



Waterfall that didn't photograph well, but sound was cool! Starts way up on the cliff.



Anyone up for some stairclimbin'

[pashnit]

Jaybird Powerhouse- this one is really tucked away, I wouldn've had any idea this one was back in here if I hadn't been curious enough to ride to the end of the road! This water eventually flows to Coloma (where they discovered gold) and on into Folsom Lake, through Sacramento, to the Bay Area and into the ocean.



Headed back out of the canyon, still a great view at the top!

[pashnit]

Had to double back through the same patch of snow & ice. Made it okay.





Then time to explore a spur road I'd passed by to see where this would lead - Bryant Springs Rd



Noted the sign for the Powerhouse. But that road was closed. Maybe next time.



Ends up at the west side of Union Valley Reservoir (which you can see in post#1)

[pashnit]

Union Valley Reservoir looking eastward

Scroll --> Purty, huh? At right out of view is Big Hill Fire Lookout photographed here...