Mud Flat Road, M4 Mendocino Ntnl Forest

[dakariste]

Some folks asked me to plan a Spring Dual Sport Ride. Spring riding is usually a low elevation affair, waiting for snow to melt. Today I scouted M4. It has snow down to the paved portion. I took a sideroad, Mud Flat Road. It is aptly named as there are stretches of areas prone to holding water and they were damp with mud. Any wetter and it would have been no fun mud.

This is a steep road. It was a bit of a challenge in spots and I thought, I am not very good at finding reasonable roads. I passed a spot marked as a campground, and a remote trail entrance to Thomes Creek Trail. At an elevation of 3,250 feet or so Mud Flat road is safe from snow.

As I stopped to appreciate the incredible view into Orland, Hamilton City, and across to Mt. Lassen, I heard a fairly distant engine. It seemed to really struggle and in about 12 minutes it appeared. This is a mild portion of the road and I suppose it underscores just how steep the other parts must have been. I was really hoping it was open all the way up to M4 (Round Valley Road on this map). I did not want to go down such a steep slope this afternoon.










Mud Creek Flat Road is the unmarked road on this map. The little black x is the campground. You can also see the area where snow stopped me on M4 at about 3500ft.