The Emigrant Trail linked the east to the west in the 19th century. Thousands of adventurous people passed over it trying to reach the pacific ocean only to hit the Sierras at the end of the journey. There were many tests in the form of natural terrain along the trail, but nothing compared to this last hurdle. Granite slabs of rock jut from everywhere. The mountains climb steeply on the eastern slope and are covered with many varieties of pine, sagebrush, chapparal and rock (Lots of it!). Rivers and lakes are seemingly around every corner, but despite this, summers can be unforgivingly hot, winters come crashing in umpredictably and crush everything with deep snow. This particular part of the Emigrant Trail was called the California Trail. Today Dr. Pershing and rode the Emigrant Trail starting at Stampede Reservoir.
This is where the trail ends/starts at Stampede, depending on which way you start from.
We started today at in the overflow lot for the Stampede Reservoir boat launch. I believe it is named after some Rodgers character, maybe he was a Captain, maybe not. The trail is just like these folks describe it, not too steep, not too fast, not too rocky and all around nice. The trail meanders up in the trees and down in the valleys.
Dr. Pershing checks out the plaque.
We started today at about 8:30am. It was already pretty warm and it just kept getting warmer. There seemed to be nobody on the trail, save for the two gentlemen that passed us on our way back to the parking lot. They were cruising downhill while we were on a climb and pretty much forced us off the trail. It was kind of rude, but they greeted us with friendly hellos, so no offense taken.
Looking toward Prosser
The only bad part of today's ride was the fact that we didn't have the time to go the full 10 or so miles to Hwy 89 area. We had not prepared to ride the whole distance and were both regretting it when we got to our 5 mile turnaround target.
I'm a true Internet Tough-guy
I want to plan a ride in the next month or so before Old Man Winter sets in. If anyone is interested, let me know. If we got up early enough in the morning we could probably be back by 3:00pm.
Looking East
Dr. Pershing adjusts his gear
Overall, this was an awesome time and I do want to go again. Like I said above, if anyone wants to go up on a weekend day sometime in the next few weeks or so, let me know. We can probably leave around 8:45am or so, with enough notice we could leave earlier. Cheers!
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