Fun and Mud on Rancheria Road

I had a couple of hours on Friday so I took off on a ride and rode this loop.  I only had a couple of hours so I just blasted it.  Made it home with 5 minutes to spare!  Today I had about 4 hours or so to ride it so I thought I would take some pictures along the way.  The big difference between Fridays ride and todays ride?  It rained Saturday!  That can change things up a bit and it did towards the high point of this ride.  This ride really starts at Granite Station Road and Poso Flat Road.  This picture was taken where Poso Flat Road turns to dirt.

I am not too sure how far up the road this is but it feels like forever.  Most of the road to get to here is pretty steep and will wear you out trying to hang on as you are going up the hills.  Still good fun!  This picture is at the intersection of Rancheria Road and Poso Flat Road.

So, as you can see the sign says Hwy. 155 is only 12 miles away.  Really not that far away.  Let's go see what is between here and there!  My first stop was Davis Camp.  It sounds like it is a developed camp ground but it did not appear to be at this end.  This was the south camp ground area.  I noticed a sign for the same camp ground a little further north.  Did not stop to check it out because I was already by it when I realized it was the same name.

I did ride through Davis Camp to see what it is like.  It appeared all it had was a couple of fire rings built up.  Not really a "Developed" area.  One thing I did notice while riding around in the "Camp Ground" was all the signs inside the camp ground are all shot up.  Really?  You need to shoot a sign?  You must be a piss poor hunter!  I never have understood the shooting of signs.  I just don't see the thrill in it!  I did not take any pictures of the shot up signs but I did get one of the sign that says no shooting!

My next stop is Evans Flat Camp Grounds.  It is just 3 miles up the road.  I had never been there so I did not really know what to expect.  Turns out, it is a nicely developed camp ground with designated camp sites, tables and fire pits.  Looks like a nice place to camp.  Did not see any shot up signs in the camping area I road around.  There appears to be a little bit of history at this camp ground.  That is just an added bonus.  If you get there, read the sign!

So, I poked around Evans Flat Campground for a short time and then headed up the road.  So far the trip has been uneventful.  The road has been the same as it was on Friday.  That was about to change.  I came upon this mud puddle.  This picture was taken from the north end of the puddle.  I was riding south to north.

Now, this mud slick starts up around the corner.  I figured I would ride the high side thinking it would not be as slick as the low side, towards the mountain.  Keeping in mind I have basically street tires on the GSA I knew going in this was going to be a little sporty.  Everything is going okay until about half way through.  I started to slide to the down hill side.  I have experienced this fate before and did not want to experience it again.  I pushed the bike into a rut thinking I could just ride the rut out to the end.  I almost made it but the tires filled up with mud and became a little too slick for me to handle.  Right at the end of the rut I lost it and down I went!  I was like 20 feet away from the end of this mess!!   I was riding the rut on the far left of the picture.  I got to know the rut on the right side of picture really well!

No damage to the bike, no damage to me!  You can see the tires are full of mud making for no traction what so ever!

So, I laughed off this little get off and tried to clean up a little bit and tighten down my left mirror that got knocked loose.  Good fun stuff!  Put my gear back on and started up the road again.  I figured how much worse can it get?  Well, it did.  I went through one section which was worse than this one.  I was able to clean it.  How, I don't know, but I did!  Then I came upon this little section.  It is right at the end of the road!  I only had this last 100 yards to ride before I was back on the pavement!  The right side looked better than the left so I took it.  Cleaned it no problem!

Well, I had a great time!  Made the loop again and got very dirty doing it!  I did learn that if I am going to be playing in the mud I need some TKC's on the GSA to make it work!  Made it to the summit and headed home so I could pass out candy to the Trick or Treaters!