PCRover
Adventurer
Trip Report: Butte Bar trail, Deadman Spring, Plumas National Forest
Had some fun this weekend on the trail with the kids so thought I would share a quicky trip report with the forum.
Butte Bar trail, Deadman Spring, Plumas National Forest, 7/2/06
This Saturday afternoon adventure started off from our Cabin in Meadow Valley, CA which is surrounded by the Plumas National Forest. After looking over some topo maps for todays trip I decided it was time to figure out a way to get to the Middle Fork of the Feather River. We found the Butte Bar Trail, a trail labeled as 4wd that according to the topo leads to and crosses the Middle Fork of the Feather River. This trail is about 8 miles away via well used logging roads in the area. The logging roads are fun, but not challenging and the dust is that rivaling some of the Nevada runs I have been on.
My stepson Alex and youngest son Greg went out first on the Rhino, and my oldest son Mike and I followed in the Discovery. After braving the dust from the logging roads we finally found the start of the trail and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as it is spectacular in the Feather River area. The trail starts at the top of a very forested ridge and heads down towards the river at a very quick rate. The trail itself is not to difficult but due to the grade low range 1st or second was in order. This would not be a trail to attempt in wet slippery conditions unless you like winching a whole bunch when comeing back out.
We came across the Deadman Spring site as we attempted to find our way down the trail to the river. There is a primitive campsite established with a fire pit, some shelves, a very small table made out of a tree stump. the trail turns very narrow here and splits in two directions. One direction was too steep and narrow for the Discovery and very steep and slippery so we decided not to attempt it with the Rhino either. The other direction was flat, but blocked by a large fallen tree that had been cut, but not wide enough for the Discovery to pass. There was plenty of room for the Rhino to get by so off went the two kids to check out the trail to see if we wanted to continue or turn back.
About 100yds in the trail basically disappeared and became impassable except on foot. It was to narrow to turn around so they started to back out when disaster almost struck. Alex, who is not very experienced in trail driving, managed to get his right side wheels of the trail on the down hill side and was slipping further down the slope with every attempt to extract himself. Wisely he stopped and called for help.
I took a look at the situation and decided the safest recovery would be to rig up the winch line from the Discovery through a pulley off a tree to the roll cage on the Rhino. This would allow us to stabilize the Rhino from any sideways movement down the hill while we drove it backwards out of the predicament. After rigging up a tree strap and pulley, we ran the winch line to the Rhino and attached it with another strap to the roll cage. I took up the slack in the cable and found it was easy enough to just pull the Rhino back up onto the trail with the winch. We left the rigging in place as the Rhino moved rearward and onto safe level ground.
The pictures here are of the Rhino are after we got it back up on the trail.
This was a good lesson for the kids in how important it is to know where your wheels are when driving and also a good recovery situation for them to learn from.
After stowing all the recovery gear we headed out of Deadman Spring and back up the trail still looking for a way to get down to the river. About 1/4 mile back up the trail there was another trail we passed earlier so we decided to give it a shot. The Topo showed it not going all the way to the river, but we wanted to see for ourselves where it ended. On the way down we came across a downed tree that was partially blocking trail. The Rhino had no problem going around it but the Discovery was going to be a little close on the downhill side. With a little spotting from my son Mike we made it around the tree and were on our way. The topo was right as the trail did end short of the river but what it didn't show was a large abandoned mining operation that was there at the end of the trail. The trail ends abruptly with what looks like a 500' drop down to the river.
It is a beautiful spot that has been trashed by the junk left behind. There were a dozen abandoned cars, motorcycles, and even a trailer or two that were simply pushed over the edge of the cliffs and left to rust away. There is also lots of misc mining junk spewed all over the place.
I can see why the vehicles were left behind as the trail out is so steep I don't see how they would ever get them out except maybe by towing them behind a 4WD vehicle. It was probably easier to just leave them there.
This butterfly didn't seem to care...
Checking the gas supply in the Rhino showed us it was time to start back as we had used about half of the gas we started out with.
The trip back was fun and uneventful as we made our way back up the steep grades of the trail back towards the logging roads we came in on. Overall we were gone about 3hrs and had a great time checking out the trails and trying to find a way down to the river. I told the kids next time we'll try a differt set of trails in a continued attempt to get down to the Middle Fork of the Feather River.
Had some fun this weekend on the trail with the kids so thought I would share a quicky trip report with the forum.
Butte Bar trail, Deadman Spring, Plumas National Forest, 7/2/06
This Saturday afternoon adventure started off from our Cabin in Meadow Valley, CA which is surrounded by the Plumas National Forest. After looking over some topo maps for todays trip I decided it was time to figure out a way to get to the Middle Fork of the Feather River. We found the Butte Bar Trail, a trail labeled as 4wd that according to the topo leads to and crosses the Middle Fork of the Feather River. This trail is about 8 miles away via well used logging roads in the area. The logging roads are fun, but not challenging and the dust is that rivaling some of the Nevada runs I have been on.
My stepson Alex and youngest son Greg went out first on the Rhino, and my oldest son Mike and I followed in the Discovery. After braving the dust from the logging roads we finally found the start of the trail and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as it is spectacular in the Feather River area. The trail starts at the top of a very forested ridge and heads down towards the river at a very quick rate. The trail itself is not to difficult but due to the grade low range 1st or second was in order. This would not be a trail to attempt in wet slippery conditions unless you like winching a whole bunch when comeing back out.
We came across the Deadman Spring site as we attempted to find our way down the trail to the river. There is a primitive campsite established with a fire pit, some shelves, a very small table made out of a tree stump. the trail turns very narrow here and splits in two directions. One direction was too steep and narrow for the Discovery and very steep and slippery so we decided not to attempt it with the Rhino either. The other direction was flat, but blocked by a large fallen tree that had been cut, but not wide enough for the Discovery to pass. There was plenty of room for the Rhino to get by so off went the two kids to check out the trail to see if we wanted to continue or turn back.
About 100yds in the trail basically disappeared and became impassable except on foot. It was to narrow to turn around so they started to back out when disaster almost struck. Alex, who is not very experienced in trail driving, managed to get his right side wheels of the trail on the down hill side and was slipping further down the slope with every attempt to extract himself. Wisely he stopped and called for help.
I took a look at the situation and decided the safest recovery would be to rig up the winch line from the Discovery through a pulley off a tree to the roll cage on the Rhino. This would allow us to stabilize the Rhino from any sideways movement down the hill while we drove it backwards out of the predicament. After rigging up a tree strap and pulley, we ran the winch line to the Rhino and attached it with another strap to the roll cage. I took up the slack in the cable and found it was easy enough to just pull the Rhino back up onto the trail with the winch. We left the rigging in place as the Rhino moved rearward and onto safe level ground.
The pictures here are of the Rhino are after we got it back up on the trail.
This was a good lesson for the kids in how important it is to know where your wheels are when driving and also a good recovery situation for them to learn from.
After stowing all the recovery gear we headed out of Deadman Spring and back up the trail still looking for a way to get down to the river. About 1/4 mile back up the trail there was another trail we passed earlier so we decided to give it a shot. The Topo showed it not going all the way to the river, but we wanted to see for ourselves where it ended. On the way down we came across a downed tree that was partially blocking trail. The Rhino had no problem going around it but the Discovery was going to be a little close on the downhill side. With a little spotting from my son Mike we made it around the tree and were on our way. The topo was right as the trail did end short of the river but what it didn't show was a large abandoned mining operation that was there at the end of the trail. The trail ends abruptly with what looks like a 500' drop down to the river.
It is a beautiful spot that has been trashed by the junk left behind. There were a dozen abandoned cars, motorcycles, and even a trailer or two that were simply pushed over the edge of the cliffs and left to rust away. There is also lots of misc mining junk spewed all over the place.
I can see why the vehicles were left behind as the trail out is so steep I don't see how they would ever get them out except maybe by towing them behind a 4WD vehicle. It was probably easier to just leave them there.
This butterfly didn't seem to care...
Checking the gas supply in the Rhino showed us it was time to start back as we had used about half of the gas we started out with.
The trip back was fun and uneventful as we made our way back up the steep grades of the trail back towards the logging roads we came in on. Overall we were gone about 3hrs and had a great time checking out the trails and trying to find a way down to the river. I told the kids next time we'll try a differt set of trails in a continued attempt to get down to the Middle Fork of the Feather River.
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