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Day 3 After a relatively easy day (in terms of miles driven) on Day 2, we'd be hitting the dirt heading into the heart of the King Range. It's a shame so many folks think driving 6 miles on a dirt road to Usal Beach qualifies as overlanding, when there's so much more to see along the Lost...

We ended up cutting that leg short (more to come on the trip report) and taking Alderpoint Road down to the 101, as there was some haze and smoke coming in from a brush fire out by Indian Valley Reservoir to the east. I did do the entire Dyerville Loop + Bell Springs Road back in March, along...

Day 2 finds us departing Usal Beach, and heading deeper into the Lost Coast. Sadly, or perhaps for the better, most folks very rarely venture north of Usal Beach. I don't like getting caught up in the true definition of overlanding, for one, because everyone seems to have a different idea of...

@DirtWhiskey Keep in mind, you can camp NEXT to the beach, but driving on the sand/beach of Usal Road is prohibited by CA State Parks. The road to Usal Beach is a bit rutted, but not tight. There are some overgrown sections as you head north (Usal Road and parts of the King Range NCA), but...

Most folks say the Pacific Northwest (PNW) starts at Oregon's southern border. However, there is a sizable contigent of people out there who say that PNW begins in the temperate rainforests dominated by coast redwoods in Mendocino County. The region certainly has that flannel, cruncy-granola...

Some of the things we saw/experienced on days 3 & 4 included a visit to the top of Mills Peak fire lookout, a trip to upper Sardline Lake (which has fantastic views of the Sierra Buttes), so many views above Lakes Basin, a visit to Sierra Buttes lookout, and a drive through historic downtown...

More photos! Frasier Falls Lookout The falls were running a bit low given the below average snowfall of the previous winter. Camp below Mills Peak with the Sierra Buttes in the background. Future dog trainer?

Day 2 Our neighbor atop his ATV came by camp shortly after 9am as he'd promised. He'd sifted through the buckets of dirt the kids collected, and claimed to have found a few gold flakes in the gravel. He gave one of the kids the flakes in a glass bottle. The kids were all super stoked they'd...

A few Julys ago, we set out on the Lost Sierra 4x4 Trail with a small group of friends. I'd driven (or ridden on my mountain bike) the vast majority of this trail in bits and pieces, but never as one cohesive route. In an effort to spice things up a bit, I decided to alter the original route and...

With Andreas headed back home, I decided to continue my adventure deep into the Klamath Mountains. I had a couple of ideas where I might stay-- perhaps next to the east fork of the Trinity, or a quiet alpine like about an hour up the mountain. So I pointed my rig south eventually jumping onto...

The view on the drive down from Dutchman Peak. Shasta enjoyed her time at the first snowdrift, impeding our passage to Mt Ashland. Our Plan B option turned up more snowdrifts. We made it down the mountain and said our good byes at Quigley Station.

Okay-- onto the final leg of the adventure and into the Siskiyou Crest, and a short story about me cutting my trip short and limping home. It was another clear day along the Illinois River. We'd be hitting into the heart of the Siskiyou Crest, but knew there was a chance we might encounter a...

I consider myself more knowledgeable than 99% of folks on the topic of wildfires in the west, but certainly, it’s the 1% of the 1% that are experts on this-- and always enjoy talking those folks who consider the many variables at play with forest fires. The problem I have with the fire...

Sounds like you know a thing or two about wildland fires in the west. Any idea why the klamaths are so fire prone? It is the unique climate and relatively lower elevations compared to the High Cascades and High Sierra? For an area that sees relatively few visitors, and it's not like PG&E has...

Continued from my last post since ExPo won't let me create a post than exceeds 10k chars (C'mon Scott, I think you guys have enough $$$ to allow longer form posts these days ;) ) It turns out that Josephine Creek, about a mile downstream from camp was one of the earliest gold discoveries in...

After fueling up in Merlin, we followed Galice Road to the start of the track, the 311 mile Siskiyou Crest Adventure Trail. When we headed out, there were some new trails that we'd be exploring to see if we could update the original iteration of the route to include more dirt, and extend the...

The connector that links the Wild Rivers Discovery Trail in the west to the Siskiyou Crest Adventure Trail in the east, is a mixture of dirt and pavement that travels through the temperate rain forest of SW Oregon. As you drop into the Rogue River canyon, the views are impressive. Our plan was...

Full Size rigs are a cakewalk to Usal. I've also driven a Sprinter 4x4 down to Usal and managed to get it on three wheels hitting one of the ruts and hairpin turns a few years back. Now, that beast above definitely ain't gonna make it to the north fork to the smith. We were smacking low...

@sancap Expedition One out of Utah.

Some more photos from our time along the Wild Rivers Discovery Trail. Can you spot the red rock serpentine in the background? The endemic Kalmiopsis plant, only found in the Siskiyou mountains. More views! The rhododenrons stretched into the forest as far as the eye could see...