Thoughts on "Head Ons" and Near Miss Accidents

The purpose of this blog is to provide information to those who wish to find an easier source concerning information about Stonyford OHV. That is the very point of the blog: to bring many resources to a certain point. I do wish to market this site to drive traffic and I realized (although not on a large scale) that this blog might drive more traffic to Stonyford.

Now on that note we need to be careful. The more people there are at Stonyford the more likely your chances are of getting into a head on collision with another rider or ATV. Holidays, races, and ideal weather conditions will foster more people arriving to shred Stony. 

Since we cannot control how many people go up we can employ a certain strategy for avoiding head on collisions.

1) Be ready to ride as soon as its bright enough to see in the morning. The early you start your day the more likely you wont see anyone while riding. The vast majority of people like family and friends go up, drink the night before, wake up about 9-10 to ride. Leave early in the morning and try to finish riding by 3.

2) Try your best to ride during the week. This is the same trick one uses when going to Tahoe to ski. If you want to avoid the lines go during the week and certainly avoid holidays.

3) Be smart about where you pin it. I know this sounds stupid to mention but a lot of my friends who are VERY fast speed in areas that are just STUPID. If someone where to be coming around a corner at any speed the impact would always produce broken bones. Speed where you know areas well and perhaps even taking breaks in safe parts of the trail to listen for any trace of someone being out on a trail near you.

Keep checking back for interesting industry updates as well as information concerning OHV use in the Mendocino National Forest! Thanks for reading! Tell a friend!

Stony OHV for Memorial Day!

Heading up to Stony this weekend! This might end up being a torturing idea but I am not brining my bike up. Me and a buddy are gonna camp at a few locations and check out some spots in the Stony OHV area. Were hoping to hit up Snow Mountain, which in the 15 years I've been going up there have never stopped to visit, I want to attempt to find Blue Slides lake which should be a short hike off a mountain road that veers off M-10 once you start heading towards the Upper Lake OHV area. Basically I'm going to have a lot of great information to contribute to this blog as well as pictures of areas that are hard to find pictures of!

I don't know about you but I love this area so I think putting some cool photos up will prove to find some appreciative viewers! Have a great memorial day weekend! Brap!

Keep checking back for interesting industry updates as well as information concerning OHV use in the Mendocino National Forest! Thanks for reading! Tell a friend!

Stonyford OHV / Upper Lake OHV Corridor 17N16!

Me and my buddy found ourselves all of a sudden about 1/4 mile away from the Stony Ford entrance to the OHV corridor that links Stony Ford to Penny Pines/Upper Lake OHV area. We had taken trail 45 which dumps you out on a trail/road intersection area. We took out the map and noticed that M-10 and road 17N16 was only another 1/4 on trial 45 where it would dump us right where we needed to be to link up to the OHV corridor.

Once trial 45 ended we hooked a gentle left hand turn and about 2 minutes later, there it was: the Upper Lake/ Stony Ford OHV Corridor, Route 17N16!

As soon as we found it I was ecstatic! I felt like we found a secret backside to Stonyford no one else had ever found! 

I was able to ride in neutral with the engine off most the way once I was on the OHV Corridor route, 17N16. There were a few slow spots but nothing a quick bump start wouldn't fix. We came across a fork in the road which was an uphill left turn with a road that said Bartlett Springs Road. I'm sure if I looked it up I would find it but this is the road 17N04! This road leads to Crab Tree Springs which is closed off the the public. Actually you could follow this road all the way out to the Indian Valley Resovoir entrance. The sign reads of another historic springs location down this road but Crabtree Hot Springs is on this road as well and is privately owned and closed off to the public. I believe they actually blocked off the whole road which limits the tributary access to Upper Lake from the main "artery" corridor, 17N16.

Passing the access point to 17N04 a few miles down the corridor you eventually will hit the first trail for the Upper Lake area trail #37! This is a fun little Green/Blue rated trail. However at the bottom of this trail before you ascend back up the canyon you just descended you must cross a river and BE CAREFUL! this river looks way shallower then it actually is! lol no joke it will only look like a couple of inches then before you know it your front tire is half submerged.

Once you are up and over and into the tree's you then begin to see access to the rest of the Upper Lake/Penny Pines/Middle Creek Riding Areas.

I highly recommend considering a few things before you make this ride:

1) your fuel capacity. Will you have enough fuel to make it there and back a few wrong turns could leave you sleeping far away from either Stony Ford or Penny Pines depending on where you started. 2) What is the weather like? If you are riding into Upper Lake beware of puddles galore! Not only that the creek crossing might be too intense and some trails could be close due to rain thus ruining your entire trip and experience. 3) People grow pot in this area. Some own the property and some don't. NEITHER like trespassers and stray trail blazers. 4) PLAN and MAP out your trip before you go. Once you have the general access points figured out it shouldn't be too difficult to navigate around. Until you understand how to access both Stony Ford and Upper Lake from both directions either RESEARCH or go there in a jeep/truck to map it out yourself.

IF YOU DO TAKE A TRUCK OR JEEP be very careful of moto riders and stay on 4x4 designated trails ONLY! If you are on a multi OHV use trail make sure you have a spotter help direct you around blind, "wide open" looking turns to help direct traffic that could potentially cater themselves on your front end. NO BUENO!

Thanks! brap.

Heres a great video coming from Upper Lake heading down towards the creek you cross to go up to Stony Ford

at the end of the video you see a creek crossing with a trail directly on the other side. If you were to follow that trail (trail #37) you will head up to 17N16. When you hit the road turn right and you'll be in Stonyford OHV in less than 10 minutes!

TRAIL 21 CLOSED

Tail #21 - Little Sullivan is currently the only closed trail due to fire damage. Fallen trees and fire debris have yet to be maintained on this trail. Trail #21 parallels M-5 and then shoots out into the hills.

As of 9/30/14 "Little Sullivan" is back in action. Ride on brah!