Sean, nice to e-meet you. First off, you are a legend for putting together the CSTR. Thank you for all of your time and effort on this. I?ve stumbled upon the treasure troves of knowledge you and everyone has shared on this forum. Alas, looks like I?m 4+ years too late in discovering this but I?ve found the GPX files so will possibly attempt next year.

You speak of a route that heads from Auburn to Greagle, Downieville, Nevada City back to Auburn.

Let me look and see if I still have that laying around. I'm sure I do, just need to figure out what computer it's on.

This sounds so epic that when I first read your post I almost dropped my phone. Do you have this documented anywhere? Is there a GPX file that you can share?!

I recently moved up to Rocklin and would absolutely love to try this route one day. I?ll work on my own route but figured you may have it and would have created the best possible gem of a trail network just like the CSTR.

Hoping all is well with you and everyone on this forum.


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Let me look to see if I still have that laying around. I'm sure I do, just need to figure out which computer it's on.

I've toured the entire 750 route three times in Oct. and tried to race it unsuccessfully a few times in April. I really do like the route in the fall but I can tell you the overgrowth in the southern sections below Kelvin really can be next level. Handlebar height grass trough the Canelos and beyond. I really struggled doing Oracle Ridge in the dark and I think that was actually less overgrown than the previous miles. I seem to remember a few racers trying to ITT in the fall years ago getting beat back from trying to ride through the grass at night, I found it to be pretty difficult.

I also spent the coldest night of my life on the Mogollon Rim with a male Moose/ Elk bugling within 50 yards of me the entire night! There seemed to be a lot of hunters out that time of year, lots of folks in RV's and such. I looked on the AZGFD site and found some overlap for elk season in the Flagstaff area for the race dates though I don't know the area well enough to say where.  I just know there were a lot of people in the woods north of Payson.

Thank you to John for taking the reins. The route was hard enough as it was, not sure what to expect with the new additions but hopefully I'll be able to find out next year.

Everyone finished up strong this year. Congratulations to all, it was a really tough year conditions wise and the fact that they all finished is a testament to their strength and determination. Well done!!!

That's a wrap for this year and also for the race as this will be the last running of it. If anyone wants the GPX file you should get it pretty quickly as I'll be taking the website down in a week or so. Thanks to everyone who toed the line for this adventure.

Forest, just had to get this off my chest. I find it interesting you describe it as a shorter version of the CTR when I feel it is a knockoff of the California Sierra Trail Race. Lets be honest here, so far and likely never will somebody be doing a CTR lite for those that can't do the CTR.

I've only met you a few times and you seem to be a great guy, and I'm sure this will be very popular, but you've now single handedly killed off two of three closest races to me. Please don't do a TNCA lite....

Mat,
I think that Phillip is spot on and you'll likely see just a bit less snow than the racers have. Those are the two highest sections and snow will probably be there for another month. There will be some snow in areas Phillip hasn't been into yet, but just north facing drifts.  There will be trees down all over the course, most of the course has really only been open for a month now due to the brutal winter we had and trailwork crews are just now starting to get some work done. Many areas are user maintained so no formal trailwork. You'll be fine, it's still in good shape for the majority of the route.

The racers all look great. Josh is very strong and has done some extra mileage by coming down into Truckee the first night. Sara and Phillip look to be riding back and forth together. They are both strong riders and know the pace they need to keep to finish. I predict all racers will finish this year, a first and hopefully due to the easier first day, which still included 15,000' of climbing in the first 100 miles. As for me, I only rode on Friday till about 5. I have too much work going on and the only way I could start with the group was to work Saturday to make up for Friday. Had a great time, though I'm getting tired of only doing the hard sections.....

Here's the Trackleaders sign up. https://form.jotformpro.com/trackleaders/calsierra17

If you need to rent a SPOT, let Scott know soon and I'll make sure it gets to you on or before the race start.

Sean, looked at the revised gpx file.  question: do you intend to take fuelbreak trail 100 yards after crossing foresthill bridge or the old dirt road at gate 114B that is about 15 yards after crossing the bridge?  The gpx file does not show a track at that location.

Up fuelbreak. I updated the track on the site. Check it and make sure. I find that the cached copy shows up sometimes.....

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Here's the google sheets signup for those who want to be on the list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fUndkKttzHUqsH01drDpvu_HZ_fgIIHgqZncwTm8NxY/edit?usp=sharing

Rode some of the course this weekend, nothing unusual, pretty much everything below 7500' is ok. Unfortunately we still have another 1500' to go for a lot of the route. We have 100+ degree temps in the valley and mid 80's in the Sierra this week and next, so that will really help. A few people have inquired as to whether the date will remain the same. I'm up for a group decision but I'm leaning towards keeping it and just letting everyone experience a bit more adventure I'll be heading up  over the next few weeks and will report back. It's been a all time record year for snow this year, but I'm hoping that we'll be in mostly decent shape in a month.

Forest service board says robinson flat is unreachable as of yesterday.  I parked at robinson flat & mosquito ridge road and rode the glenn canyon segment. Moved some debris but in good shape.  Then continued to french meadows, hell hole and took road 21 to 11 pines road.  Just before the ellicott bridge, the road is 99.5% gone, literally.  Huge hole with a 1 foot wide path on the uphill side.  then on the other side of the bridge, downed trees cover the road entirely all the way to Road 1.  I have some pictures but don't know how to reduce the size.

so, decided to take hunters trail.    Extremely overgrown and the trail is lost as you enter section 7, T13N R13E.  Camped for the night  and finished bushwaking up to the logging roads back to Road 21.  Should have gone north on 14N20 for a shorter distance.  But exploration happens.

Road 21 is open and fine except some water, mud close to the Road 2 connection (big meadows).    Beautiful views but sad for the burned areas.

Plenty of water sources but some will dry up by July.

Yeah, it's so sad that we can't go out that way anymore. You're a tough SOB to even attempt that, it was hard BEFORE the fire went through.

I'm going to do some scouting this weekend and make a call as to whether we do it on the current date or push it out a month. I also have a route that heads from Auburn to Graeagle, Downieville and Nevada City before returning to Auburn. We have to be able to get out Foresthill Road to Soda Springs for that one as well so we'll see how it goes the next couple of weeks. Raining here in Foresthill today.......

I haven't been up that way, but my guess is you'll get turned around before you get to Robinson Flat which is 7000'. It could be a long slog out Soda Springs Road so just be aware of that. You can use the current track on the website but the area across Foresthill Bridge is left out right now. Just go across the bridge and look for a gate going uphill to your left as you get to the end of the parking area. From there you'll be fine.

I don't really care which way you go. Having ridden it both ways though, there's a reason it goes clockwise.

If it's too wet to cross the meadow, we'll be doing something else because just the act of getting there will be much harder than crossing a wet meadow.  If it looks like days of slogging through the snow I'll do a completely different course that stays down lower. It will be a surprise to all of us!

That part of the route will be changing with the loss of some of the higher stuff. We'll likely do Manzanita down to the confluence and back up to the connector like we did the first couple of years. I haven't decided yet so I haven't changed it yet. I'll make a decision here pretty quick.

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That part if the route will be changing with the loss of some of the higher stuff. We'll likely do Manzanita down to the confluence and back up to the connector like we did the first couple of years. I haven't decided yet so I haven't changed it yet. I'll make a decision here pretty quick.

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Yep, logging is what they do up in these parts, especially given the recent fires, so that will always be an issue. Generally it's never anything more than an inconvenience. Rarely are any roads closed due to logging, and we wouldn't know till sometime closer to the race regardless. WS will always be clear and Deadwood Rd. is a FS road, so unless there is a closure order for it they have to keep it clear or allow for some other way around it.

 I'm more worried about the 30' of snow at the top of the TRT than anything else....

Last I heard it wasn't happening as an official event. I have the GPX but I'm not sure Trevor wants it out there so I'll keep it to myself until I know otherwise. I'm sure someone else will chime in on the subject.

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I'm guessing that FS will do a reroute to move the trail up higher on the north side, they paved the lower reaches of the trail on the south side which in hindsight seems like a waste of money. Really, most of the north side would be unaffected until it gets closer to the campground.
 
It's hard to know, I haven't seen a recreation analysis review of the project. That's a very popular area so I would hope that they supplement the project funding for recreational repairs.

There are plenty of dirt options to get around the lake if they don't. It won't be a problem if and when the project proceeds. This isn't a new idea, they've been floating it around for years. 

In the grand scheme of things, it's the least of my worries. Fires on the other hand......

Matthias,
Easier is relative in this case. I took out the OHV Trail 6 because while it's fun in some spots, it's a tough HAB pretty early in the first day. I also removed the backwards ascent of Hole in the Ground trail. The third was just a correction of something I screwed up last year in the track and didn't notice, a reroute of the TRT that was years old but for some reason I didn't get it in the track

I'm trying to make an easier first day for everyone. It's gone from brutal the first couple of years, to really hard last year to pretty doable for everyone this year. I think a sub 4 day finish is very attainable now for anyone who's prepared. Mileage is just a little shorter, not enough to make much of a difference, but the first day climbing is much easier.

Thanks for providing the maps, as you can see, lots of squiggly lines got deleted!

Slightly earlier date this year as well, might be a bit of snow still in some spots.
 
Hoping my shoe holds together this year