In the information age there shouldn’t be that many gotchas, but the greatness of Yreka gravel should come as no surprise.
There have been many times driving around California I’ve looked off-road and thought the riding would be amazing.
Going through Siskiyou County there were more clues than normal seeing an abundant number of clean looking gravel roads.
My biggest quandary is opportunity living down in Southern California only passing through on the way to visit family in Oregon every few years.
Luckily when picking up my wife in Medford a couple years back I had time to kill in Yreka and of course I was going to spend it riding.
I first went for local knowledge stopping into Jefferson Bike Company meeting Bill with plenty of hot tips especially about Humbug Hurry which I was able to cover some miles on.
After doing a shortened loop, I was hooked for the views and amazing surfaces that just seemed like the tip of the iceberg.
In fact, Siskiyou County hosted four different gravel events last year showing the number of possibilities with Bill being part of the group that hosts the Greenhorn Gravel Grinder in May which I got the lowdown from also Jason and Cristal on GBC LIVE.
I’ve long yearned for my tires to hit the ground and this summer I finally got the opportunity and did not disappoint.
Jason and Bill came up with route that covers some of the Greenhorn Gravel Grinder, but in reverse though plenty to get an idea of the riding.
We started with a six mile climb up Greenhorn Road that only got into the 6%-8% range on the second half than was incredibly smooth even when it transitioned to dirt near the summit.
While expecting a long descent, I was still amazed how great the surface was and how much of it because you rarely see a manicured road like this so wide.
As the pitch started flattening out, we pulled over to the former site of Deadwood that came close to becoming Siskiyou’s County Seat, but disappeared after soon losing out.
The next twentyish miles were amazing not just for the visuals riding through Scott Valley, but just how rare there is this much open space at elevation.
While we missed the “Little Scarface” climb off of Moffett Road used in the Greenhorn Gravel Grinder, we did tackle the Big one which at four miles averaging under six percent is palatable as today’s toughest climb.
The peak was framed by a wonderful view with Mount Shasta serving as the centerpiece that was present for most of the nine mile descent.
We had one more short climb up Cram Gulch Rd. that combine the prairie feel the most on both sides of the peak.
Returning into town was mostly downhill which I’m always in favor of for ending a ride.
What I came away with in Yreka gravel is that there are so many possibilities out here and the comfortable level of exploration is that I would love to spend at least a couple of weeks wandering around Siskiyou County to explore.
Hats off to Bill, Jason & Cristal for welcoming me to your community and I hope the rest of you make it out to the Greenhorn Gravel Grinder & Siskiyou Bike Tour next May to experience this great riding first hand.