My buddy almost died there about ten years ago. Hit two water bars wrong in a row, went over the bars and broke his helmet and wrist. I found him unconscious and bloody. He eventually came to and could only speak gibberish. He slowly regained speech, but had no idea where he was or how he got there. We got him to the hospital where they diagnosed the massive concussion and broken wrist. He eventually made a full recovery, but that scared the hell out of us!
Concussions are very scary. I'm glad he made a full recovery. It's crazy how fast things can go wrong and it's usually on something you would never expect.
In the 90’s we would shoot down on the Auburn side, near Cardiac, cross the coffer dam, climb up to Omstead, do the omstead and then back to Auburn over the dam. The wider gravel roads you were on going down to the river is old Contruction road from the Auburn dam project. Wish the little coffer dam was still there.
I think to here was another person that mentioned that they did something similar. Was fairly recent. I wish that was still there because I though about trying to find a place to cross in that area. One year the river was low enough I was able to MTB all the way around Folsom lake. I waded across by a boat launch area I think Rattlesnake Bar road on the west side of the river. That was seven years ago.
There are a ton of short trails that snake throughout the place that I've never really checked out. Try to stay off the fire roads to help keep the ride more exciting.
Loved this video. I’ll try to get out there ASAP. I’m doing Darrington tomorrow but I’ll put Olmstead on the list. It looked like part of the trail was really close to the North Fork American river. I couldn’t catch the name. Do you remember what it was named?
I went down the gravel road and I was wondering how it would be if I went clockwise. You may want to consider that because I felt like the road was kinda a waste of descent. It was still fun but might be better the other way.
Yes, I did go with Tesla. I got the battery and solar and loving it so far. Can't wait to see what it can do with the longer days. It's been doing really good with the short days.
It was either on FB or in person. Met you at EG bike park and we ventured off to the curb skinny. But yes, I mentioned it. Incorporate your RU-vid name in the catch phrase.
Thanks for the video. Was trying to decide between this and Salmon Falls yesterday. Ended up riding Salmon Falls because of the river crossing here. Crossing doesn't look too bad though, I'll give this a go this weekend. Does the poppy pass work at this parking lot? Subscribed!
Thanks and thank you very much for subscribing. I don't know anything about the poppy pass and not sure if it works at the Cool parking area. I will say the Salmon Falls area is much better and more exciting for riding. I did have fun at Olmstead loop but don't want you to have super high expectations of this place. You may want to scope out some of the center trails for some adventure exploring.
I would agree with that. If you go out there and end up on just the fire roads I would give it a much lower rating. So be sure to find some singletrack alternatives.
Every time I do the Salt Creek Loop trail I swear to myself my next bike is going to be an ebike. That climb is a killer. Olmstead overall is a nice alternative to the Auburn trails. The only things going against it is the amount of horse crap and sections of it that receive very little sunlight and remain muddy throughout the year. I rode it a few weeks ago and that creek, Knickberbocker Creek, is full. No way to cross without getting feet wet. I also passed some hikers who said they saw a bear. That gave me brief pause lol. If you don't see any bear cubs I guess they'll leave you alone. JFYI, you can park for free a bit farther down the road here: www.google.com/maps/@38.8662089,-121.019272,170m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&authuser=0
Yeah, that climb almost made me want to get an Ebike. That is just massive getting out of there. It's also a lot more motivating to do the climb first then go down. LOL. I saw a bear on Confluence trail once. It was almost bashful the way it was when we rode up on it. It hid it's head in the bushes just off the side like he was hiding. Kinda of funny and weird.
