Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

New Melones, CA
January 7, 2006

Over the holidays I got a bit cocky and I broke my one ride per week rule in a major way. The knees got really inflamed, I had some emergency cortisone injections, and I had to take some time off. Once the knees calmed down the doctor said I could try some easy riding. So today I headed out to where my mountain biking began, New Melones Reservoir, near Sonora California. With about 15 miles of rolling, hard packed and very fast singletrack, this is a great ride close to home that generally doesn't stress the knees. The trails are not affected by the rain and it is a great place to do night rides. There are about four trails and if you repeat a few you can easily get in a quick 20 - 25 miles. And I always finish up with some practice on a series of eight downhill switchbacks.

It had rained most of the week and even the night before, but the trails were in great shape, and the temperature was near 65. After spending most of my life in snow and cold, I never fail to appreciate a great winter day on any trail in California. Since I've ridden there hundreds of times before, I generally only take my camera once a year during the peak of wildflower season. But on my last ride I had a close encounter with a big beautiful Bald Eagle. So I took my P&S camera just in case. Although I didn't see the Eagle this time, it worked out very well because it caused me to take it a bit easy.

The lake was formed by flooding a river in the Sierra foothills so it has backed up into many steep valleys, which makes some very interesting patterns. And for most of the ride you get a great view of the lake and/or many small tributaries. And for about half the year it is quite a beautiful place. Given the recent heavy rains, the lake is the highest I have ever seen it and there is water nearly everywhere. Below are a few photos. Here is the trail map.

End of Buckbrush Loop	Buckbrush Loop	From Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail
Connector	Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail	Angels Creek Trail	From Angels Creek Trail
Frontier Trail	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb
Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb	Tower Climb
Peninsula Loop	Peninsula Loop	From Hwy 49	From Hwy 49	From Hwy 49	From Hwy 49

Angels Creek Trail, Click for larger view

From Frontier Trail, Click for larger view

From Hwy 49, Click for larger view

Tower Climb, Click for larger view

Tower Climb, Click for larger view

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