Ebbetts Pass & Pacific Grade revisited Check here for our
original report on Ebbetts Pass! Not as many photos, but includes
some maps not found here.
June 10th, 2001...yet
another glorious day for climbing hills in the Sierras!
Ebbetts is, to me, the most beautiful of all the trans-Sierra
passes. Sure, Tioga Pass is
stunning for its dramatic granite walls and views of the Yosemite
Valley, but nothing beats Ebbetts Pass & Pacific Grade for its
uncrowded 1.5 lane roads, frequent babble of creeks, giant
redwoods and a sense that you're experiencing something very
special. Accompanying me on this ride were Brian Krause from
our Redwood City store and Mike M. --Mike--
It used to be called Red Dog Lodge,
but now it's Base Camp. Same great rates (in season
weekends, $60/2 people, plus $10 each additional).
The cafe at the fancier
lodge just down the road, where we had breakfast.
Shortly after you start climbing
(which is within a couple hundred feet of starting to ride!) you
get the obligatory photo op...24% grade ahead!
After winding around and
climbing a bit you reach the last outpost of civilization, Lake
Alpine. If you don't like steep roads, turn back now.
Another view of Alpine Lake...very
pretty!
The first switchback descending
Pacific Grade.
What, exactly, does a 24%
grade look like? Not as steep as it feels! This is the
spot where, two years ago, Bruno started laughing as the road
curved down and away from him.
1,000 feet below Pacific Grade is
Hermit Valley, a very pleasant (but short) piece of flat road.
But this ride isn't about flat roads,
is it? Out of Hermit Valley you climb about 2,000 feet to
Ebbetts Pass.
The highpoint of our ride, Ebbetts
Pass, as Brian hits the summit first.
Kinney Reservoir, a mile or two below
(east) of Ebbetts Pass, finds Brian & Mike all smiles &
ready to go.
On the way down Ebbetts
Pass we saw quite a few cyclists coming up the hill, most of them
training for the Markleeville Death Ride about a month later.
Down, down, down...
...until you level out into a valley
that used to be a bustling mining community. Not anymore!
Wolf Creek Campground,
our turnaround point and also today's base camp for a group
training for the Markleeville Death Ride. They had just done
both sides of Monitor Pass, and were getting ready for an assault
on Ebbetts. Interestingly, women outnumbered men in this
group.
On the way back we cross Silver
Creek, our constant companion on the way up Ebbetts.
If not for an occasional Bots Dot on
the highway, you could easily think it's 1920 in these
parts!
More DeathRide trainees as we start
to climb.
Out of water? There seems to be
only one campground on the east side of Ebbetts with running
water...I'd strongly suggest filling up!
The map above shows the location the campground where we found
the water.
Basically, it's on the east side of the pass, so you can get water
there on your way while heading west. Look for the first
Silver Creek crossing on the way up, just after the climb starts
to get going.
Originally I didn't have this map posted, but
today (06/23/01) I got two emails from different people,
requesting more info on the location of the water!
You might also consider one of the water bottles
with a built-in filter (so you can get water safely from any of
the many creeks you'll come across).
This is what it's all about. Trees, granite,
waterfalls, nice pavement, picture-perfect day (temps in the
low-60s to mid-80s), light breeze and friendly cyclists. Oh
yeah, and a nice hill to climb to!
At least somebody's found
a home in Shangri-La! Probably not so easy to live here in
the winter though.
Just a mile or so to go to the top...
...where we find quite a crowd at
Ebbetts Pass!
Descending from Ebbetts into Hermit
Valley at high speed isn't the easiest time to take
pictures.
But neither is climbing up Pacific
Grade. This is the very start of the climb, just past the
creek crossing.
So what's the lowest gear
on your bike? Brian had a 39/25, while I was using a
39/27. Yes, I was using the 27 at times! Curiously,
shortly after these photos were taken Brian was asking if we had
27s in stock.
Rounding the final corner to the
Pacific Grade summit. You've just climbed 1,000 feet in just over
a mile. Compare that to Highway 84, where you climb 1,000
feet in over three miles.
Mosquito Lake is appropriately named,
but I wonder if sucking on my Cytomax-enriched blood might have
created a new super-breed of high-speed endurance Mosquitoes?
Heading back to Base Camp
at the end of the ride! About 57 miles, 7700 feet of
climbing. Not nearly as tough as the Sequoia Double Metric
century the week before, nor as challenging as Sonora Pass coming
up in two weeks. But definitely a fun ride, worth the three
hours of driving to get there.
Tech notes: Mike M was riding a TREK 5500
with Campy triple, Brian Krause a TREK 5200 with a 39/53 front and
12/25 rear (to be replaced by a 12/27 for the next mountainous
ride!) and me with a TREK 5500 with 39/53 and a 12/27 rear.
I felt entirely comfortable with my gearing, but then I like
really steep hills, and prefer standing to sitting when the going
gets tough.
For the photos, I actually brought both of my
digital cameras, my standard take-photos-as-you-ride Olympus 450Z,
as well as the much higher resolution Olympus 3000. All
shots taken while riding were done with the 450Z, while most of
those where I had time to stop and set up the shot were done with
the 3000. The 3000 is capable of absolutely stunning photos,
with enlargements to 12x18 entirely reasonable. Over 150
photos were taken, which is one of the reasons it's taken so long
to get this page up...an awful lot of shots to go through and
process! --Mike--
Chain Reaction sells bicycles & accessories
from Trek, Gary Fisher, BikeFriday,Shimano, Pearl Izumi, Continental, Descente,
Sidi, Giro, Blackburn, Speedplay, Oakley, Saris, NiteRider, Bontrager,
Torelli, Look, DeFeet, Rock N Roll, Hammer, Cytomax,
Powerbar, Fox, Clif
Bar, CamelBak, Chris King, Profile Design, Craft, X-Lab and many more!
Select & join email lists
