Spent the 3-day weekend in Mendocino National Forest (too bad I was in a weak 2.0 liter VW golf!). Found lots of 'WRC' roads, especially suited to the WRX. Good paved roads too. The road out of Stonyford (Colusa county) up into Letts Valley (through Fouts Springs) can be a little rough (paved parts), but then goes to smooth gravel, and I think this road goes all the way through Snow Mtn Wilderness to Clear Lake.

Also County Road 306 out of Stony Ford up to Elk Creek, then west (left) onto SR 162, which is an awesome twisty road which climbs the east slope of the Coast Range, is paved for 16 miles or so, then becomes FH7 (gravel, somewaht rough in spots), which eventually takes you through Mendocino Forest, then onto Covelo and then drops you onto 101 up past Fort Bragg. Anyway, up near the summit on FH7 (just west of Plaskett Lakes), it turned waaaaay muddy and we almost sunk door-deep in the Golf....I had to turn back. But in a WRX or Forrester.....he he he he.

unfold your Forest Service Maps and top off your tank.....

 

Sounds like fun!

2 weeks ago my GF and I headed up to Auburn, and we drove Ponderosa Way, 30 mile dirt road from ForestHill Road to Applegate, and it was a blast.

 

Sounds sweet.
Every time i stumble onto a great long dirt road i never seem to be in the right car either. Last time was up in Oregon between Crater lake over Mt. Thielsen and down somewhere near Oakridge. Started out a beautiful tight winding tarmac road. But about 15 miles into it the road came to an end. For the next 40 miles or more we went up and over two more mountain ranges. Never seeing another car. I was in my other WRC car the Ford Focus. But as you know it's no WRX.
The other time we (my wife and i) were Just west of Taos NM. And found another great 10 mile dirt/ gravel road that run near the Rio Grand River. Is wasn't quite as nice as the one in Oregon though. Plus i was in a rental car. A big Toyota Avalon. No fun for rallying.
Lucky for me though. I live on a 3/4 mile dirt road in west Marin and any time i feel like throwing the car sideways i just step outside for short sprints.

rich
p.s. GO PETTER!!!!

 

envy...

 

I love this place, however, after cutting two tires in two weeks I've had to postpone further trips until rally tires are a budgetable item.

[some of the pics from my report last year have dropped out, but some remain]
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...eferrerid=6817

 

I just drove that road out of Stony Ford over to Clear lake. Decided to the looooong way home from the RallyX at Thunderhill in May. Part of it is called M6. I don't recommend it, at least this time of year. The road up is great, smooth wide gravel. A few fallen trees mostly cut back and one huge rock. Up around Snow Mountain the road goes down to one lane and is quite rough. Snow Mountain still had snow on it but the road was dry all the way. Lots of scree and a big tree only just cut back enough to get through. I got a flat from wood splinters but fortunately had a full size spare. On the way down the other side it is narrow but reasonable. There is one shallow ford across a stream, then it gets a rutty but not too bad. And then there is the problem - a two and a half car length ford that's more than 2 feet deep for a good part of it and has stepp entry and exit and a big rock on the exit side. I waded around it pondering but decided that it wasn't worth the risk. Getting the car stuck in river in the middle of nowhere didn't sound appealing so I turned back.

About 5 miles back I met a family in a truck that I had said hello to before Snow Mountain. He offered to tow me across but said there was another road I could take rather than back tracking all the way back on that rough road. So I followed him down. Turned out he was mistaken about the road and a had thought the ford was another one. Well we decided to try the towing thing but first we build some cairns with the river rocks around the big one on the exit to lift the font of my car over. I tied some baggies over my exhaust pipe and we attached my tow strap between the toe eye and his tow bar. We duct tapped the hooks too keep them from slipping off, and he towed me right across. The water came most of the way up the doors but none leaked in. I followed him to the next ford, Bear creek I think, and we did the same trick. It is possible I could have made that one. It seemed shallower but since I had the tow I took it.

The road up from bear creek was windy packed clay - lots of fun. It intersects with M1, a tarmac road that basically corkscrews down to Clearlake. I then took 29 and 175, 29 again and the Silverado Trail down to Napa and 161 back to Marin.

So 130 miles and just under 2 hours to get to Thunderhill and 220 miles and 8 hours to get back. Lot of fun and a bit of an adventure. Next time maybe some winter tires, duct tape, oh and a 4X4 support vehicle

The other thing I learned from this trip and another similar adventure in Kings Canyon that also involved towing (but that's another story ) is that the Delorme maps are great, for showing you just enough detail to really get yourself places you probably shouldn't go.
Tim

 

That big rock

 

SnowMountain looking pretty

 

A better part of the single track

 

i would have just driven through the river, done it before where the water came up over the hood and it made it through fine a little scary though

 

Well next time you can go first and if you make it across undamaged I'll follow Otherwise I'm getting the 4X4 support vehicle to tow me.

 

Wow, sounds like a hairy adventure!! When my wife and I were driving up to Lett's Lake out of Stonyford, I was thinking how cool it would be to run the WRX up from Upper Lake through to Lett's Lake, or even past Lake Pillsbury up on M-1 up to FH-7, then following the road out of Covelo up to Zenia, Blocksburg and then on to SR36 (an absolutely freakin awesome drive if you have the time, but judging from your story about Snow Mountain, you make the time for cool drives!). I had posted here a few weeks ago about a 2-3 day tour through Nor Calif, including SR 128 from Cloverdale through Boonville (mandatory stop at Anderson Valley brewery for a cold pint), then up Highway 1, back over to 101 and then through Six Rivers Nat'l Forest and then......???? Who Knows!! Anyway, your trip sounded really interesting, thanks for posting the pictures.

talk soon,
Jim

 

That water crossing gets more manageable later in the year.
I did it in June of last year and it still went over the hood, (glad I haven't removed my silencer!) but by august it's down to just a bit above the axles.

Later in the year there are also less tree and rock hazards.

Try to be nice to the locals up there, some of us SCCA people want to do performance rallies back up that way, and we don't want folks hating rally cars before we even get there.

 

jeez jim, i would have thought you'd have realized how much VWs suck by now.

hello, they're FWD!!! and FWD is the devil. duh. (and i'm talking about Golfs here)

 

Yeah Jim, it was a lot of fun. Actually looking at the map I mispoke the route I took. It was 162 west out of Willows. I turned off 162 at Elk Creek, through the "town" and then took Ivory Mill Rd westward. This isn't marked at the turn off but its basically the first right passed the "landing field". I think it's marked a few miles up just before the tree line where there is an intersection with a dirt road that goes south. Ivory Mill Rd intersects with a road along the ridge that was signed as M3 (although my CHP/AAA map say it's M6 to the south and FH7 to the north). Jim, my 4X4 tow man says they re-designate the roads quite often

Looking that the map I think I did the reverse first section of the route you suggest. The north end looks like a lot of fun but I'd have to find another excuse than getting home from Thunderhill to do it Its a looooooooong way. Have you actually driven it or are you like me, more at the hankering stage?

Be fun to put together a small Subaru expedition/camping trip (be nice to have someone with a 4X4 just for good measure.)

Tim
PS: here's another one of a relatively good part of the single track.