Rode Hole in the Ground on Oct 9th 2007. Cold, muddy, swampy, and not nearly as good as it is RIGHT NOW I bet. At this point I really thought riding season was over. After a few weeks of high pressure and sun however, trails are back to amazing right now. Rode Toad's Today Nov 7th, and it was all time. No snow or mud.

I'm going to get my bike trail guidebook back on the website soon, probably in just a sticky above the biking topic. For the meantime, here's the super basic way to do this ride as a loop.


Hole in the Ground Loop:
17 miles, 3-4 hours, fairly rocky in places. Perfect for 5 and 6" travel bikes. Nothing dangerously steep or challenging. Meadows, Granite, Views, easy to navigate...one of Truckee's best rides.

Take the Boreal Exit off of Hwy 80 and park on the north side of the highway, at the end of the pavement, just a few hundred yards on the north side of I-80. Ride the only dirt road uphill and bear right at an intersection that comes up quickly. In about 2 miles, look for a big wooden trailhead sign on your left for Hole in the Ground Trail. Climb this trail for 30-45 minutes to a nice viewpoint of Castle Peak.

Descend, climb, descend....and definatey take the .5 mile detour at a sign for lower montez lake near the end of the ride. Keep going after that and take a left in a mile or so at a signed left turn onto a singletrack. Bomb down this fun, steep singletrack, and take a left where it ends at a "T" intersection on a fire road. Look for another singletrack in a mile that dumps you out near the Sugarbowl Fire Dept.

Cross I-80 and ride up old hwy 40 towards Sugarbowl Ski Area. Go a mile or two past the stop light. Look for a sign on the left saying "Snowlab Road". If you reach the first parking lot for Sugarbowl Ski Area on the right, you went too far. Snowlab road is a powerline dirt road. It is hard to find only because the sign is home made, and a few hundred feet in from the road.After 4 easy miles of climbing on Snow Lab Road, you reach the Boreal Ski Area Parking Lot. Go under I-80 and find your car.

_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

Here are some pictures from late July and a ride description that is different from my previous post. I prefer to do it this way, where your car is at the end of the trail.

This is the best mountain bike ride in Truckee, with 14 miles of continuous, beautiful, diverse singletrack. You can do hole-in-the-ground in a variety of ways. The easiest way is by car shuttle, which you can figure out easily reading about the best option (A Loop).

Park your car near the Soda springs Fire Station. This is a short dead end asphalt road right where Donner Pass Road meets Highway 80. If travelling from I-80, take the Sugarbowl - Soda Springs exit and stay on the north side of the higway. Don't park on private property or in the Fire Department driveway.

Now ride south on Donner Pass road, past the blinking light, and turn left at an old sign for Snow Laboratory. This is just before the Sugarbowl Gondola ski area parking lot. There are some small cabins in the woods. Climb this powerline dirt road until it ends at the Boreal Ski Area Parking Lot.

Now ride underneath I-80. There is only one road, paved for a few hundred yards before turning to dirt. Ignore the branch left which goes to Andesite Peak. In a mile or two you will come to the Hole in the Ground trailhead on your left. There is a big sign and the singletrack climb begins. If you miss the trailhead, you the dirt road ends a mile later where it hits the PCT.

Definately check out the two granite ringed lakes you pass. They are a very short detour and signed. They are on the map. WE SELL IT. Adventure maps Lake Tahoe Trails. This is the only map you need for all of tahoe and truckee. Not that it's got every trail, but it's the best one by far.

There are a few left turns near the end of the ride which have signs telling you to do so. Expect 2.5 hours for the loop if you are really fast. 4 hours should get anyone around the loop. I think it's about 20 miles. Although you "could" ride it on a hardtail, this is a fairly rocky ride in places. We recommend 5" travel bikes for nearly all trails, but especially this one. The climbs are short and the scenery is magical. Go do it!

_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

So for this big-snow year on Hole In The Ground... i've got to guess at least early August, right? I mean, since we've seen years that were big on snow but not THIS big, and in some of those years there was still a lot of hiking over snow on HITG in August. If I'm remembering right.

If anyone can help clear up the guessing on this with firsthand reports that would be great.

Hi everyone, we are looking to link up HitG with the Donner Rim trail this weekend. Reports from a week ago were that there's still significant snow along the crest, in particular along the Hole-in-the-Ground trail. Anybody poking around there recently? Any and all info appreciated!