DJ1

Hey richlortz, if you can't do the camping Saturday night but are still planning to go, just let me know. I could either do the Sunday morning drive with you out of Pleasanton or if I do camp out around Auburn/Foresthill, we could probably link up somewhere around there if you wanted to.

richlortz

With no one to help the wife, I can't camp overnight. I have to make it a day trip.

DJ1

Sounds good. I'll either make the drive up with you or I'll camp out around Auburn and will wait for you there. It'll still be a 2hr drive from that point.

S_House

Hey guys. My weekend is open, so I am planning to go to the trailhead on Saturday and camp over night there. More the merrier, if anyone else has time to make the trek on Saturday. If not, I'll see you when you get there on Sunday at 11am.

DJ1

Want to check out your Billy Rockers. That's next on the mod list!

S_House

They're really solid. Now I need to scrape them up a little

DJ1

Going to make a call to the Ranger and double check the conditions for Hell Hole especially since it's around 5400 ft elevation...
back-up to the back-up will be Strawberry Pass which will at least cut our drive by 1 hour

----

http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/067.html?MR=1

... Periods of mountain snow and valley rain Sunday through Wednesday...

.Impacts...
*hazardous travel likely across the mountains with chain controls
and travel delays possible.
*Locally heavy rain and small hail possible from thunderstorms.

.Timing and strength...
*first system: Sunday through Sunday night. 2 to 8 inches of snow
possible above 3500 feet. Snow levels may lower to around 2500 at
times.
*Second system: Monday night into Wednesday. 6 to 12 inches in the
mountains above 4000 feet... and locally over a foot over highest
peaks. Snow levels 3000 to 4000 ft. Rainfall amounts around half
an inch to 1.25 inches in the valley.

.Weather summary...
*storm number one will bring winter driving conditions and
possible travel delays to the mountains into this evening... along
with a chance of thunderstorms, mainly over Shasta County. A
second storm will bring rain and snow to the coastal range and
Shasta County area on Monday before spreading southeast Monday
night and Tuesday. Heavier rain in the valley and mountain snow
are possible... along with valley and foothill thunderstorms
possibly producing hail.

40thbdjk

Had familly over for Easter Sunday and they said there was light snow on Doner Pass this morning comming over.

DJ1

So I just called the Ranger and he actually couldn't give me a definitive answer on whether it was closed or not. He thought it might be especially with the big dump the Tahoe area is expecting tomorrow. So I also left a message with the Capital City Mountain Goat 4WD club that oversees the trail and hope to get some more input. I plan to follow up with the Ranger again on Thursday and/or Friday.

Either case, I'm giving it a 50/50 chance for Hell Hole at this point because of the 3-6" snow dump (6-12" above 7000ft) for the Tahoe area.

So as of right now, the gut check is telling me Strawberry Pass might be the one. It's only a Moderate trail, but the views are apparently incredible and seeing how the elevation range is from 5639' - 8617' this is going to be a roll-the-dice snow run.

If the snow @ Strawberry Pass is too much of a dice roll, we could instead go for something on the bay side like South Cow Mountain OHV which is up in Ukiah...

http://4x4trailmaps.com/OHVA.php?OHVA_ID=3
http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/ukiah/cowmtn.html

I'm out of suggestions at this point

Pjohn

BKGM Jeeper's club does the trail maintenance for strawberry pass. He will have the information if the trail is open or not.
With snow it is still do-able