Riding in the Marble Mountains (Road to Tevis #99)

My last post covered much of Jazz’s adventures in the far north. I wanted to keep riding in the Marble Mountains separate because it was really an outstanding experience. Both my cousin and my father had suggested I ride in the Marbles while I was staying with my brother this summer. The Marble Mountain Wilderness has hundreds of miles of trails, including a good chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail. There are several trailheads, but Lovers Camp has livestock corrals and is closest to my brother’s place in Montague (52.4 miles). Most importantly, the Marble Mountains are known for their beauty and isolation. I wanted to visit from the first time I heard of them, but it would take planning.

Jump to:

Planning my rides
Getting to Lovers Camp
Lovers Camp Horse corrals
Riding up to the Marble Rim Trail
Night in the Marble Mountains
Our second ride or an exploration of blocked trails

Planning my rides

First step: Download maps!

The first thing I did was download a map onto my Gaia app. Gaia is great for this, because even the most basic maps show roads (including forest service ones) and trails (including not only the Pacific Crest Trail [henceforth PCT], but all other public paths). If you download the maps before you are out of cell service range, you can use them for driving as well as riding and hiking. Gaia maps also show water and topography, so you can find water for your horse and avoid steep canyons and cliffs. If you pay for premium, you can see private land.

Above: There was water everywhere in the Marbles. It made me think of my uncle Malcolm, who used to pack into the region. Malcolm contributed to the festivities at my wedding by introducing “creek crossings.” He told everyone that when he went into the back country, they would take a shot of whiskey before crossing water. (There weren’t any creeks at my wedding reception, but we imagined them.) You could get very drunk riding in the Marbles.

Second step: Plan trails and create routes.

One of the best things about going to endurance rides is that someone else figures out where riders and horses can safely go to see beautiful views and experience neat terrain. Someone else makes sure there is water for horses at regular intervals and no trees blocking the trail. And there are people around who know approximately where you are.

Riding in the Marble Mountains meant I would have to do that myself! There are hundreds of miles of trails, but not all would be passable for horses. Fortunately, I knew water would not be a problem. Not only had my cousin (who has packed in the area) told me there were creeks everywhere. I could see them on Gaia. (In my last post I talk about how I use Gaia to scout out water.) I was more worried about getting lost, or stuck somewhere it was difficult to backtrack out of. So before I left the house, I planned out four different routes that looked doable. Later I would find that some of the trails were marked “not suitable for livestock” by the forest service, but that wasn’t the biggest problem.

In the map below you can see my four routes. In some places they overlap, but they are purple/blue, orange, violet, and brown. They would have provided three full days of riding had things gone well. As it was, I only rode where you can see picture icons. (You can upload photos to Gaia. As long as you have location services enabled, Gaia will show them in the location you took them.) With one possible exception, the trails with no photo icons were impassable.

Getting to Lovers Camp

The drive to Lovers Camp from my brother and sister-in-law’s place is beautiful. Of course, most of the land north of Shasta is pretty, but this route took me through oh-so-beautiful Scott Valley, which is now on my list of places-I-would-happily-live. I stopped at the Salmon/Scott River District Ranger station in Ft. Jones for a fire permit and to ask questions. It was very convenient–right where you turn off Hwy 3 onto Scott River Rd., and next to a Ray’s where I bought ice and wagyu beef.

I always stop at ranger stations.

First, you usually need a permit for campfires or stoves. Second, that way someone knows where you are going. Yes, my family knew I was going there, but an official someone is always good when you are going to be in unreachable (no cell service) territory. Third, I can get maps. It’s always a good idea to have a physical map in case all your devices die. Finally, I can ask questions. This time I asked about the state of the trails. They told me that the Forest Service was working on clearing the trails, but many were still blocked. Because no one was clearing the fallen trees on the PCT, they advised against riding it. They told me that the water to the horse corrals was not yet running. They didn’t really tell me about the road.

The terrifying narrow one-lane road to Lovers Camp

They told me that road was good, paved the entire way to the campground. The map said just over 7 miles of “one-lane road with turnouts.” They didn’t tell me that it was so narrow that I had branches swiping both sides of my truck and trailer. They didn’t tell me that on one side of the road there would be a drop-off that goes down several hundred feet while the other side of the road rises quickly. Neither side has any shoulder at all. And the turnouts are few and far between. And it’s very curvy, with some turns so sharp you have to pay attention to take them just right to avoid having the trailer drop off or run into a rock. Oh and there was one railless bridge under water, and another bridge where I came within centimeters of scraping the trailer on the rail.

Of course, once you are on that road with a truck and trailer, there’s no turning round until several miles up when you get to a place where one could potentially with some maneuvering turn around. But by that time one might as well go on up to Lovers Camp. So I did, swearing I would never ever drive a horse trailer up that road again. If I had run into another rig face on, someone was going to have to be helicoptered out of there.

Fortunately I made it up without running into any traffic at all, and it’s wonderful at the top.

Above: Lovers Camp has huge horse corrals and plenty of room to park. It’s surrounded by trees, mainly cedars. Jazz was perfectly happy in that pen until dark….

Lovers Camp Horse corrals

Once you make it to the horse camp, it’s wonderful. There are four giant corrals (more than 50′ square each, I’d estimate). Each has a big stock tank and faucets, but as I mentioned above, no water running when I was there. Fortunately I had brought 20 gallons, and the creek was not far off.

There is a big turnaround and space enough for 3-4 big rigs, or more smaller ones. There are toilets, tables, and one fire pit. Only thing I really would have appreciated is a bear box. Plenty of signs telling you to hang your food, but of course I hadn’t come prepared for that. Besides, I am pretty sure bears like premium horse feed and carrots, and I can’t hang 20 lbs of carrots or 50 lbs of horse feed.

Fortunately there were no bears. There were many deer. After our first ride, Jazz and I came back to find two deer eating out of his hay bag and another eating the beet pulp mash I’d left to soak.

Above: The Canyon Creek trail has a long stairway that is perfect for human hikers. Steps keep you from slipping. But it is a challenge for horses. Jazz went up and down well.

Riding up to the Marble Rim Trail

As soon as Jazz had had a chance to drink and eat some grass, I saddled up and headed out on the trail I’d planned for our first day. It was 15.4 miles with 4,577′ total elevation gain. I planned to head up Canyon Creek Trail to where it intersects the PCT. I would then follow the PCT southwest for about a quarter of a mile. All that went exactly according to plan! The Canyon Creek Trail had been cleared and was challenging and fun. Look at the video above to get an idea of the endless stairs Jazz had to negotiate!

I came across two other people on the Canyon Creek Trail, two young men headed to Sky Lakes. As soon as we got on the PCT, I started seeing more people. I learned over the next 24 hours that lots of hikers = PCT. My brother had told me that the PCT is one of the safest places to hike alone, and I can see why. You are NOT alone, at least, not for long.

The Marble Rim

I had planned to leave the PCT to loop around on the Marble Rim and Haypress Trails to Whisky Camp and back. When I got to where they both diverge from the PCT, I decided to bear right to the Marble Rim, primarily because the Haypress Trail lead downhill. I thought it would be better to come up before heading back down to Lovers Camp via the PCT and Canyon Creek.

In the videos below you can see Jazz and me riding along the Marble Rim Trail. It was amazingly beautiful, with glimpses of the Marble Mountains. (Yes, they are made of marble. There’s a black one and a white one.)

As it turned out, I probably should have headed down Haypress, because it is considered a livestock trail. I could have gone down and back up. The Marble Rim Trail is not considered a livestock trail. Jazz and I got 3/4 of a mile along it before I chickened out. Up till that point, it had been a thin but safe path along the top of a ridge. Then it dropped down a bit and turned into a narrow shale and rock filled slippery looking path traversing a steep slope. I’ve ridden far worse at home, but there the drop off isn’t 1000′ and it’s home.

I knew from Gaia that there would be about half a mile of mountainside scrambling, a brief stint along a ridge (probably gorgeous), another half mile or so of mountainside, then a series of very steep switchbacks down to Whisky Camp. After a few slips, I decided discretion was the better part of valor here and we turned back. I thought about going down the Haypress Trail, but by that time it was getting late in the afternoon and I didn’t want to ride down those stairs on Canyon Creek in the dark.

Above: The Gaia track from the trail Jazz and I ended up doing. It was 13.25 miles with 2,850′ total ascent. At first glance easier than many of our rides at home. However, it was very challenging because of the people stairs and rocky steep places. It took us nearly 4.5 hours… I also stopped to take many pictures!

Above: Scroll through the photo gallery to see some of my shots of the Marble Mountains on our first day there.

Night in the Marble Mountains

After grooming Jazz and turning him out with his mash and evening feed, I made a fire. There was a nice firepit, with a grill. I had brought firewood, and there was plenty of deadfall to use for kindling. I grilled two giant Wagyu beef patties. This was the first time I had tried Wagyu and it was delicious. Kind of like eating a burger made of bacon. Probably very fattening but oh well. I ate one and saved the other for my ride the next day.

Jazz was very calm until around 8:30. There was a small herd of deer–the same that had been helping itself to his hay and mash. They were fearless, going in the paddock with him and coming within ten feet of me. Then they left. That proved to be disastrous. Jazz wanted to go with them. Maybe he thought they were running away from lions and bears. In any case, he started running around like crazy. I mean running. I was very glad the fence is over five feet tall.

At first I let him run. After 15 minutes, when he was lathered with sweat, I decided enough was enough. I tried hobbling him. (Read my post on Training a horse to hobble.) Hobbles did stop the galloping, but instead he just started walking on his hind legs. I decided to move him to the paddock furthest away from the forest and closest to the trailer. That helped a bit but Jazz was on the move the entire night.

Above: On the left (or top): Jazz in his original paddock with the deer before they left for the night. On the right (or bottom), Jazz’s second paddock. You can see the track he left from pacing all night. You can also see that he ate up all his food despite his anxiety. Guess he wanted to be strong to fight bears and cougars.

Our second ride or an exploration of blocked trails

The Plan

I decided that rather than subject Jazz to a second night of terror in the wild forest, I’d ride early and leave for home. I wanted to do the 19-mile route to Summit lake I had planned. It involved taking the Red Rock Creek Trail for five miles and 2000′ of elevation gain, until it meets the PCT. (That went well.) Then I had planned to follow the PCT for two miles to Summit Lake. I could then loop around on the Shackleford Trail to Campbell Lake if there was time.

Reality

Riding up to the PCT was fairly easy. I was cold–I had foolishly thought it would warm up quickly, without realizing that trees and ridges would be blocking the morning sun–but it was beautiful. Once in a while I had to search for the trail, but it was doable. Lots of pretty meadows, few cliffs. Only downside were the huge hungry mosquitos. You can see some of the scenery in the slideshow below.

Above: Slideshow of some of the pictures I took on the REd Rock Creek Trail. We even found an old fence!

The last climb up to the PCT was steep and the trail fizzled out a few times. Fortunately, all it takes to find the PCT is to keep going uphill. I’m pretty sure we lost the official trail, but we did make it.

The Pacific Crest Trail

Jazz and I followed the PCT east for about a mile. It was narrow and steep. We had to go around several fallen trees. We crossed paths with around 5 hikers. Most were very nice. The rule is that people on foot take the downhill side of the trail. I didn’t really get it at first… I was worried about knocking a hiker to his or her death. This section of the PCT winds along around 6400′. You can look down well over 1000′. It’s not a cliff per se… but it’s steep enough that if you tripped and fell, you’d probably end up hundreds of feet lower before you stopped.

Jazz was very good about the hikers until one woman went a bit tharn (froze up, for those of you who don’t stil have nightmares of Watership Down) on the hill side of the trail. We were at a narrow part, and she had a big pack on, with a flappy tarp thing on top. Jazz did not like that. He really did not like that. He jumped out and around her and managed to land back on the trail on the other side with some scrambling. Pretty sure we were leaping over a 500′ drop. I decided that it would be a good idea to dismount and lead him for a while.

I got back on about a quarter of a mile later, and almost immediately ended up back on the ground, trying to find a way around the tangle of fallen trees you can see in the picture below. It was impossible. I even tied Jazz to a shrub and hiked up and around. No safe way for a horse. Sadly, we had to turn back.

Above: Trees fallen across the PCT forced us to turn back. It doesn’t look very forbiddig in the picture, but that first log was about 2 feet in diameter and came up to my hips. Jazz might have been able to get around it safely, but the next two were even higher and there was no way around them. A horse could jump them… if it were very savvy about jumping and good at landing on sketchy terrain. Jazz can’t jump a one foot log lying flat on the ground.

After turning around, I led Jazz for about a quarter of a mile, until we were off the narrowest bits. See the video below for a view from my GoPro while I led Jazz.

More thwarted plans

One of the four routes I had mapped out involved coming up Red Rock Creek Trail and following the PCT west as to the Canyon Creek Trail, which I would follow back to camp. I decided to do that so we followed the PCT past where we had joined it. (That was easy to do since the trail was nonexistent the last several yards.) Unfortunately this time we had gone very little distance before running into dozens of downed trees criss-crossing the trail. It wasn’t a particuarly steep section, but I couldn’t see a way through without going a long way from the trail and hiking back and forth between giant trees.

I decided to turn around and try to do the fourth route I had planned. This one involved taking the Little Elk Lake Trail from where it intersects with the Red Rock Creek Trail, about halfway between Lovers Camp and the PCT. I had noticed it as we were going up–there is a sign on a tree.

Unfortunately, this trail was in even worse shape. We had barely lost sight of the Red Roack Creek Trail before we ran into an impasse. I spent some time trying to get around fallen trees, as this was my last possible trail. No luck. In the end Jazz and I headed back to camp.

It was more beautiful now that the sun was fully up. I got out my Wagyu burger and ate it plain (no bread, no nothing). In my other hand I held my beer… and at that moment we saw a cute bear peacefully eating in the middle of a lily-filled meadow. I couldn’t figure out how to turn on my GoPro without dropping my beer or my burger (not for the first time I wished my saddle had a cup holder). Jazz was a saint, just stood there watching the bear. But by the time I had my hands figured out, the bear had noticed us and bolted into the trees.

Stats

In the end we rode only 15 miles, with 3,025′ total elevation gain. You can see our trail in the image below. If Jazz hadn’t freaked out so much at night, I would have stayed till the next day, and ridden back up Canyon Creek Trail to do the Haypress Trail to Whisky Camp. But I didn’t want him wasting more energy and losing more weight. We had two endurance rides to complete before heading home, and I wanted enough horse to do them!

Above: The final track Jazz and I followed our second day in the Marbles. We had to turn back three times.

Clearly, I need to go back and ride all the trails when they are cleared. But I am going to have a serious talk with the Ranger Station and suggest they make that road one way. One hour up, another hour down. either that or I’m going to seriously consider riding up.

I’ve got loads of videos still to upload. As I do, I’ll add the links here.