Derek and I did a mixed surface ride (road and dirt/gravel) out by Trinity Lake. This lake is one of the largest reservoirs in California with a capacity of 2,447,650 acre feet and 145 miles of shoreline. The Alpine scenery surrounding the lake makes up the Trinity Alps with dramatic, rugged landscape of chiseled granite peaks, glacially carved valleys, and lush conifer forests.
The discovery of gold in 1848 prompted hundreds of miners to move into the area. Then in 1958, a plan to divert water from Trinity River to California’s Central Valley led to the construction of Trinity Dam and the creation of Trinity Lake. This project was also designed to provide hydroelectric power to the local area. The Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project came to fruition in 1961 with the completion of Trinity Dam.
Our ride started in the forest on gravel and dirt roads that wound through the forest. We had a couple glimpses of the lake down below but it’s pretty thickly treed on the surrounding slopes so we didn’t get many views of it until later. The roads don’t really go anywhere so there wasn’t anyone else out there. I imagine in the summer there are more people out exploring but we saw nobody.
Eventually we popped out on a road that led to a lake overlook but the trees had obviously grown quite a bit since the overlook was built and you could barely see the lake. Nevertheless, we ate a snack and continued on pavement down to the dam. This is a lovely section of descending with no cars the day we were out. Down down down we went to the dam. After taking in the sights, we hung a right on a VERY STEEP road that climbed forever up to Trinity River Conservation Camp. I won’t lie, this climb was long and pretty steep in parts.
At the top we turned left onto the next dirt section. This was a rougher more rugged surface but our gravel bikes were fine. The road was more of a path in sections and I was fairly certain we would come across bears but we didn’t Again, nobody else out and about. In fact, only one car passed us this whole ride. We were both pretty tired at this point and kind of ready to just be done but the scenery kept us motivated. That, and we had to get back to the start!
Back at the car we were tired but incredibly jazzed about how cool a ride it was. We’ll definitely be back…maybe to float around in the lake!
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