While the little mice were away

We had a plan. "Let's go for a hike." "No, I'd rather go for a bike ride." "Mountain or road?" "Mountain, but let's do something new." Go for a short ride, come home, have a late lunch, then go paddleboarding in the evening. Perfect. People have been asking what we do while the girls are away. This sounded pretty sweet to us.

One of the things we love about where we live - we can roll right out the driveway and be in the Tahoe National Forest in about 2 blocks. We rode the single track to Donner Camp, crossed over 89 and started climbing the Emigrant Trail for a few miles. This dropped us onto Carpenter Valley Road.

"Blake said look for a hidden trail on the right and it will lead to a great loop that leads back down to Prosser Creek." We passed a couple of jeep trails, but these were way too obvious. Chum spots a totally obscure trail (his trail radar was on, he said), and he's sure this is it. I had my doubts, but we drop in anyways. It is narrow and loose, but someone had definitely been maintaining it. Definitely a trail. We get to a cool bridge over fast moving water. Alright, this is worth it.

On the other side we begin the climb. We climb. And we climb. And we climb. I'm starting to doubt to intelligence of listening to Blake, a man who does epic 500 mile solo MTB rides through grizzly country. But if Maggie can do this, so can I.

#%^*! The soil is completely loose, hardly anything to keep your traction on. It's steep and I'm slipping. It is still narrow and there are tons of mules ears growing in the trail. I don't think more than 20 people have been on this trail. Ever. I actually dismount and hike-a-bike. This totally stinks, but Chummy is still chugging uphill on his single speed. I feel like a total wus. I try to push the thought that I never want to see this trail again out of my head. I had no idea.

We finally reach the top and there is a big fire road. Yay! We just need to follow this around Prosser Hill and it will link up to a beautiful buffed out trail called Animal. But wait. Shouldn't Animal be the other way? Uh oh, there is another fire road. Which one do we take? Pull out the phone - maybe the map can help. Follow those fresh jeep tracks. No, that road peters out. Backtrack. What about this road to the left? No, backtrack again. There are hundred of lumber roads criss-crossing these woods. We've heard stories of people getting lost back here. And we want to be careful we don't drop so far into the valley that we can't get back out. Neither of us is saying it, but there is a possibility that we can't find our way out.

Luckily we brought lots of water and food. But we don't have any jackets or emergency kits - this was supposed to be a short ride. Ugh, somewhere we lost our last food. Really? Even Chummy is tired now, and he never gets tired.

We reach a ridge and can see a reservoir in the distance. Is that Prosser? Or Stampede? Wait, this isn't Prosser Hill we're skirting. It's the next ridge over. If we can't find the right trail, we will just bushwhack our way down. It won't be fun, but it will get us home. Eventually.

Finally, we find a trail that feels right. It descends over loose cobble and gravel, getting narrower but we follow little blue flags tied to the shrubs, then red markers stuck to trees. We traverse several microclimates with completely different flora at every step. And I have to admit, the bird calls all afternoon have been great.

All said and done, we rode about 25-30 miles. No idea of the vertical. While that is not too far, it is a long time to be lost. My feet ache, my back is a little sore, and muscles are tired. But it was epic.