Elk Mountain Ride Review
Southern Area, Upper Lake Ranger District, Mendocino National Forest. That's actually where this is, although it is on elk mountain road. Go figure. Elk mountain is located about 50 minutes north of clearlake off of hwy20. When you reach the intersection of hwy. 29 and 20 you are only about 20 minutes from there. The road in is great until you get to the middle creek staging area. After that it becomes a winding mountain road all the way up. Middle creek is an area that is a campground, day use, and staging area with bathrooms, and an area set up just for little kids to ride in. However if you want them to learn anything you will have to take them down to the creek area where at least there is some challenge for them. Riding in a perfectly flat open 200 x 200 (approx) dirt area does nothing for their skills, even at the beginning stages. You would do better by putting them in the creek area with some sand, still relatively flat and teach them the ins and outs of riding. The creek area is fun with some sand and rock that goes a ways down there, and is a good area for the beginning, novice and moderate rider. Even the moderate rider would be bored staying down there all day and there is only 2 ways out, both of which a moderate rider would be challenged to complete. They are both long and fairly steep to get out of the creek. Of course, being this is the primary staging area, this is also where most of the ranger activity is. They will be checking for registration, spark arrestors and using a sound meter. Not to complain but I think if someone is breaking the law, do your job. I do not agree with pro-active enforcement. I think that's what gives law enforcement a bad name.
If you decide not to park at the staging area, which I think is a nice area, lots of room, further up the road is another camp/staging area at penny pines. This will take another 20 minutes with a trailer from middle creek. This is also a nice spot with access to a lot of trails from there. The trail system itself is quite expansive, with trails for all skill levels and it is interspersed with fire roads that you really don't have to use much because of the trail system. Most of the trails are severely rutted from motorcycles so it does make it difficult for quads in a few places. Some trails are quite steep and rutted which made it almost impassable at times. If more people on quads rode here the trails would be much better and not as severely rutted. The trails are very well marked with signs so if you have a map it shouldn't be a problem knowing where you are most of the time. Be forewarned though that some trails marked easy were the absolute hardest I encountered there. Trail 37 is hard but long and fun. Some trails are also mismarked, at one end atvs are ok and at the other not ok. My opinion is that all trails should be open to atv and mc with no distinction whatsoever. Bikes rut it up really bad in comparison to quads, and make it really difficult for us. Whereas if it is a quad trail the bike have no trouble, they just pick a line. Don't forget that quads outsell bikes, so we pay more in ohv funds than bikes do.
During my ride there I was only able to do about 1/2 of the system in a day, all day, without much of a break at all. It was extremely nice there with a lot of the trails in the woods and views galore. Definitely bring your camera, and don't forget it in the car like I did. You will want to snap some pictures. If you park at penny pines you will have access to the more forested areas that are really nice. There are trails down from there that are really fun, but I didn't get to do the upper ones due to lack of time. There are some creek crossings on trail 37 so if it is high water time you may not get across. This area is extremely nice and well worth the time to go and ride there. If you like a challenge you will find it at elk mountain. We even went through spots that we didn't think we could get back through if we had to turn around and go back. If you have a 4 x 4 quad and want to trail ride it is a great area. We did it on a sport quad and were extremely challenged at times. But it was well worth it. Elk mountain has it all. Scenery, easy trails, hard trails and is pristine in cleanliness. So make sure and pack out what you pack in. I hate it when I see trash in such a nice setting. Overall skill level should be pretty good on a quad to ride most of these trails definitely not for the total beginner. Unless you just want to run the roads and a few trails.
