Chappie-Shasta OHV - Copley Mountain #4

This was our first planned event that turned out to be one heck of a day! For starters, it rained all day. I certainly didn’t mind everything being wet, I was disappointed that I couldn’t see any of the views because the clouds were very low.

At the Chappie-Shasta OHV area, we started out at the Matheson staging area because access to the dam requires a permit. While these are freely available from the BLM with a 72 hour lead-time, they may decide not to allow any access depending on the terrorist threat level, which can change at any time.

The first half of our day we spend trekking up the mountain on the Copley Mountain trail. The trail was fairly rocky for most of the ascent. You will encounter many offshoots that have more difficult obstacle and then return back to the main trail. Pictured are two photos of Shawn approaching a level 5 set of boulders that he was able to complete after a few attempts.

Shortly after the summit on this trail, you will descend upon Hang Glider Hill. You’re first notice is a normal trial marker that says danger on it. I was first in line and went past it wondering how bad it could possibly be. First up was a very steep (40-50 degrees) slope followed by about 150 feet of 9-12” loose boulders for a road. Luckily the rock was very brittle because both my Sliderz and differential were able to break away offending rocks without any damage. Next up was another steep slope similar to the previous one except it was longer and had a two foot high shelf in the middle of it. We couldn’t go around this because the trail was too narrow and was surrounded by many trees. We were forced to build up a pile of rocks to aid in the transition. Keep in mind here that it was pouring rain on slippery and loose boulders driving over a two foot high shelf on a 45 degree hill. I made it down safely and then I got to see what it looked like from the outside as I spotted Shawn and Jeremy over this obstacle. On their brakes as to inch down it, when they reached the edge of the shelf, they basically just slid the whole way down because the rocks underneath were so loose and so wet. It was very interesting to watch. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of this spot. I certainly will not forget it next time. I didn’t mark it on the map because I’m not exactly sure where it is. Being that this had a shelf well over two feet high with the condition we faced, I’d rate this spot a level 9 obstacle.

The remaining trail back to the original staging area, Coreshack Rd, near the dam was grated and very smooth. After lunch we played on a few obstacles setup and got muddy which is always fun. The next route we set out on was to take us to French Gulch via Westside Rd. This is a very smooth and wide road where you can see lots of scenery like the pictured Squaw Creek which looked more like a raging river. A long this leg, we met Jeremiah via CB and he decided to catch up to us when he was on the other side of the mountain.

Approaching the summit of Mammoth Butte, to our surprise we started to encounter snow along the sides of the road. Thinking no one would believe we found snow at 3500 feet in May, we decided to take some pictures. No too much farther the snow began to increase to where Shawn who was leading got stuck and we had to work him out. At this point we were planning on going back down the mountain to the dam staging area and then take the Sacramento River trail back to the Matheson staging area because there was no way we could have made it back up Hang Glider Hill. It was right at this point when Jeremiah caught us and we met in person and got to talking.

He alerted us that the river trail is gated this time of year to keep people out of the area and that we would have to either go up Hang Glider Hill or get through the snow. Luckily he was driving a Samurai that was upgraded with solid axles with lockers front and back and 35 inch tires. The plan was for him to cut a trail and we would follow behind thinking the snow could not be very far considering the time of year. So we all aired down our tires to about 15 psi and went for it. I was the first from our group and I ended up getting stuck not too far into it. We decided to air down the tires even more to about 10 psi and try again after we got my ZJ loose. To make a long story short, it took us about 2.5 hours to go about 2-300 feet. I must have gotten stuck 6 times. It was back breaking work to shovel snow and struggle through this. It was still raining at this point too. Finally at the end of the snow, I’m feeling relieved and get out of my car and wait for the Shawn and Jeremy to make it through only to notice I had my tire pop off the bead and had two other flat tires. We were able to get the tire to reseat just by putting air into it, but we didn’t think to clean the bead off because the tired didn’t hold air with mud in there.

Luckily that was the end of our troubles. We stopped at the peak of Bohemotash Mountain. It was interesting because there weren’t any trees on it. Locals call this area Top of the World because it’s one of the highest peaks in the area. Unfortunately, visibility was only about 75 feet and we could not enjoy the view. Thereafter we went down the mountain were we ended up at French Gulch and then eventually Hwy 299.

Overall, I definitely had a great time and I learned a lot. I owe Jeremiah a great deal of gratitude for his assistance getting us through the snow. We could not have done it without him. I was very impressed with his Samurai because I had no idea you could setup a 4x4 to go through snow as effortlessly as his did.

Directions

To find the trail head, take Hwy 299W from Redding, CA. Turn right on Iron Mountain Rd. Drive about five miles and look for Matheson Rd. on the right. That will take you into Chappie-Shasta OHV area. You can pickup a map and then make a quick left turn which is the beginning of Copley Mountain Rd. I tried to create the route on the map but my software could not do it because it didn’t have complete data on the trails, so I decided to label the roads so you can follow along.

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