New Years Ride: Jacob City / Silverado Canyon
We made three attempts to summit to Jacob City today.
We started at Silverado Canyon (South of Ophir), made it about 90% of the way to the top before the virgin snow was too deep to get through. Additionally, there was a solid sheet of ice beneath the snow.. all forward movement created rearward movement due to ice.
We then tried the South side of the Jacob City loop and also made it about 90% to the top before getting stuck.
We then rode the low land to the North staging area for Jacob City and make it to the top gate where the road splits to the "city" and the rest of the trail goes up to the cabin. At that point, we were positive that we could just use gravity to get us down to where we got stuck on our 2nd attempt. No such luck. Just trying to get the 100' toward the "city" proved that the snow at that location was just too deep.
Without wind chill, outside temps were about 12F. A wet wipe froze solid in about 15 seconds. I tried to eat some cajun spiced fish, but it too started to freeze almost immediately. Great cold weather gear kept us comfortable, at least until we had to fix a flat on Scott's machine or relieve ourselves.
What a totally awesome day to be out!
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