45 Days on a Gen3 Hayabusa - 2023 Pashnit Touring

DSC05526.JPG


Then it started raining. The mountains create their own weather.

DSC05531.JPG


But it was only a cloudburst, and we got through to the other side of the cloud.

DSC05532.JPG
 
The goal was to ride up a dead end road into the Sierra Range to Loon Lake Reservoir.

DSC05539.JPG


DSC05541.JPG


Dmitri agrees, this is a pretty cool place. No one had ever been up here before.

DSC05542.JPG
 
Last edited:
In 1884, Loon Lake Reservoir was constructed to supply water to Georgetown Ridge for the gold mines. Water in Loon Lake was diverted into canals still visible today. That water flowed all the way to Georgetown and drained back into Pilot Creek. The filling and subsequent release of water from Loon Lake for power generation can vary the lake level as much as 36 feet up or down.

DSC05543.JPG


Our cloudburst moved out over the lake. Only raining in that one spot.

DSC05543-D1.JPG


Chris lives nearby and had never been up here. Pretty cool place!

DSC05544.JPG
 
There is a powerhouse is a short distance away from our position atop the earthen dam and was completed in 1971. To create what you see today, Loon Lake and Pleasant Lake were joined to form the 1400-acre reservoir. The power generating center is actually 1200 feet below the lake drilled though the ancient rock.

Hydro-electric power is produced by connecting all the lakes in this region with penstocks, using the same water over and over by dropping the water from one lake to the next lower level, than again to the next lower lake. This area of man-made reservoirs actually totals not just this earthen dam at Loon Lake- but 10 more dams, 11 turbines, 8 powerhouses, and several other dikes and dams along the upper American River. Total installed capacity is over 687 MW, producing 1.8 billion KWh annually, enough for 20 percent of the nearby Sacramento’s electricity needs.

DSC05547.JPG


DSC05547R1.JPG


DSC05547R2.JPG
 
The annual Jeepers Jamboree started in 1952 with 55 vehicles, and will be attended present-day by over 200 rock crawling vehicles. The eastern maintained portion of the trail is called the McKinney Rubicon Springs Road.

Paving on Ice House Rd ends when it reaches Loon Lake Dam, then it descends to the Loon Lake Rubicon Trailhead at the base of the earthen dam. The famous 22-mile Rubicon Trail starts here along Gerle Creek, and pops out near Tahoma along Lake Tahoe.

There are always rock crawlers headed up here to run the Rubicon Trail.

DSC05555.JPG


DSC05556.JPG


DSC05558.JPG


DSC05559.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

pashnit
2022 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa
57 58 59
Replies
1,178
Views
44,659
mabupa
mabupa
pashnit
2024 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa
23 24 25
Replies
497
Views
14,019
michael parris heuberger
michael parris heuberger
pashnit
2021 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa
56 57 58
Replies
1,156
Views
43,353
fallenarch
fallenarch
pashnit
Eight Years of Pashnit Tours - PICS!
2
Replies
20
Views
4,761
RedBull
RedBull
pashnit
Pashnit Tour Pics - Riding the Southern Sierra Nevada
Replies
18
Views
1,844
PADEROLIS
PADEROLIS
Back
Top