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Hole in the Ground Loop

RECOMMENDED ROUTE
Difficult Difficult
 4.3 (95)
  1. Areas
  2. CA
  3. …High Sierra
  4. …Soda Springs
  5. Royal Gorge
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“A lung-buster of a ride with huge rewards in fun technical riding and great views. ”

Michael Ahnemann
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Map Key

16.5

Miles

26.6

KM

75%

Singletrack

8,039' 2,450 m

High

6,459' 1,969 m

Low

1,954' 596 m

Up

1,974' 602 m

Down

5%

Avg Grade (3°)

26%

Max Grade (14°)

Dogs Off-leash

E-Bikes Allowed

Features Technical · Views

Overview

This ride is long and difficult enough to challenge almost any rider, but not too difficult to turn an intermediate rider away. Rewarding views of the Sierras from the ridge you'll ride along make it worth the work. Finally, the rocky, technical riding mixed in is enough to keep anyone motivated. It's one of those special, "pleases everyone" type of rides. Don't miss it!

Need to Know

Some people use two cars and shuttle. If you choose this option, continue on I-80 west over Donner Pass and take the Soda Springs exit. Take a right at the bottom of the exit, and take another immediate right at the fire station on Sherritt Ln. Just past the fire station you'll see dirt parking on the left side. This is where the trail will drop you out.

If you dont shuttle, you'll have to ride from here back uphill to your car. This additional section is just under 5 miles. The ride is written up as a complete loop, so if you shuttle, take 5 miles off of the total, and about 800 feet of climbing.

Description

The route as mapped here starts at the Castle Peak Trailhead, but this is a crowded spot in the summer, so you could park somewhere along Donner Pass Rd or Bunny Hill Rd instead.

From the Castle trailhead, it's about 3/4 mile up the Castle Valley jeep road until you see the turn for Hole in the Ground, marked with an obvious sign. This is where your singletrack starts.

On this well-built trail you'll quickly gain just over 500 feet in 1.6 miles (2.7 miles from the start). Once on top of Andesite Ridge you'll get sweeping views toward Castle Peak and all of the landscape around. The trail then drops down the west side of the ridge, and this is where the technical section starts, so be careful.

Continue for 1.8 miles where you'll encounter a singletrack coming in from your right. This singletrack takes you to the Peter Grubb on the Pacific Crest Trail (no bikes). This is a good shelter to know about if you get stuck up here in bad weather.

Continue for more 1 mile and you'll come to another fork in the trail. If you take a left, you can ride to Sand Ridge Lake, which is only 1/4 mile off of your path, and worth the view. Retrace your path, and take a left at the fork in the trail. Continue for 3.2 miles and you'll cross directly over a jeep road.

Continue over the jeep road, and the trail continues past Hole-in-the-Ground Lake which you'll never see, and to my knowledge, has no trail to it. Anyway, continue on the singletrack for .8 miles (about 10 miles total at this point) where you'll again come to a fork in the trail. If you take a right, you'll travel .1 miles (10.1 miles) to Lower Lola Montez Lake. This is a highly recommended short detour and a great spot to take a break.

Once refreshed, return to the main trail and take a right. Continue on the singletrack and in .4 miles the singletrack will turn into a jeep road. Follow the jeep road for 1 mile , and you'll see a singletrack drop off to the left. This is probably the most technical part of this ride. It drops 350 feet in 1/2 mile (12.1 miles) and is very loose, and rocky.

At this point you drop out on the same jeep road you left above. Follow this jeep road for .9 miles where again, you'll see a singletrack veer off to the left. Take the left, and follow the singletrack for 1/4 mile and you'll end up on Sherritt Ln, a paved road. Take a right on Sherritt Ln and follow it down hill for 1/4 mile (13.5 miles total from the start) to Donner Pass Rd where you'll take a left and cross over I-80.

Take Donner Pass Road into the small town of Soda Springs. Continue until you see a large wooden sign on your left that says University of California Sierra Snow Research Laboratory. Take a left on this road. I have never seen a street sign on this road, but according to the map, it is called Bunny Hill Road.

This section of road will travel 1.5 miles parallel to I-80 back to the Boreal Ski Resort parking lot. Continue through the parking lot to the far side, and take a left out of the parking lot and travel under I-80 on your left. From there it's a short distance uphill on a paved road to Castle Peak Trailhead.

Contacts

Land Manager: USFS - Tahoe National Forest Office

Shared By:

Michael Ahnemann with improvements by Ashley Seaward
Full Details

Trail Ratings

  4.3 from 95 votes

#1

in Royal Gorge

#125

Overall
  4.3 from 95 votes
5 Star
52%
4 Star
37%
3 Star
5%
2 Star
4%
1 Star
2%
Recommended Route Rankings

#1

in Royal Gorge

#17

in California

#125

Overall
37 Views Last Month
49,334 Since Jun 20, 2013
Difficult Difficult
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Photos

Some tough climbing rewarded by the great scenic sections
Aug 23, 2015 near Truckee, CA
Riding at the base of Andesite Peak after a tough forest climb on the Hole in the Ground Loop.
Aug 10, 2013 near Truckee, CA
Looking out towards Donner Lake
Jul 12, 2015 near Truckee, CA
Nice stop for lunch at Lower Loal Montez Lake
Aug 19, 2015 near Truckee, CA
Smelling the daisies along Hole-in-the-Ground Trail. Had a downpour early in the ride, and everything was damp and tacky. Beautiful conditions.
Aug 30, 2013 near Truckee, CA
Perfect singletrack that makes you feel like youre in the backcountry
Jul 12, 2013 near Truckee, CA

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Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 59 days ago
Add Your Check-In

Check-Ins

Oct 14, 2024
Darryl Reed
16mi
Sep 22, 2023
Trevor Vickery
Jul 29, 2023
Benjamin Abney
Shuttle CCW. Still significant snow at bottom (10-15yd sections -walkable, but sometimes re-finding trail is tricky. 12.5mi
Oct 8, 2022
Daniel Trugman
Sep 7, 2022
Mark Loftin
Aug 6, 2022
John Hoffman
Dec 4, 2021
Jacob Witsch
Oct 16, 2021
Kevin Hu

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