Weaverville Basin - Jackass Ridge Downhill

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

This is a highly interlinked trail system just outside of Weaverville, CA. There are many trail options and this ride covers only about one-fifth of the singletrack riding options.

The soil at Weaverville has a high clay content making it very tacky when wet and difficult to ride after tires fill with soil.

Free printed trail maps of the Weaverville Basin Trail System can be picked up at Trinity Outdoors ( trinityoutdoors-us.com/)

You can also download a pdf map of the trail system from the Trinity County Resource Conservation District website ( tcrcd.net/wvrbasin.htm).

This area is popular with equestrians and hikers, so be respectful, and watch out for trail apples. :)

The Weaverville Basin Trail System is well marked at nearly all trail intersections. Each intersection has a trail post marker number that corresponds to the map published by the Weaverville Basin Trail Committee and the Trinity County RCD.

To get to the trailhead, turn north onto Memorial Drive just west of downtown Weaverville. Drive past Trinity High School and continue straight at the stop sign onto Weaver Bally Road. Follow the signs towards East Weaver Lake. The parking area is about a mile north of Hwy 299 and is on the left side of the dirt road.

The ride starts at the parking lot on Weaver Bally Road. The trailhead for Garden Gulch Spur is just east of the parking lot and starts at Trail Post Marker (TPM) #6.

Take Garden Gulch Spur to TPM #5, stay left (north) at TPM #5 and continue to the intersection of Garden Gulch Trail and Howe Ditch Trail at TPM #3.

Go right at TPM #3 on Garden Gulch Trail to TPM #2

Go left at TPM #2 (not to Taylor Street)

At TPM #24 you can go left to the Howe Ditch Trail loop or right up the steep climb to connect with the East Weaver Campground Trail. Our ride route takes a left at TPM #24 and another left at TPM #16 to complete the Howe Ditch Trail loop back to TPM #3 via TPM #14 and TPM #15.

Take the Garden Gulch Trail back to TPM #24 but take a right this time for a steep climb up to TPM #20. Stay straight (north) at TPM #20 to hit TPM #17 which is the intersection of the East Weaver Campground Trail and Jackass Ridge. Remember this intersection as you'll be here again later.

Take the East Weaver Campground Trail, which is a wide path all the way to TPM #29.

At TPM #29 stay left and onto the Day Ranch Trail. Stay left again at TPM #39 to continue on the Day Ranch Trail. At this point, you'll be on the south side of East Weaver Creek until you hit the "Small Diameter Post Bridge".

Just before the post bridge take the steep left hand climb to connect to East Weaver-La Grande Road. Climb up the road to TPM #28 which will be on your left at the saddle in the fire road. TPM #28 is badly broken, so look for the rock pile around the old marker.

This is the top of the Jackass Ridge Trail, but there is still a bit of singletrack climbing before the downhill. No turns to worry about, just crank it up and then enjoy the awesome downhill run back to TPM #17.

After reaching TPM #17, connect the trails back to the parking area via TPMs #20, 16, 24, 2, 3, 5, 6 and you are done!

These directions seem ridiculous, until you are out there with the map and you realize that it makes a ton of sense and it's actually very difficult to get lost.

This is gold mining country and many of the trails run along former mining ditches. The map available at Trinity Outdoors has a bunch of detailed historical information and notes some historical sites to see along this ride.