The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship Pro Trail Crew reached a big milestone last week, punching through the new 3.6-mile Acorn Grotto trail on Mt. Hough to connect with the 25N14 doubletrack Quarry Road, about halfway up MT. Hough (See Trail #10 on the map), after several years of work. The crew is now working to finish Trail #8—when that’s opened, it will establish a new top-to-bottom singletrack route from Indian Falls Ridge at the 7,200-foot summit of Mount Hough and a new Yuba Expeditions shuttle option to boot: 17 miles from summit to the swim hole!
The completion of Acorn Grotto checks a big box off the punchlist of the 37 miles of new trails included in the Mt. Hough Phase 2 project that SBTS is working on in partnership with the Plumas National Forest. Phase 2 is set to be finished late this year, which will culminate a 10-year building project on Mt. Hough, bringing nearly 80 miles of multi-use singletrack to Quincy’s quintessential landmark. The project has thus far been funded through CA-OHV grants, non-government grants and private donations and has included hundreds of hours of volunteer work over the past decade.
Acorn Grotto drops 1,100 feet in elevation and serves as a critical singletrack connection from the Indian Falls Ridge route to the Mt. Hough Trail, and ties into the Tollgate Creek Crossing, where Berry Creek and the Mt. Hough Trail intersect. Want to get up there to check it out? Head to yubaexpeditions.com (@yubaexpeditions) to check out the shuttle schedule. Early season shuttles are running now, but stay tuned for full shuttles to the summit as the high-elevation snow melts out.
