McCall Riding Areas?? Need Info Please

[Bear North]

So looks like I might be heading to McCall this Winter as I hear it has great riding. Lets hope the snow falls this season.

A couple of questions if you all don't mind:

Looking for a combination of great hill climbing and boondocking which area of McCall is the place to go?

If I rent a cabin in McCall do I have to trailer my sled to the snow park or can you ride to the play areas. New to the area so this could be a stupid questions. I heard you can ride your sleds through town. Not sure how true that is.

Also if you know of any great Cabins for rent in Feb. 2011 that you can ride in and out to the play areas send some info over.

Thanks for your input and can't wait for the snow to fly!

 

[Jkinzer]

you can not ride your sleds in town.. has been illegal since the mid 90's. you will have to trailer to the hill unless you stay at the bear creek lodge i think its called. the brundage side is great for tree riding, big chutes, and technical terrain, the francis wallace side is as well if you know where to go but for the most part is the calmer more open meadow type of riding.

 

[Bear North]

Thank you for the info and yeah did not think you could ride through town.

 

[F-Bomb]

1/2 the plates in McCall most of the winter are Washington State! We ride from a few select houses on the east side but just as Jeremy said you mostly trailer when you go to McCall. Go early the lots all fill up by 9 anymore. Also note there are at least 5 major riding areas within 1/2 hour trailering from town. McCall is 360* sledding with town basically in the middle. You can pick your poison based on altitude to chase snow conditions and we also move around hoping for the smoothest access paths. If we get good low 5000ft snow conditions the total quality riding area becomes enormous!

Yea like JK says...nothing to see on the east side..just alot of meadows and rolling hills..the real players only ride the west side!

 

[PowderGirl]

LOL Lots of meadows and rolling hills. Yeah, stick to the west side.

No, really, there's so much sick stuff to ride at what ever level you want to the immediate north, east and west of McCall as well as south west and south east. I love this area b/c there is so much to offer so close!

There are many cabins on the west side of the lake that you could ride from - access is through Bear Basin and from Green Gate parking.

Anyone know if you can ride north on East Side drive to access brush creek / pearl creek groomed trails if you were to stay in a cabin on the east side of the lake? That might be an option.

There is also a parking lot to access Red Ridge that is south west of McCall along West Mountain Road - some places out there are pretty close and many do ride from their homes/ cabins to that trailhead (we've done it ourselves by accessing a few different back roads in the area b/c we're a little ways away).

Bear Creek lodge is a great place to stay for trail access too! Wonderful place as well!

Tamarack Resort welcomes snowmobilers too - you can not ride IN the resort but there is access not far from there to West Mountain riding area and they provide a large parking lot for trailers if the home you rent does not have enough parking. Many AWESOME homes/mini-lodges in there for multiple families, perfect for families with skiiers too if the ski runs actually operate this year and there are several homes in the rental pool that have room for trailer parking too.

You'll have a great time here! Going to be a sick season! La Nina is brewing....

 

[Bear North]

Thanks for all the info. Yeah I like to climb and boondock and looking at the trail map it looks like the north is the place to play.

As for the snow it should fall hard this year in the northwest. Last year not so much so mother nature is due to pay us a visit.

Let it dump! Can't wait and thanks for the info.

 

[TreewellDweller]

I think it has been awhile since any grooming has been done to get to Pearl Creek from the east side of Payette Lake. Some of the old maps show a groomed trail on the east side of the Payette River from the Pearl Creek road down to East Side Drive(east side of the lake) but don't know when the last time they've done that. The biggest parking lot with the least amount of use is the lower elevation parking lot which is right along highway 55 and across the highway from Bear Creek Lodge. From this parking lot you can go either the east side of Brundage or the west. You will just be starting at a lower elevation and add a few miles to the trip. You can hit Red Ridge from there, also. Other than Bear Creek Lodge or something in Tamarack, you will probably just need to plan on trailering for 20 minutes from anywhere in McCall to get to a snowmobile parking lot. That will give you time to remember what you forgot at the house. You know, extra gloves, goggles, helmet, lunch,.......
Looking forward to a great snow year. Hope we're not disappointed.
Good-luck!!!

 

[F-Bomb]

Jeremy I'm laughing about the eastside comment as I just took a peak at the 208 teaser. Sign says "20 mile canyon" what's up with that? You guys don't make extreme snowmobile movies in meadows and rolling hills.

I had a all day job on the back side of storm peak out of 20 mile. Thought we were camping because we couldn't climb out of that "rolling meadow" in the victor creek drainage! Hint the sun doesn't really shine back there very much..DEEEEEEEEP and steep makes for a darn good challenge.

Sarah two years ago they started grooming the low trail across the river below pearl but last year they didn't. They did limited up towards pearl. I think it comes out by north beach still on the east side but I've always went due north off of it so can't verify that it connects. Lots of our group rides the road around the lake on that side to francis wallace. They don't plow the road past the condos on that side. If you live on that side of the lake and have the fuel it's way quicker to ride then trailer clear around the lake. I wish they would just plow the road all the way around and connect to Warren Wagon. Limited parking but there is great riding up boulder mtn across the little lake on that side as well.

 

[Watts24x]

ahh stay away from mccall in general