Monthly trip, May 9th, Bishop’s Castle and the Ophir Creek area

[LCPilot]

Meet at the Coyote Coffee Den ( Coyote Coffee Cafe - https://www.coyotecoffeecafe.com/ ) in Penrose, Show up at 8:00 to eat a great breakfast. or arrive by 9:00 leave at 9:15 and then drive to Bishop Cast;e. Then explore nearby trails depending the groups decision.

 

[Goslow]

I plan to be there.

 

[InvertedDriving]

How's this area for a 200 series? Noted in my calendar to try and make it!

 

[TK470]

I’m planning on being there.

 

[TK470]

How's this area for a 200 series? Noted in my calendar to try and make it!

My guess is that the trails aren’t too difficult and a stock 200 should be good.

 

[Goslow]

Yes, it’s an easy trail system, mostly, and is good for most anything.

 

[SAS]

How's this area for a 200 series?

I viewed the guides to these trails on TrailsOffroad and I think we'll all be fine. Guides were published in '23 but have reviews from September '25 with no significant changes noted for trail conditions. All are rated "easy" or "moderate", with one exception, Burn Road (FS Road 395) rated "hard". It is optional because it's not a main route--it's a connector between other optional roads and the main road, Ophir Creek Road (FS 360).

We've been down that way as a club outing years ago; it's rocky bumpy but not difficult, low probability of breaking stuff. At that time, we visited the private wolf sanctuary Mission Wolf and that was definitely a unique experience.

Let me see if I can find the old trip report from that one!

EDIT: here's the link to the 2018 trip! April Trail Ride - Saturday 21st - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/april-trail-ride-saturday-21st.1053266/