Trail Overview
Third Divide is a fun 2 mile long moto route near Downieville that is also popular with downhill mountain bikers, and is part of the 15 mile long “Downieville Downhill” that goes from Packer Lake Saddle to the town of Downieville. The majority of Third Divide is pretty easy, as it is smooth and flowy, even though it is shelfy, but not too narrow. It follows a shelf cut into the edge of the hillside, but is pretty wide, and flows along the hillside. It’s a semi-steep grade, dropping 1,300 feet in 2 miles from east to west. The west end of Third Divide gets more technical, however, as it drops down a few bigger root ledges and ruts, and goes over a few steep embedded rock layers jutting out from the trail surface, and over a couple embedded boulder faces and long slabs of rock with small ledges. All of these more technical features are on the west end of the route before crossing the bridge on private property. The most exposed sections are also on the west end. The west end of this trail starts on private property through an easement; please be respectful of all private property boundaries. The land owner asks that riders stick to the easement, and do not race on his lands. This trail is closed 1/1 – 3/31.
Difficulty
This is an intermediate route as there are sections with significant exposure, plus moderate rock obstacles during shelfy and exposed sections of the trail that are not ideal for inexperienced riders. Most of the obstacles are in the western half of the trail. This trail is not ideal for beginners or anyone scared of heights due to the exposure, and riders should take this seriously because there have been multiple fatal accidents on the Downieville Downhill route in recent years.
