I zoomed in on the photo & noticed the seat & pad are quite torn up, with much of only the pan showing. Don't think someone would have enjoyed riding around like that for very long...particularly in such an environment! That made me think the cycle was dumped, but now realize the damage was likely the result of debris flow. Either way, after 10 years subject to rain and likely a swollen river, doubt you would find anything worth salvaging (if you find any evidence at all)...

I'd agree that it looked like debris flow. The little creek rarely gets that high, so who knows. Should be a fun adventure to see if we can find it, hoping to check it out in a couple weeks. We can hope the California weather saved some of it for us to find.

Yah, hot maybe, or it quit & owner hiked out. That would be something if still there!

I've had some down time due to a recent bone spur removal on an elbow, and this bike has been stuck in my mind. Optimistic by nature one can imagine it's still there, just barely supported by a bush keeping the unseen GYT pipe out of the water


Now Tiger Creek is in a steep canyon, and that bike had to get into that canyon somewhere. It doesn't look like it washed downstream or it would have more damage, so there must be a trail or abandoned road. USGS historical maps show a trail crossing Tiger Creek in the section where the bike should be. Unfortunately the last map to show this trail is from 1901, so thinking it's still there is beyond even my optimism. In their database it's a big jump to the next map, 1947. Now the current road is shown going up the canyon, and the trail is gone. By 1956 a lot has changed, Tiger Creek now flows into a lake on the North Fork Mokelumne and there is a flume and penstock on the left side of Tiger Creek ridge (when looking downstream). The old trail never shows up, and no road, trail or anything of that sort is shown going into the canyon through the collection of USGS maps, even on the 1979 edition. Personally I've found the maps of the 70s to show more detail, landmarks and objects than any other era of USGS work, and while being amazingly accurate, typically within 100' or less of a GPS. Really some impressive work they did. On the other hand their newest maps just don't show much of anything except the elevation. Anyhow...


Google Earth scouting makes it look like there might be an old road or trail further down the canyon, blue highlighting the indications.

With my trusty partner in the back seat I tell myself "it's just on the other side of Sacramento" and ignore the estimated 3h drive time. Worst case it'll be a nice hike? The first feelings of doubt occur as we encounter a surprising amount of snow on the way in. It will be ok though, we'll be dropping elevation down into the canyon. Just under 2,400' at Tiger Creek Reservoir. Oh how you can forget things in ten years, in the next mile the road climbs 1,000' and lets you know that it is quite a canyon.

The section where the bike was is about 3 miles long so we go to the top, and find plenty of snow. Perhaps the bike isn't far off the road and someone took it down too steep of a hill where the creek is close to the road, which it is for the first .5 mile, ducking in and out of sight of the road and only 50-200' from it. We disembark and spend the next hour covering that half mile, it's slow going as the creek is too high to walk in without getting soaked, and the deep canyon gets no sunlight, snow is thick on both banks, with thick brush and downed trees all over it's bad footing. No signs of the bike here, and we'll be out of daylight if we continue at river level.

Hard to find a parking spot without 6" of snow in it.


Time to explore the downstream option spotted from the satellite view. With an eye out for any trails or indications of old road bed we drive down canyon and find the road which should lead to a clearing, and potentially to the creek. A rough road leads a quarry, probably from when the dams were built

The road ends here, yet looks like maybe it kept going...for about a hundred feet and then it's just steep hillside. Thankfully free of snow and more open of brush, so why not see where we can get to, moving upstream perhaps we'll cross something that could have been used to get the motorcycle to the creek. That's not the case, although we do encounter a firebreak cut directly from the road to the creek some years ago.

Reached out and found these on the ground, didn't even see them...


Brush was getting thick and I could tell we were still downstream of where I'd seen the bike ten years prior, and the firebreak provided a nice potential access. A steep 200' later and we're not yet to the road, but have reached an old flume. Now this is something you could ride a motorcycle on, be it ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Now it's pretty overgrown, but the old rotten milled wood is still visible in cliff sections as we follow it upstream. We follow the flume for about mile, dodging poison oak and transitioning back into snow. Eventually it vanishes close to the creek and an old, small head dam is visible. It's turn around time, 3pm in the winter with dark coming soon. A quick look near the head dam and it's not the terrain I'd seen the bike in. We push upstream and uphill to make it back to the road, not crossing any kind of a trail.

An old flume not on the maps.


For now it's still a mystery if how the old 250 got down there. Perhaps there was access on the other side of the river and at the summer trickle of water they drove across the creek? For now, it'll have to wait until the summer when it can be a nice downstream swim and hike adventure, although it's probably gone at this point due to high water events over the last ten years.

Quite the ambitious treasure hunt! If you do find it one day, and drag it out of there, you can advertise it on Craigslist as a "classic creek find" that "ran when parked"...

Very cool adventure story... can hardly wait until you go back and find it!

I'm also looking forward to you finding it. I'm staying tuned and waiting!

+1 on this adventure! This has the making of a great enduro story. Can you find it? If you find it, will you have to disassemble it to get it out or bring in parts to make it run? The last is not likely but, would be a good ending. It gets the imagination going. Could you get an atv w/winch close enough to extract it? Or would it be a 2 man job with ropes, block and tackle and tools? Hopefully time has been kind to it and you can recover it. Standing by.......

All the questions keep going through my mind too, though perhaps it was close enough to the road that someone already extracted it years ago? Have to find out once it warms up...