thenated0g
Moderator
Having camped up in this area a few times i was looking around for other camping spots and realized their is a glider port i have passed several times but never realized what it was. And pretty cool that it has a weather station you can check before you go. Adding this here to my todo list to check out with some slope planes. Figured i would dump all this info here whiles its fresh.
FYI at the current time (March 2023) you cannot access the Mendocino forest from Upper Lake. The road washed out.
Location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/39°30'34.0"N+122°56'15.0"W/@39.4899433,-122.940852,2034a,35y,359.38h,56.52t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d39.5094444!4d-122.9375
Weather station: https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/timberline
Driving conditions in summertime should not require any 4x4 or chains. Its a mostly maintained mountain road.
If coming from potter valley, which would be the way you would come from Highway 101, the last 10 miles before you get to lake Pillsbury is dirt road and depending on the last time it rained could be about a 45 minute drive it you have to really slow down. All roads after Pillsbury are Mountain route roads. Usually maintained but bring a chainsaw.
In wintertime with snow you wont even get close to hull mountain. This year we got totally stopped by waist high snow at 3,500 feet and the glider port lower is around 5,800ft. They do not plow in the wintertime.
Driving directions: The Super important part is that google maps sucks in Mendocino forest, probably other driving direction apps as well. The main issue is that it cant differentiate between 4x4 roads, non 4x4 roads, and dirt bike trails. So it will try and take you repeatedly up little ridge trails that you wouldn't even want to hike up on foot.
Here is a manually adjusted map. Basically you head to Lake Pillsbury, take the M6 road east out of that area until you make pretty much a left u-turn onto Hull Mountain road. Just follow the signs to hull mountain.
The road Hull mountain is on is also marked as M1 and 19N48 depending on what google maps decides to show.
6657-6695 N State St to Lower launch
www.google.com
Camping: Mendocino forest allows dispersed camping in almost all areas. Usually their are clear signs saying if a road or area is private property. We often camp in big turnout areas on the side of the M1/Hull Mountain road. Target shooting is also allowed as long as your not in a designated camping or established neighborhood. Check the forest service for fire restrictions, fire permits are required, but they are free and you can do it online.
Couple videos i found of the launch sites:
A trip we did a few years ago, camping about 20 minutes north of hull.
Looks like fun.