Explore! Sierra Touring Company offers “Throttle Therapy”

While I was in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains staying at the Chalet View Lodge, I was invited to go on a private ATV tour with Ken, the owner of Explore! Sierra Touring Company. Not one to pass up an opportunity to have some fun, I enthusiastically accepted. Ken’s touring company is located just a few miles from the Lodge and is situated on a nearly 2000 acre family ranch where he has painstakingly carved out an exciting trail system. The tours take riders from low-lying plains to mountain tops with 360 degree views. The terrain is interestingly diverse, from dense pine and fir trees, to aspen and scrub oak.

Over the years Ken has collected many interesting tools and artifacts and has created a museum of sorts in the barn that houses all the ATV’s and Snowmobiles. Prior to the adrenaline tour, Ken will give you a tour of the barn, which houses some fascinating items, some of which folks will reminiscence about, while others may have questions to the uses prior to modern methods. Either way, all will find of interest and intrigue.

Before the tour starts you go through a safety orientation and practice run to determine your skill level. Then Ken will go over the rules of the tour, which mainly consist of just having fun. While there are structured daily tours, Ken can easily customize an outing for large family gatherings, corporate retreats and the like.

The tour is a couple hours long, traversing hills, hairpins, straight-aways, conifers to a mud hole if you so choose—covering some 15 miles along the way. No matter your skill level, there’s something for everyone to have an assuredly good time! Ken has the perfect saying for his tours…he calls them, “Throttle Therapy.” By the way, in additional to your tour guide, there’s a good chance you’ll be accompanied by another guest…Ken’s dog “Charlie.” Charlie does not like to be left behind and absolutely loves the tour…he’ll ride on the back of Ken’s ATV holding on around the hairpins and bumps without falling off once.

If you’re up in the Reno, Truckee and/or northern Sierra Nevada area and are looking to have an amazing adventure, be sure to give Ken over at Explore! Sierra Touring Company a call. I should also mention, that during the winter months, Ken puts the ATV’s away and brings out the Snowmobiles. Personally, I’ve never had an opportunity to ride a snowmobile (or Snow Machine as the Canadian’s say), but I can imagine that doing it on Ken’s ranch would be an absolute blast! Click the following link if you’d like to see more of my pics from my ATV Tour.