TR - Orogenesis 2024

[evdog]

2023 was a big year for scouting Orogenesis. A ton of work was done last fall to refine the route but there was still plenty to do going into 2024. Old sections scouted years ago burned and have just been getting reopened. We're also looking for new ways through some areas or still trying to find ways around pavement and dirt roads. A few weeks back I headed up to the Southern Sierras to check some new to me areas and 2020 burn areas off the list. I've done a bunch of scouting trips already this year and will post those up as I have time.


First up on the recent trip was the Piute Mountains above Lake Isabella. Aside from the PCT, it is primarily a moto area with steep, burly trails. A few of them are good for MTB, and we wanted to check out a few more trails that I've never ridden. As of now we have the route going up Saddle Springs Road which is 16miles and 4,500ft of gain. And that's after you climb 1,300ft in 5 miles on pavement to get out of town. Not bad if you're heading northbound (downhill) but it's a slog going uphill, with no water available until near the top. Good views though!



Fired up the self shuttle. Only a third of the way up but town is looking a long ways away. That's where I'll be finishing the ride.




Two jeeps heading down was the only traffic I'd see. These tracks were over top of the jeep tracks, so I wasn't alone.




I found a spot to park and started off on the Liebel Peak trail which runs along the main ridge at the top of the Piutes. Parts of it are nice MTB trail but you'll get some hike a bike no matter how you ride it.




Looking across to the next ridgeline. That's where I'm headed next.




After dropping down to Piute Mtn Road at a saddle, I started the climb up the other ridge on the Lookout Trail. I've ridden this one before.




After the initial climb the trail is fun and flowy for a while with great views




Once on the north facing slope though it became overgrown with buck thorn




A couple motos caught up to me. Turns out one is a friend of a friend. The only people I'd see on trail all day




Cool rock at the start of Alaska Flat trail. Doesn't show up well in the photo but the lichen was brilliant, both orange and lime green




High point of Alaska Flat




A couple of the descents on Alaska Flat. It's a fun trail




Inspiration Point. You can barely make out the lake. It's a long ways off. Eventually aiming for the ridgeline you can see running right to left in front of it.




Onto new dirt. This one is called Trophy Trail.




There were some absolutely beautiful sections of trail in the trees.




But also a bunch of tough rocky climbs and descents




Here are some of the best sections




I'd heard about this trophy tree with 70's to 90s era memorabilia nailed to it. Unfortunately it's now on its side.




Final descent on Trophy Trail. Cool trail, but man was it work!




The trail got easier after this for a while and I was soon at Dry Meadow, a wide open pine forest that was super cool.




Here I had a choice. Option 1 involved 1,500ft of climbing but would drop me right into town where my truck was parked. Option 2 had only a short climb and then a 4k descent on better known trail, but would require 6 miles of highway riding back to town. I was tired and tempted on the latter but with a good chance of a strong head wind on the highway I stayed with the original plan to drop Willow Gulch Trail.


Turned out to be a good move, as it was pretty nice




Cool rock along the trail




After an initial descent, Willow Gulch had climbs of 700ft and 500ft plus a ton of other short steep climbs peppered into the descent. But I was feeling better after the initial descent and a nice sunset. Had to turn lights on as I topped out on the 500ft hike a bike.




Dropped into the valley on Erskine Creek Road and found no less than 15 creek crossings on the ride out. Managed to keep feet dry. Then an easy pavement pedal back to the truck.

Stats - 33mi, +5,500ft/-11,000ft


So is this a better route than using Saddle Springs Road? With 5,500ft of gain on the descent it's a lot harder going downhill for sure. As for uphill, the road would no doubt be less effort but I'm not a fan of long pavement and dirt grinds. So my preference would be to climb this route rather than the road. Having a number of breaks in the climbing would make it more bearable. We also wouldn't need to climb all the way to Piute Peak, and could easily bypass Trophy Trail which would cut out some of the toughest climbing. Most likely we'll use part of this ride for the route but offer Saddle Springs as an alternate for those climbing.

[cat in january]

Most excellent. Looks like a really cool project.

[tellybele]

Very nice Ev! You see any strange folk up Erskine ck? Man, the Piutes above Bodfish are cool eh? Been 35yrs since I've been up there and never did that Bodfish to Erskine gig. Chuck Elliott aka 'Bodfish' woulda probably dig this TR!

[Norseman]

Cool

[::: :::]

Thx for sharing — cool trail

[evdog]

Very nice Ev! You see any strange folk up Erskine ck? Man, the Piutes above Bodfish are cool eh? Been 35yrs since I've been up there and never did that Bodfish to Erskine gig. Chuck Elliott aka 'Bodfish' woulda probably dig this TR!

It was after dark on the ride out and I didn't see anyone. I did go back and ride all the way up Erskine on the moto before leaving town. Only ran into one big rattlesnake and a car load of people looking to swim in the creek. But there is a bunch of private property parcels the road passes through, and public access terminates at the gate of a big ranch at the end of the road. On the ride above I was tempted to drop down a singletrack to this road which would have had less climbing. But it also dropped down very high up the road and not knowing for sure what was up there I was concerned it might drop into someone's back yard. Turns out that's exactly what it does.

[evdog]

The next ride was around on the south side of the lake and would be a climb from the bottom rather than a shuttle. Even with the cool spell I'd up come up to take advantage of (85 rather than typical 95-100 for a high) this ride would require an early start. The plan was to climb Little Dry Trail and then drop Long Canyon.


The ride started with a couple miles approach up some BLM jeep roads. I'd be heading up the canyon on the right and later dropping down the ridge on the left.




I had no idea what to expect with Little Dry as I've never heard of anyone riding it. The singletrack started off looking like it would get into a creek bed which did not bode well.




But after a couple short rocky climbs and descents it peeled away from the creek. That tricky section might be what keeps traffic away. Judging from how the trail was not torn up, it does not appear to see much use. The tread was in good shape almost the whole way up, even the steeper parts.




While the trail was mostly hike a bike there were plenty of spots where it levelled out or even flattened completely so you could get on and pedal.




Reaching the top there was a descent down through the sage to where the trail connects to Willow Gulch, the trail I rode the previous day.




After a short distance on Willow Gulch I found a trail intersection I hadn't noticed last time. This trail wasn't on my map but I figured it was a shortcut over to Long Canyon. Staying on Willow Gulch would be 5 miles with 1,500ft gain to Dry Meadow. I took the new trail hoping it wouldn't drop down anywhere which would mean less total vert, and fewer miles.




Great views up toward Inspiration Point and Liebel Peak where I started last time.




This trail was really steep, climbing 800ft in 2/3 mile. But the rest of it was nicer and just as I thought, once it got higher up it traversed around the hill and connected to Long Canyon over the saddle on the right. Since everything is a tradeoff, it was also a bit more overgrown than Willow Gulch. More importantly it was 2 miles shorter and 500ft less vert.




From the end of the shortcut trail it was a mile down into Dry Meadow where I had lunch in the shade









When I got to the top of Long Canyon I noticed this bug on my sleeve. Rather than flick him off I thought I'd see how long he could hold on.




Long Canyon definitely sees more moto traffic than Little Dry.




And has the v-shaped rut to show for it. Higher up it was sandy and rutted, lower down it got rocky. But the trail was in good shape for descending. It would be a tough one to hike a bike up with minimal breaks or shade.




Here's some parts of the descent including top, middle, lower




Nice view of the lake most of the way down.




And as with Little Dry, there was a couple miles of jeep road to connect to the bottom.




Stats - 19mi, +/- 5,150ft


Long Canyon is more direct and great as a day ride. But it's a break burner and I don't think I'd want to ride it bikepacking. It would be a very tough push uphill a lot of the tread is either sandy or loose rock, and rutted. Little Dry had a more solid tread and while a lot of it was hike a bike, the good tread makes a huge difference even when hiking. I think Little Dry to Willow Gulch is the ticket for getting up into the Piutes from the north side of the range. For Orogenesis this may work to connect the Sierra Camino section which goes down the east side of the Sierra.

[evdog]

Lots of time left in the day so I headed back to town and then did a moto ride up Erskine Creek Road, which I had dropped onto in the dark on the first ride. During that ride I'd seen a trail that would have dropped down onto the road much higher up and would have avoided about 1200ft of climb/hike a bike. Looking at satellite imagery the route goes, but I did see a residence next to the road and I didn't want to chance dropping into gated private property - especially near or after dark. So I figured a mid day moto exploration would confirm if that was the right call or not.


I didn't get far off pavement before seeing this guy at one of the first stream crossings.




He was pretty chill and I made sure he kept going and got off the road




First part of the road is pretty well graded




Further on it becomes more primitive and the stream crossings no longer "improved". I probably crossed the stream 4-5 more times than I'd done on the bike the other night




The road went up a mile and a half before public access ended at this gate. So yeah, not taking the alternate trail down was a good call.




After that, I did a short shuttle up above Lake Isabella town to the start of Saddle Springs Road. Years ago I noticed an old powerline road that appears to drop down to town and looks to see use as a trail. This is how far you have to climb up from town to get to the start of the fire road up into the Piutes.




Singletrack exists!




It was actually pretty nice riding, overgrown in a few spots but not bad.




There was a gate toward the bottom and below that it had recently been graded back to road by a utility company. And lower down there was a private parcel with a home on it right next to the road that seemed like it might not be friendly to thru traffic since there was another gate below with no trespassing signs. I'll ask around with some locals I know but this one may not be a go. Not a huge deal as the pavement would be an easier pedal and the road sees minimal traffic.

[evdog]

Summit Trail is one of my favorite trails in Sequoia National Monument, and it goes for a long ways. After being under closure order for three years I wanted to check out the section from Windy Gap to Quaking Aspen campground, and the section south of Windy Gap. This entire area had burned in the 2020 SQF Complex Fire. Last time I'd driven past there was logging equipment at the entrance to Windy Gap so they were doing fuels reduction and clearing danger trees. This year the road was open and clear.

I headed up Windy Gap and decided to head south first. This section of trail was hard to even find last time I'd scouted it in 2018 or so. Once on the side hill the trail had been easy to follow but was overgrown. This had obviously changed since the fire. I had no trouble finding the start of the trail and much of the brush was burned off - but starting to grow back. I went about a mile up before I ultimately lost the trail at a saddle where the terrain was flat so there was no bench to help identify the trail corridor.




The trail is clear for now as I kicked off as much of the debris as I could, but deadfall will soon become a problem.




I headed back down and picked up the trail heading north. Parts of it were unburned and rideable.




And gorgeous, with lush ferns which are always a treat in Socal. Again debris on the trail was the main issue and I kicked off anything that was a barrier to riding.




Getting a bit higher up there were areas that burned. Some bad, some not so bad. In the bad areas, at least the views are good. Looking across at the ridge I'd climbed up to earlier.




After climbing a number of switchbacks I got onto the ridge top that would take me to Slate Mtn. Again, parts were burnt and others were not. Where it was not, the trail was covered in plenty of branches and debris. There were downed trees throughout, some of them small and others big.




And also some bear scat, this one was fresh and big.




Someone had hung orange flagging tape on much of the climb up to the ridge. It wasn't really needed as the trail was easy to follow so far. They seem to have run out before getting to this area where the trail disappeared in the debris and some tape would have been useful.




Looking down the slope at total devastation




The high point of the trail just below State Mtn. Bear Creek trail heads off to the left and Summit continues down to the right. Bear Creek is a favorite trail and I did poke my head down it a quarter mile. It's bearly there. I plan to check it out another time.




Summit heading down to Quaking Aspen. The trail so far was in decent shape with a few downed trees and some debris on the trail.




A bit of nice riding to be had still.




But on the first couple miles from Slate you were never far from the next patch of deadfall. In this area, it tended to be larger.




Some logs like this were huge, and a few of them lay right along the trail




Nice view of the Needles




There were still occasional downed trees but from about 8,000ft the trail was in better shape.




The trail was less recognizable without the full canopy and the views were definitely more open in the burned areas




And ferns in spots




Downed trees persisted right to the bottom of Summit at the Road 21S78 crossing. Below that through Quaking Aspen Campground the trail was in great shape, and the campground and surrounding area unaffected by fire.





While I wouldn't recommend this route for riding given the downed trees, it is definitely open and accessible if you need a way through. Hopefully we can get a saw team in soon to clear it out. Unfortunately that will be an ongoing need with the dead trees in the burned areas.

[climberevan]

Yay, another evdog TR!

[evdog]

With a bit of daylight left I decided to check out the Camp Nelson Trail which starts from Quaking Aspen campground. Stashed the bike and then ran moto shuttle down to Camp Nelson. I probably should have checked out the start of the trail first because that might have changed my plans.

I had heard locals had been working on Nelson Trail and thought I had seen some recent ride logs on Trailforks, but when I got a spot of service in town the most recent one was from fall 2022. Bummer. This used to be one of my favorite trails, deep and dark forest with a ride-thru tree and plenty of log rides and jumps.


Not much there. The trail is faintly visible on the right heading towards the rock and stump




And then, buried under debris from road construction. It'll be possible to clear this out once construction is done but with a trail like this getting traffic back on the trail is important to getting it running again. And this is the sort of thing that will keep that from happening.




The fire raged through this area. It was heavily logged of danger trees, and then last year big storms heavily damaged the road.

I scouted forward a bit on the trail and didn't find much more of it that was passable.

Since there was only an hour of light left I opted to just pedal the highway down (which is a nice ride in itself) since it would give me a view of the burn. Fire fighters fought hard to save the town of Camp Nelson so I wanted to see how far from town they were able to stop it.




Nice waterfall off the road side




Before the fire you could never see the lower curves in the road here nevermind the mountains beyond




More road damage. There were half a dozen turns like this where streams had run over the road




There are a couple trails that drop down to the highway to Camp Nelson. Couldn't spot the first one. The second leaves from a waste transfer station on an old road bed. The normal entrance was blocked so I went in through the gate and scared up a bear in a dumpster. He headed off right where I was going, but I never saw him again.




The trail is now an ATV trail, but at least it was clear of deadfall.




It dropped me right near my truck.

The good news is that you can see pockets of unburned trees on the mountains opposite the highway including some large Sequoia trees. And the valley bottom where the trail is appeared to have plenty of trees left as well. I checked out the lower Nelson trail head. The forest there was all unburned, and the trail looked to be in good shape. I planned to come back and check it out from the bottom if time allowed.

[evdog]

The next day, I opted to take it easy and do some moto exploring to see what condition some of the forest roads were in. I'd been checking gates and plenty of roads that had closed gates in the past couple years were now open. I had explored some of these same roads before the fire and they had been loaded with deadfall. But with the salvage logging and fuel reduction work going on I was hoping they would now be clear.


Found a sweet campsite after the prior days ride that was not far off the highway, but super quiet.




Sweet view of Dome Rock and The Needles from the highway. There used to be a fire lookout on top of one of the needles but it burned down around 10 years ago. I tried to ride out the Needles fire road but the road was closed for another fuel reduction project.




I headed south a bit planning to ride a loop back to camp mostly on dirt. Came across a nice meadow pretty quick.




From the meadow the forest was unburned for a bit and pretty nice




Came across an unnamed grove of Sequoias that had survived. Most of the trees around it had been cleared in a fuel reduction project. Just up the road from here the forest was completely torched




A few nice patches survived but they became pretty sparse amid the devastation




This was the section of road that had had really bad deadfall previously. The road is still nice and primitive. But it is seeing some traffic as local ranchers are grazing cattle here again. All clear




View looking down at one of the meadows




I also wanted to check out this section of Summit trail. This is the opposite end of the section south of Windy Gap that I checked out the other day, but lost the trail up top. Before the fire I couldn't even find this end of the trail, but had been able to pick it up about 500ft up the hill. Without brush it was easy to find right from the road




Still hard to follow in a few spots like this one.




It disappeared again here which meant it crossed the meadow at a narrow spot. Hard to see exactly where, but I found a rock bridge through the boggy part that confirmed I'd found the right spot




Spec of brown up in the meadow




Stopped and watched this guy for 10min or so. He'd stop rooting around every 30 seconds or so and sniff the air. Never did notice me.




The trail did some hillside traversing. Anywhere there was a bench cut it was easy to follow.




But wherever the ground was flat it was difficult to spot. I was able to locate it all the way to where I'd lost it the other day. You'd have to be looking at just the right angle and if you got away from it, good luck. On the hike back I kicked debris off the trail to make it easier to follow for anyone else that comes along




Bear was gone from the meadow when I got back




Continued on the road scouting. Stopped here as I saw both bear and mtn lion tracks on this corner.




Dropped down another road on the east side of the highway. What used to be a primitive road has been upgraded and given the blue gravel treatment. Still a nice waterfall at this point




I checked out another road that would make for a good loop. It was seeing a bunch of fuel reduction work as well.




But got stopped where a bridge is out, with no bypass. Opted to head back to the truck.




Pretty successful exploration. The first roads I'd checked out were all clear. And being able to connect through on Summit Trail means that route is passable for bikes now, albeit with about 500ft of hike a bike to get up to the ridge top.

[evdog]

There was still a couple hours of daylight and there was a shorter ride on my list close by, so I decided to hit that one up since temps would cool off by the time I had to do much climbing.


This one is a shortcut between Highway M-99 and Lloyd Meadow Road. If you want to get from Kern Plateau to Sequoia National Monument by bike, this could be your best option (if it actually exists). Sign on the gate said road closed, unsafe for vehicles. I'll find out if bikes are ok.




Once down in the flats I crossed through a small private property parcel, marked as such on each end but not signed no trespassing. The only evidence of traffic were ATV tracks from the last month or so. Just beyond the private property, the road dropped down to the creek and I had to hunt around for a place to cross.




And then hunt around to pick it up on the other side. Eventually found it and then climbed up and over a series of three ridges. Looking back.




The road got faint in places and showed no evidence of any traffic aside from deer. Just beyond this spot I lost it, but the hiking trail I was looking for should be running parallel here less than 100ft over, so I just crossed straight over.




Found it....




Since I had made good time I ditched the bike and went on a little side trip to the falls this trail leads to. Same creek I crossed earlier




The Seven Teacups. People often swim in them and jump from one to the next.




The lower falls




Pretty cool. I was tempted to swim but the mosquitos were bad and I still had a ways to go. Onward




I wanted to follow the hiking trail through to the highway to see what it was like. It sees regular hiker traffic so I knew it goes through. I ended up finding quite a few old downed trees. It was a bit overgrown too. Not a show stopper but a bit of a pain with a bike.




Most of the route back was in the dark. Fortunately I had my own tracks to follow and I made good time. Quick dip in the creek here under the almost full moon.




This is not a long enough or good enough trail to make it worth taking a bike in to the waterfalls. But it is good enough to include in a bikepacking route if needed, so I'm glad I checked it out.

[evdog]

I wanted to ride Freeman Creek Trail, which also burned in 2020. I was also interested in checking out some jeep roads that drop down to Lloyd Meadows Rd. Both Freeman and the jeep roads are almost 2k drop and kind of a pain to shuttle. The solution was to loop them and include some of the dirt roads I'd already scouted to close the loop. There would be 6-12 miles on Lloyd Meadows Rd depending which jeep road I ultimately dropped down.


After scoping out the first possible jeep road and finding it barely in existence I started at Dome Rock where another one drops down. I was parked up close to the top of the dome; the jeep road starts behind a closed gate just below where I parked.




The first intersection gave two choices for a descent. The one I preferred on maps soon turned into a mess of downed trees and overgrowth. The other had looked more promising, so I backtracked and went that way instead. It was definitely primitive, but mostly clear of obstacles. Here, the lack of brush delineated the road.




In other spots there was a clear bench cut that made it a lot easier to follow. I started hitting more deadfall the further I descended.




It never got terrible but downed trees did become pretty regular lower down. This road has obviously not seen much traffic for a long time.




Not your normal trail surface




It wasn't fast going by any means but temps were still ok when I reached Lloyd Meadows Rd. Lloyd is a paved road that runs 20 miles out to wilderness trailheads, campgrounds, and some private camps and ranches. It's at lower elevation than the rest of Sequoia Nat'l Monument.

Even though there was a 1000ft or so climbing to come, I was looking forward to being able to pedal steadily. The jeep road I ended up descending came out much closer to the end of the road which meant only 6 miles of paved riding to Freeman.


Views weren't bad either




Looking down at the Kern River




When I got to Freeman I hung a right turn to check out the lower section first. This lower 2 miles sees a lot of horse traffic and is pretty sandy. There were also cattle grazing and I started losing the actual trail amongst all the cow trails. When I got to the intersection with Jerkey Meadow Trail I gave up as I couldn't tell which was the actual trail beyond. So I took Jerkey back to the road.




Freeman trail proper climbs up 1600ft in 4.5 miles, with the first mile being pretty flat. This is also where you find the Freeman Creek grove of giant Sequoias. This Sequoia didn't do so well in the fire




I'd spot a few others that got torched but fortunately most of them survived.




The George W Bush tree is in this grove and has its own trailhead and accessible interpretive trail. The trees survived but the bridges on the interpretive trail burned.




Another angle with fisheye view. I had lunch in the shade here and then started climbing




As with everywhere else the fire burned patches and left other parts intact. The forest is a lot more open now




There were a few downed trees but cattle have done the most damage, turning stream crossings into quagmires, pulverizing the trail tread and trampling in new trails all over the place




Another nice section




I couldn't find a big log ride we used to session, maybe it finally disintegrated. But the stream crossing higher up is still as nice as always.




Just around the corner I spotted this guy in a meadow below the trail




The final bit of singletrack is still nice.




I dropped down to the highway and rode the loop around Quaking Aspen campground. They've added more yurts so those now take up about 1/3 of the sites. Picked up the trail that goes past the campground and knocked out the 5 or so dirt road miles back to the truck.

Stats - 29mi, +/- 4,300ft


Probably not a ride I'll do again (except for Freeman). The jeep road I ended up on drops down close enough to Freeman that I would just take that if I needed to get up higher from Lloyd Meadows Rd. It's too bad the other one wasn't in better shape, it would connect nicely from the Seven Teacups ride I'd just done.

[CS]

Love these TR's.

thanks for exploring and sharing dude.

[Thaleia]

This. These really are a treat. You get out to places this eastern flatlander has never heard of and get some killer shots in while doing so. Thank you for taking the time to photograph and document these beyond epic endeavors.

[Dantheman]

Yes, love these. Those teacups are so cool.

[evdog]

Appreciate it! I've got a bunch of other scouting trips I need to add as well so there will be a lot more coming.

[evdog]

After the previous ride I headed up north a bit to find camp, wanting to explore the north part of Summit Trail in the morning. This part of Summit was always the least ridden and least maintained of all the trails in Sequoia National Monument. A friend maintained it for a few years and it had some cool log rides and jumps on it. But deadfall was always a problem and the trail never saw enough traffic for there to be a clear path through some of the meadows.


I didn't go all the way to the top of Summit. But planned to check out the sections from the Jordan Peak fire lookout and south. Nice forest roads up there.




Running just south of the lookout is the Hossack Trail which basically connects two sides of the forest north of the highway. I'd never been on it before and was curious if there was anything there. If Nelson trail is too badly damaged to use, this could be an alternative route.

I did find it, but it was faint. And soon disappeared into the brush and deadfall. I'd hoped it would see some traffic as it does connect to the trail up to the fire lookout. Unfortunately the lookout burned in the fire, so there is not much reason for people to hike up there anymore. I did check out the main trailhead for the lookout trail and couldn't find the trail, but that area had seen a big fuel reduction project recently.




Just below this there is a spot where this road roughly parallels Summit Trail, getting as close as 200m away. I wanted to see if building a connector was feasible. The terrain is pretty flat, but there are two long meadows to cross which would be tough, since they are both kinda swampy. We could easily bypass the first one at its upper end, but not the second one. No point in spending a ton of time here though until I was able to get a better look at Nelson Trail.




Summit Trail crosses roads numerous times so I stopped at most of these to see how things looked. The next three pics are pretty typical. Some sections were worse and a few were better, depending whether the forest there burned and how badly. Plenty of deadfall in all cases.








Always cool seeing snow plant




I headed back down to the highway to take a closer look at the top end of Nelson Trail. Looking across the valley you can see a mostly intact Sequoia grove dead center in the pic.




This time I walked down the road a little ways and found a spot to drop down to the trail, which runs just below the road for 500ft or so from the trailhead. Once I dropped down below the debris I found it. So maybe the first 3-400ft is impacted by construction.




Not far ahead the trail disappeared into the brush again. The plan had been to check it out from the bottom up. A construction crew was almost directly above me on the road so I climbed up to talk to them. The flagman told me they'd likely be done the first part of construction in a few weeks and sometime this summer they'd repave the highway above Camp Nelson. He also pointed out a road that I'd seen on the map could be used to access Nelson Trail half way. Maps show private property part way down, but he said the entire thing was a county road, and pubic. Good to know!

[evdog]

Based on intel from the construction guy I changed plans. Rather than climb Nelson trail far as I could from the bottom I'd climb up a shortcut trail called Oso from Camp Nelson to the highway, pedal a mile up the highway, and then drop down the forest road to the trail. As mentioned previously I'd seen this road on maps before but figured it would be blocked by private property. This road hits Nelson trail about 1.5miles from the bottom.


New signage on all the trails at Camp Nelson




I've ridden this before and was interested to see what shape it's in




There were a few trees down and it was a bit brushy, but aside from the steep grade it was totally passable. It hasn't seen much use.




The fire road was wider and in better shape up top, then it got more primitive the further down I went. It did go right past one residence, but since that one had burned in the fire there were no issues.




There were a couple washouts near the bottom that were no problem for a bike to pass but would probably stop most vehicles.




The first crossing had a bridge. The second didn't, but I was able to cross on a log. Hopping off the end I must have landed in some stinging nettle or similar, whatever it was stung like crazy for a few minutes.




Nelson trail was just a few hundred feet beyond the second crossing. I turned uphill and these soon came into view. Awesome!




Thinned forest and lots of wood piles showed a big fuel reduction project had gone on here recently too. The trail was clear.




Another 1/4 mile and I came to the ride through tree, alive and intact. Even the bridge after it was still there, although the trail tread was getting rough.




Brush was getting thick just above this tree. I ditched the bike and hiked up maybe another 1/4 mile to where there are a couple switchbacks and decided to stop there. It was starting to get quite bushwacky. I hadn't come across any downed trees but I was still in the fuel reduction area. I'm sure there would be some higher up especially in areas that burned worse. Mostly I was stoked the ride through tree was still there.




Headed down the trail, and it was all good from there down.




The canopy is definitely a lot more open now




There is a new bridge at the lower crossing.




Swimming hole. Not far to go so I just went in fully clothed. It was hot down lower here. 90 or so




The crossing is about where I stopped seeing evidence of fire, and the trail was all good beyond that point.




Came across this guy on the highway, almost ran him over in fact. Grabbed a stick and prodded him off the road. He was pretty chill.




Good day overall. North part of Summit is kind of a lost cause. But seeing Nelson trail give me hope that trail can be fully opened soon with some brushing and a log out. Now that I'm home I do see a Trailforks ride log from late May that I hadn't noticed before. The guy titled the ride Ash Garden DH with a few pics that only show a rider carrying bike over stream crossings and only 1 riding shot. So maybe it won't be in such good shape above. Only one way to find out, but I was out of time for this trip.

[east or bust]

Looks like some really cool terrain, great pictures. Seems like a good time.

[evdog]

Good times for sure. Kernville area is one of my favorite areas to visit.

The only downer, which I forgot to post, was a bear trying to get in my truck while I was doing the first Summit ride. It didn't get in but tore the cover for my awning in half. Fortunately you can order a new one and wasn't expensive, but holy shit was it a pain to install since the main awning frame and backing plate are riveted together, and ARB provides no instructions or specs on what or how to attach them. Even a call to their tech support and they couldn't tell me. Thumbs down to ARB.

The asshole left a pretty nice mess on my truck which showed up a lot better illuminated at night. First time I've ever had trouble with a bear. This was parked at a pretty remote and seldom used trailhead.

[evdog]

I slept in a bit and then took it easy the next morning. I had a ride I wanted to do near Wrightwood but it would have to be done in the evening due to heat.


Currently Orogenesis takes a route from Cleghorn Rd at I-15 to Wrightwood that is not ideal, if not straight up unsafe. The section of concern is a six mile, 2,400ft paved climb up Lone Pine Canyon Road which has no shoulder and heavy traffic that hauls ass at 70+ mph. This is not a road I want to send people on if it can be avoided. There is an option to avoid four of those miles by climbing forest roads up to a ridgeline above Lone Pine Canyon but it will cost you an extra 8 miles and 1,500ft of climbing. At least that is all on dirt. But it still leaves 2.5 miles and 1,000ft of gain on Lone Pine Canyon Rd.

One other possible option exists on the north side of the road, which is a historic moto trail that runs down the top of a ridge from Circle Mountain. But it has not been used in decades and there are only intermittent signs of it on satellite imagery. And it looks steeeep. I don't think it is a realistic option but Gabe thinks it is.

I took a step back recently and looked at whether we could take a completely different route to get to Wrightwood. And I found a possibility that looks good on maps and paper - Baldy Mesa OHV road to the north of Hwy 138. Including connections it is about the same mileage as our current route but would save about 700ft of climbing. I just had to go ride the sucker to see what it's like.


Decided to scout via moto since temps were still high a couple hours before dark. I parked at a staging area near Cleghorn Rd and rode Hwy 138 over to my starting point, which would include some non-system trails. Getting started.




Satellite and elevation profiles don't tell the whole story and I found that there would be a lot of steep climbing. Fortunately none of the climbs were very long. A good challenge for my meager skill level.




The second lesson here is that I was crossing a series of south to north ridges. In between each ridge was a trail running parallel to the ridges that had a pretty gradual grade. Since the ridges drop down as you head north, crossing them further north would mean shorter climbs and descents. Which is much better for those of us without motors.




After crossing a half dozen ridges I headed south up a jeep road where satellite showed I could connect directly to Baldy Mesa Rd. They do connect, but only if you can make it up this hill climb and then down the equally steep far side. Even if I could ride it on the moto it is not a viable connection for bikepacking. I should have recognized the numerous trails side by side were a sure sign of a crazy steep hill.




I retreated back north to find another way around. This was pretty easy - I just crossed a few more ridges and then hit up a road that climbed directly up to the OHV trailhead. Sometimes the most direct way is not the easiest or best way. In this case a bit of a detour will make riding a whole lot easier.



I made it to the start of Baldy Mesa Rd. As I started off I found a designated moto trail that runs next to the road, but rather than contour around the hills it goes straight up and over them. Where sections of it didn't look too steep, I rode them.




I think this was a section I skipped given how steep it is




Almost ran over this guy. He was having trouble getting off the road in the deep, loose sand. My sudden presence gave him a bit more incentive and he soon made it up into the nearest bushes




Another moto side trail. Nice on top, but with a steep descent back to the main road




Baldy Mesa has great views




Another snake. Saw a third one as well shortly after this one.




Baldy Mesa Rd continues for quite a ways further as a powerline road. I split off from it where there was another road heading east that would connect to an overpass over I-15. It was more primitive and things were going well until I had to drop down off the ridge line to another road. It was a very steep hundred meters. Then an easy connection to the crossing. The route to the staging area where my truck was parked did not go through the nicest area, typical along freeway corridors with plenty of trash and noise. But it does pass a gas station for resupply. It then goes through a small neighborhood before dropping down to railroad tracks and then a short climb to the trailhead. It's good enough.




So far, this route looks very promising. It is mostly dirt and fairly scenic. Grades are reasonable for the most part. But I still need to scout another section to get the full connection to Wrightwood. And I'd found another moto trail I wanted to check out that might be better than the ridgeline singletracks. I'd try for those the next morning.

[evdog]

Up and at 'em before the sun was up, since it was going to get hot.




Looking west toward the San Gabriel Mtns, just peaking over the ridge. That ridge starts at Circle Mountain where the alternate route is that I don't think is usable.




I had less than a mile and a few hundred feet of climbing to get to the moto trail, Manzanita Wash Loop 6W25




I hadn't mapped it out before hand but it seemed like there shouldn't be any heinous climbs based on the terrain.




There was a descent at the start. The trail was pretty flowy




It seemed like it had been worked on pretty recently, like someone drove a Sweco or mini dozer the whole length of it to grade it. It was a bit sandy in low spots but all of the climbs were rideable, since most of them were preceded by a descent that gave you momentum




The climb out wasn't bad and I was soon back on Baldy Mesa OHV road




The ride back was about 5 miles with a few solid climbs. I skipped most of the moto side trails since I did not seem to be going the optimal direction for them




Came across a road closed sign between the last two summits. And then found this. No easy way down or up, but I was able to hike off trail around it. Good thing, as the moto trail in the previous pic is what I would have otherwise had to climb to get around it




Baldy Mesa OHV road is not super great for biking. Being an OHV road open to SXS it is torn up and loose in places. This part was pretty flat and I had to push.





That's why I'm pretty stoked on finding the moto trail. It rides better the direction I rode, west to east, but would not be terrible the other direction. For those of you close enough, it would make a pretty good loop in the fall/winter/spring. I would ride it again. I show 12mi and 1,500ft for the loop in just over 2 hrs.

If we can make this full route work, I'll be recommending we use the moto trail. It's seven miles and will bypass five miles of jeep road.

[evdog]

Baldy Mesa OHV Road and the moto trail Manzanita Wash are both good for Orogenesis, but we still need to get from those to Wrightwood. Riding on Hwy 2 (4 miles and 1000ft vert) is only marginally better than Lone Pine Road. And only a slightly better shoulder for bikes. The possible connection I spotted uses Horse Canyon or 3N51, but it wasn't clear on satellite if it actually connects at the south end. Only one way to find out.


I opted to do a shuttle up to Blue Ridge, and drop Acorn Trail to Wrightwood to guarantee myself some nice singletrack as part of the ride




Acorn doesn't see a ton of use so it is beautiful buff singletrack






And great views in places




From the bottom of Acorn I had to traverse a couple miles across Wrightwood to the top of Lone Pine Canyon Rd. That's Circle Mountain on the right. You can't see it from this angle but there is a crazy steep moto trail going straight up Circle Mtn. Which is not the route I'd be taking.




I started off on the jeep road but turned left and dropped down into a valley. From there I quickly turned right up a canyon. There is a moto trail at the back end you can just make out. I was hoping that would be my connection




And it's there. But this was one of the toughest hike a bikes I've ever done.




With a solid trail bed it would not have been a problem but it was deep, silty sand. Take three steps up in a burst and slide back two or three feet. It took me about 20 minutes to climb up it, and it was only a tenth of a mile long. The steepest part of it was close to 100% slope




Looking back down




Another moto trail going straight up Circle Mtn




The trail topped out on a ridgeline and then dropped down the other side. It was steep, but nowhere near as steep as what I'd just climbed.




This is Horse Canyon. The trail I took up and over the ridge intersected Horse Canyon Rd which seems to switchback higher up the mountain. I only had to go downhill now, which was a good thing as it was close to noon and getting very hot.




Horse Canyon Rd descended steeply for a few hundred yards and then reached the bottom of the valley where the grade mellowed but the road got pretty sandy. It wasn't the nicest ride out. And finally a mile on Hwy 2 to get back to the truck.




Stats for the ride - 11mi, +700, -3900ft

While I want this connection to work, that steep pitch to get over the ridge is probably too much. It was hard enough with an unloaded bike. Not sure how anyone with a loaded bike would make it work. This is a likely spot where we could go and dig a few switchbacks to make it doable. But with the sandy soil not sure how long they would hold up. The ride out Horse Canyon isn't spectacular or nice riding, but it goes. The last option is to check out some old dirt roads through a flood plain on the west side of Hwy 2. They don't go all the way but might work. And they should be a lot less effort than Horse Canyon. The main thing is to bypass a couple miles of Hwy 2 closer to Wrightwood where there is no shoulder on the highway. I'll try to check that out next time I'm in the area.



Bonus TR: when I headed back up to retrieve the moto I did a side trip down Cabin Flat Road which drops down about 6 miles and 2700ft below Blue Ridge and the Sheep Mountain Wilderness boundary. I'd always wanted to check it out and I had time, so why not.




The road drops down there




There are a couple campgrounds. I made it just beyond the first one and then the road dropped into this wash and got a bit more primitive than I was looking to drive. This was about 3 miles down and I didn't feel like hiking or biking the rest of the way. Some other day. I would like to come back some time and camp for sure.