Mountain Biking in the Saddleback Mountains

[Bonsai Nut]

Rode up to Santiago Peak last Sunday. About 28 miles and 4800 feet of climbing. Thought people would enjoy some photos:

 

[Fangorn]

Nice Pictures, that had to be one heck of a ride. Is the trail in the last picture the way you come up?

 

[Bill S]

Love it, thanks.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Nice Pictures, that had to be one heck of a ride. Is the trail in the last picture the way you come up?

The Saddleback Mountains have two main peaks - Santiago and Modjeska. The last photo was taken from Santiago looking at Modjeska (looking to the north). The road you see is the Main Divide fire road that runs on the ridge line. Mountain bike trails run off the fire road at regular intervals. In fact, if you look closely at the last photo, you will see a small trail leading off from Main Divide and heading down to the right. That is the drop-in for Joplin Trail - a pretty gnarly single track descent.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Cool views! Are there any California junipers up there?

 

[Klytus]

Look at that,awsome.

Last Sunday i was in Newcastle,there was scenery but the sea fog obscured it.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Cool views! Are there any California junipers up there?

Hey Si - one juniper that I have seen in the entire mountain range. It is in a weird location by a seasonal creek bed, so it appears to be a lonely transplant. The closest junipers to us (that I am aware of) are above Palm Springs (and there are about 200 square miles of them there).

Lots of manzanita, however. Pretty much one big manzanita patch the entire range as long as you are above 3000 ft.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Look at that,awsome.

Last Sunday i was in Newcastle,there was scenery but the sea fog obscured it.

Klytus - I know what you're talking about. You have to choose your days carefully. In Southern California we can get a heavy marine layer, as well. Often, if you go on this ride, you will be riding above the clouds. It looks pretty cool

 

[Klytus]

Above the clouds looks a bit better than below it,i hadn't realised there was such a thing as Haar,it's even a strange looking word.

What we need is the Cloud Ski,it may be a few years away as yet.

I speculate it would have been a tempting landscape to go walkabout on or in for those Hippies in the 60's.