Last Sunday the weatherman was calling for rain in the San Diego and Los Angles area. It sounded like a good time to hit up the Palm Canyon Epic out near Palm Springs. The group for this ride dwindled at the last minute and it ended up with Steve and I coming in from San Diego and John coming over from Burbank. Smaller is generally better on this ride as you cover a lot of ground that has a reputation for being unforgiving to bikes and riders alike.
After leaving a vehicle in Palm Springs we drove up to pretty much to the base of Santa Rosa Mountain to start the 30 mile adventure for the day. We started from the traditional Palm Canyon trailhead vice the more commonly used Pinyon Flats trailhead. I love the first section of the Palm Canyon trail with it’s ribbon then singletrack etched into steep sidehills. Sorry for no pictures of the section, there was way too much grinnage to stop and pull out the camera.
Here is shot taken shortly after finishing off the first section. Any questions?
There was lots of greenage out along the the trail
The Indian Portero Trail option was taken
John riding a pretty interesting section of rock
Steve and his camera case racing through the rocks. The camera case won that heat.
Plenty of water running through here. It was snow yesterday so you can bet it was mighty cold.
As a matter of fact I can assure it was mighty cold!
More water filled wash crossing fun.
There was some time allocated for a bit of playing on the rocks.
John ferreting out a line.
The 3-mile Dry Wash climb was in pretty descent shape but it was still a freaking beater.
Once we got up the wash and headed over to Mike Dunn’s Desert Oasis (AKA the dozer) Steve felt the need for some dozer hucking. File this under Stupid Human Tricks.
After a short bit of singletrack climbing it was time to head down in earnest on the Hahn Trail. OMG OMFG LOL insert you favorite texting shorthand here that expresses singletrack bliss. The Hahn Trail is an amazing trail, narrow, fast and etched into the mountainside.
I selfishily keep my camera in the pack but Steve bit the bullet and got a shot of John and I rolling on Hahn. Way Good Stuff.
After the massive grinfest of the Hahn descent we took a series of trails that got us to the Wild Horse trail which would drop us into the Goat Trails of Palm Springs which was the final segment of the route. The legs were feeling plenty worked at this point.
The final section of the Wildhorse trail is steep with some tight switchback which are always a lot fun to try and clean. After Wildhorse we mostly used “The Swartz” to connect together a series of singletracks back down to my truck. We have a few flats over the day and one broken chain but made pretty good time. It always seems like such an accomplishment to finish this ride with plenty of daylight left. There were some tasty beverages and grub consumed afterwards over conversations about all that goes into to making this an epic ride. The parts beats the body, the parts beats the bike and the continual string of parts that nutures the soul. Once again it was a wonderful day to be on a bike out with Mother Nature.