RR: Solo into Cucamonga Canyon

[53-12]

Friday afternoon, February 15

I have been wanting to explore the Big Tree Road starting from Cucamonga Canyon for some time, and since the weather was pretty well perfect today, thats what I did. Unfortunately I rolled away later than I would have liked which severely cut into the distance I could cover. Parking at Heritage Park in Alta Loma gave me about a 2 mile warm-up road ride to the vehicle barrier at the top of Skyline. The paving continues for another mile or so, but noticably more steep. I don't care to remember how many times I stopped to catch my breath. Once the road actually enters Cucamonga Canyon it turns to dirt with a nice surface cover of loose gravel and fist sized rocks, and you really have no choice but to slip and slide every so often. The view is spectacular with snow still on the higher peaks. Once you turn away from the valley and into the canyon all the urban din fades away and is replaced by the roar of Cucamonga Creek as it cacades along the rocky canyon bottom far below. A past posting about this route compared portions of it to Kings Canyon, and it starts to take on that appearance right away, rocky outcroppings, pines and oaks on the canyon slopes and mountain sides, hawks up above. When I reached the first junction, site of a massive landslide (now repaired) I realized that daylight was going to become scarce before I could make much more distance, so I instead took the left (downhill) fork into the shadowy depths of the canyon, wooded with alder, oak and sycamore, their branches stark naked this time of year. Enjoyed the rapidly flowing stream briefly then rode back up, the climb being easier than I imagined. This is a beautiful area this time of year, and the extensive climbs notwithstanding I want to get up there and explore some more. A few pix:

1. Peering into the depths
2. Cucamonga Creek
3. A long fogotten wreck
4. Well deserved rest in the sun's last ray's
5. Road to the canyon bottom

[thebush]

Nice! I did this ride last weekend as part of my upper Alta Loma loop and I have to granny gear from Skyline up. This climb is not a fun one I have the distance vs. elevation gain somewhere that I got from my Edge and it's pretty steep. I went up from the fork that you took down, past the barrier and it gets even rockier and the trail gets washed out. Going down you can continue to Frankish and from there you can go north and hit Stoddard and it dumps out I think 1 - 2 miles before GMR. I've always wanted to try this route.

[Pain Freak]

I've always continued to climb past there and never dropped down to the creek. Looks like I've been missing some nice riding. Did you do this as an out and back or did you ride over to the damn?

[ChrisB]

I go up the other side all the time (from lytle creek area). Doesn't look nearly as nice as from there!

[53-12]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Did you do this as an out and back or did you ride over to the damn?

Just out and back. Just didnt know how long a loop would take, and didnt bring any lights if it got dark. Though that road up the other side from the canyon bottom looked like it would be a nice ride and make a nice loop. It comes out onto the road to Baldy doesn't it?

[gurp13]

Post a ride in advance and let us know. I love riding that area.

I think, btw, that I was the one that compared it to Kings Canyon. Beautiful area both places.