RR: Chantry Flats - Upper Winter Creek to Mt. Zion to Sturtevant Camp

[kamaekia]

First off, my apologies to Ross, whom I did not invite on this ride. It was last minute as I was preparing to leave town that day and wanted to get in a last ride before I left.

I started my ride by riding up the Upper Winter Creek trail to the Mt. Zion junction. The ride up Upper Winter Creek is a good ride for me. The route starts from the parking lot and then proceeds up a paved fireroad for about a quarter of a mile to the Upper Winter Creek trailhead. For the next few hours this would be the last fireroad I would see. For the next 8 or so miles, it is all singletrack.

I can clear everything except for the rock section before the downhill begins, which is about 2 miles from the trailhead. The trail is in excellent shape.

After a brief downhill section, one reaches a very nice shaded valley. There are several options from here. The first is continuing on the Upper Winter Creek trail to Mount Wilson. I would think this would be a painful option with a bike. I have hiked it and many parts are steep. The next option is the Mount Zion trail, which is what I would be taking. And lastly, one can continue from Hoegee's campground on the Lower Winter Creek trail back to Chantry Flats.

Next I begin the route up to Mount Zion. The first 1.25 miles really suck. It is often too steep for me to ride with some very steep switchbacks. Coming down, I am sure the switchbacks are fine and even fun to ride, but going up, it isn't fun. I ended up hiking about 1/2 of the 1.25 miles. So I took looks of pictures along this part as I often stopped to curse the trail and then admire the absolutely beautiful surroundings. Once again, the trail is in fine shape with no damage. The brush is cut back nicely. If I was a good rider, I am sure this part of the trail would have been really nice. The parts I did ride were rather nice, but this is definitely not much fun for me.

Once Mt. Zion is reached, it is nearly all downhill from there to Sturtevant's camp. Except for a few large fallen trees between Mt. Zion and Sturtevant, it is a really nice flowing ride down to Sturtevant's camp. I stopped and spoke briefly with one of the proprietors of the camp. He was very nice and spoke about he often rides his mountain bike around the local trails. No animosity here about mountain bikers. I rested for a few more minutes and then departed with goodbyes.

My original intent was to continue up to Newcomb Pass but due to time constraints and the fact that I had missed the turnoff, I headed back to Chantry Flats. I would return via the Gabrielino trail.

The return ride via the Gabe is very nice. It is flowing and frankly, I didn't want to stop and take pictures. I took a few pictures on the return, but not nearly as many as I did as I hiked up to Mt. Zion. This part of the trail is once again is excellent shape. It flows really well and brings a broad smile to my face.

I did make a side stop to see the Sturtevant falls. With all the snow and rain from the last couple of months, I figured there to be lots of water, and I wasn't disappointed as it is in fine form with lots of water pouring over its falls.

The ride finishes with about a 3/4 climb back to Chantry Flats.

A near perfect day for a ride with temps making the ride very comfortable for me. I only saw a few hikers along the way and all were very nice and cordial. This ride can be dangerous as there is some serious exposure along parts of it, but I rode within my ability (read: slow) and didn't have any problems.

Below are some pictures. I don't know how to journal the pictures yet.

[kamaekia]

Some more pictures...

[kamaekia]

And one more, probably the nicest...

[mottmcfly]

Great report. Thanks!

[JoeTruth]

Home sweet home! Thanks for posting.

[davidB]

I <3 Upper Winter Creek

[strobelite]

last time we rode wintercreek, we saw 1 mature mountian lion, and 2 bear cubs.
scary part was we couldnt spot mama bear.
thanke for the review and great pics!

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by davidB

I <3 Upper Winter Creek

ditto, i need to ride there again with the niner

[Rossage]

No need for apologies-i'm in Miami until the middle of April. I'll get in touch when I get back

[jeffj]

I used to backpack up in that area back in the 70's. Brings back a lot of memories.

Thanks for sharing.

[brownlandshark]

Great post. Love those trails!

[sdyeti]

Ok...who wants to show me around up there?! That seems to be where all the sick riding is at!!! Nice RR

[Sewellymon]

Godhead trails. Kudos again to MtMaven for spearheading trail re-work last year..

I think I prefer the hike-a-bike way (upper winter creek to h-a-b) because the descent down thru spruce grove and beyond is so sweet ....

[Tedroy]

Thanks for the write-up. We are very proud of our mtn.