RR: Skyline to eagle rd

[Chewyeti]

So brewmaster and I went for a ride today.....
the goal was to hit uncharted territory for us

So we decided on skyline to eagle.... 20 mile ride.

So around 2:45 pm we set out for skyline..
I have climbed it a bunch.. but sam hadn't... he cleaned it like a champ. ( i was still adjusting seat position on my new zion)....

so we get to beeks.... take a breather.... and set out for the unknown. Pain in the ass climb..... but keep hammering it out.

We ran into a guy who knows the guy that was doing the tractor weed abatement.... apparently the guy that lowers the big roller thing down the hill and pulls it back up, caught something and tumbled down the slope 1000 ft to his death. so we saw the site of that accident...

Kept on moving on main divide... till we reached the meadow..... and then kept going till we reached the eagle helicopter pad......

this is where it got fun. Eagle road is outstanding! its an abandoned fire road... which is almost a singletrack now!!!

great views.... great trail...... great ride......

we topped off the ride with beer and rotisserie chicken at my place with rockinthecasbah and his girlfriend, my dad and sister......


good times! 20.0 miles, 3800 ft of elevation

[BrewMaster]

Aaron (Chewyeti) and I set out around 2:30 pm today to conquer Skyline to Main Divide to Eagle today. It was a great ride. The weather up top was much cooler than down in Corona and made for a great ride in the Santa Anas.

We had a great time riding together, encouraging each other to kill the climbs, and laughing a lot along the way. I am grateful to have great riding buddies like Chewy.

For me it was a personal accomplishment to ride past the golf ball and deeper into the Main Divide. My favorite part of the day, aside from descending Eagle, was the smell of the citrus blossoms in the groves as we rode back to Skyline. It smelled like the most beautiful perfume ever.

Total mileage was around 20 miles and 3 hours of ride time including about 4 miles of road riding to get back to the car at Skyline.

Aaron admires the view on Skyline


Me on Skyline


Looking back where we had come from


Some fun


Squish, squish


Looking down onto Irvine Lake, OC, and the Pacific Ocean.


Chewy sizing up a climb


On the way up we met a contractor who told us that another worker had died on Tuesday when his rig went off a cliff. He had been clearing brush when the accident happened. Debris from the rig is scattered down the hill. Apparently it was a gruesome scene.






Aaron celebrating at the peak.


More nice views along the MD




We finally made it to Eagle to our hard earned descent.




Eagle was in beautiful shape and made the whole climb worth it. This double-track/fire road is slowly morphing into nice single track since it is closed at the bottom.

[BrewMaster]

Knowing that the bottom of Eagle cuts through private land (aka hillbilly country) we looked for the cut off Aaron had spotted on the map to get us to public roads. We think we found it in this little single track.






Aaron went down to investigate it, but it seemed sketchy, so he hiked back up.


Eventually we rolled up to the closed gate near the bottom of Eagle and realized that the sketchy single track was probably the right way to go. I guess we'll try it next time.


Thankfully, there was Juan Pollo and beer to finish off the night. Aaron has his fruity little margarita glass after another beer run.


A true wee fairy


Ricky showed up with Frederica

[Chewyeti]

Sam.. and all.

That WAS the cutoff before the water tower.....

[BrewMaster]

Next time we'll go that way...and there will be a next time. I need to grow a pair so I can actually ride that ST the whole way down.

Coal Canyon to Eagle? ITT to Eagle? There are plenty of options...

[genusmtbkr5]

Nice RR and pics guys. This was a very busy route during the VQ/CC training.

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

ITT to Eagle? There are plenty of options...

Sorry Sam, but you cannot go from ITT to Eagle because you would have to go through the closed section. The Main Divide is still closed from Eagle to Santiago Peak, open from the Peak south.

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by genusmtbkr5

Sorry Sam, but you cannot go from ITT to Eagle because you would have to go through the closed section. The Main Divide is still closed from Eagle to Santiago Peak, open from the Peak south.

Ah ha, I didn't even think of that. Thanks Gene.

I guess we're doing Coal to Eagle when we feel like hurting ourselves.

[Knuckledragger]

Fun ride eh? I always do it the other way as to get some single track in on the way down....

Cheers,

C.K.

[Pho'dUp]

you could always do Skyline > Blackstar > Skyline > Blackstar and back. That'll definitely hurt.

[Chewyeti]

Yeaaaahuh!

sam.. i am down to try it all the way from coal.... that would suck

[freekengo]

Next time you guys go out there again, I'd like to tag along to slow you guys down a bit.

[KonaDupee]

Great RR...looked like a good day for a ride. Sunday up along MD was TOO DAMN HOT.

Let me know next time you guys tackle one of those routes; I'd be more than happy to tag along.

[Chewyeti]

ken and kona,

fo sho guys.... we will see ya next time

[BrewMaster]

Give me a few weeks to recover. I am damn sore after this weekend's rides.

[Pain Freak]

That road to Eagle is not supposed to be closed. We have legal access to it. I spoke with a ranger from the Cleveland NF and they confirmed this. The road is closed to vehicles at this time, but there are plans to reopen it. The folks who own the property have been telling people that it's private but it's illegal to block a trailhead to a national forest.

[Chewyeti]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

That road to Eagle is not supposed to be closed. We have legal access to it. I spoke with a ranger from the Cleveland NF and they confirmed this. The road is closed to vehicles at this time, but there are plans to reopen it. The folks who own the property have been telling people that it's private but it's illegal to block a trailhead to a national forest.

F*CK yeah! thats what i thought!