Cannel Plunge 7-15-06

[Von-Skipp]

Your probably all tired of hearing Cannel Plunge stories but our adventure was pretty good.

Chris(Cranx) and I drove up Friday am to get a ride in before the Plunge on Saturday. We rode the '[SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Keysville Classic Loop' near the damn dam at Lake Izabella. Not a bad loop if happen to be Kernville!
http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=1353

Saturday morning was the Plunge. 6 of us: Chris(Cranx), Sam(dumptruck), Jerry, Dirk, Jason. We used the Mountain River Adventure shuttle to get to the top.

Distance: 40.7 miles
Elevation: 3,381ft
8 hours total time

http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=1354

Group shot: Jerry, Jason, Chirs, me, Sam, Dirk


Here are pics at the Summit. Sam, Dirk, Chris, Jerry


Jerry and I rock climbing to the peak.




Chris and Jason


A nice meadow


nice shot, ehh


Chris not knowing where the hell we are (lost)


Lake Izzabella from the top of the Plunge




Dirk and Jason ended up turning back due to sickness and mechanical problems about 8 miles in the ride. When this happened the other 4 of us had no idea where they were or how far back they were on the trail. Luckily we ran into a campground occupied by a Church Group. Jerry was running low on water and asked for water. Not only did the wonderfull campers give us water but made us lunch. We had turkey sandwiches, chips, soda and water with these people. We ate and chatted with them for well over an hour while waited on the Dirk and Jason. A dirt biker road in and told us they had mechanical problems and turned back to ride the road back down to Kernville. So the 4 of went on.

After the big ass meadow we missed the Cannel Trail and ventured on the fireroad. About 3 miles I mentioned to our tour guide Chris that it feels like were going in a circle. We looked on the GPS and it turned out we were circling the meadow We turned back and found the trail clearly marked!! This added an extra 7 miles.

After some hike-a-bike up the hit the Plunge. This last 8 miles was absolutely incredible!! Some of the best singletrack you can ride!!!

This was an awesome EPIC ride. Chris will probably post more pics. Thanks for the ride guys!!

[SIZE=1]The above pics are from Dumptruck, thanx![/SIZE]





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[dstepper]

Matt thanks for the report. I was a little surprized in how little the trails are marked out there....not the place you want to get lost. I was talking to my neighbor about his solo Cannell trip, he could not find the trail at Cannell Station and took the highway back to town.

Matt you did not mention the heat?

My favorite section of the ride is the canyon section after Cannell Station before you get to the Plunge.

[Chaos]

Thanks Von-Skipp. I never tire of RRs and pics of the Cannel Plunge . Nice jersey man!

[Von-Skipp]

Originally Posted by dstepper

Matt you did not mention the heat?

I cant complain, I'll be in Arizona soon. It was nice in mountains. The last part of the Plunge was warm but thats all downhill.

Back in Kernville I think was 104. Immediately after finishing Cranx and I dove into the Kern River. Oooooh, that felt gooood after being on the bike for 8 hours!!

[dstepper]

I am curious who got back to town first, the people that continued or the people that bailed out?

[mtnbikerdude87]

damn nice matt!

[Pain Freak]

Considering they added an extra 7 miles of mostly climbing, I'm thinking the guys who rode the road made it back first, but not by much. If the guys who turned back did so after 8 miles they were almost to the easiest part and would of been better off riding foward, but then again I don't know what the mechnical was. Shoot we had a couple biologicals and they still made it.

[TURNERob]

Looks like good times Matt! Thanks for sharing, I'll have to make it up there next year hopefully.

[dump truck]

the other two actually made it back to town first. not sure how much earlier but their car was gone when we got back. broken derailuer was the mech prob. it was definetly easier and shorter for them to turn back and take the rode. especially since we made it a 40 mile adventure. the rode is all down hill, so they could coast back to the car. temp was great the whole ride (high70 to mid80) until kernville where it was blazing, 104. thats pretty much all i got to add to matt's story. all in all an it was the best ride i have ever been on to date. i am looking forward to doing it again!!!!

[roadkillross]

cool

[ka0t1c07]

You guys are not the only ones who missed hanging to the right on the fire road climb. It can be confusing if its your first time there. How was the meadows, is it still wet or has it dried up?

[Von-Skipp]

We tried to stay on the fireroad but some parts of the meadows were still muddy.

Did your group climb the fireroad after the Big Meadow or hike up the singletrack?

Heres some more pics from Cranx's camera.


The shuttle drop of point. Mt. Whitney in the distance.


Hike-a-bike to the peak


Thumbs up to the peak


myself pondering on the view




tasty sandwich from the campers


Jerry and Chris with the campers


Big Meadow


The beginning of an 8 mile descent!!

[dhshuttlemonkey]

Nice pics Matt. Stjunkie was our guide for the trailing group and did a great job making sure nobody got lost. The group ahead of us got lost and kept going down in the meadow. Luckily we heard them down there or they would of had to add an extra 8 miles like you guys did.

[CranxOC]

Skippy's pretty much given everyone the rundown on the ride so I won't go into too much detail here. One thing I do want to mention is that if any of you are heading up to do "The Plunge" and don't take the extra time/effort to climb up to Sherman's Peak you're really missing out on one of the most spectacular views anywhere.

This is the second time I've done this ride and I really forgot how difficult it is for only having about 3,000ft of climbing (without the added detour). Much of the climbing is spent pushing your bike over rocky, loose, steep terrain but fast, technical downhills that follow each and every climb make every inch of them worth the effort.

If you haven't done this ride, put it on your list of "must do's" because it is, without a doubt, one of the best times you will ever have on a bike!

[CranxOC]

More pics...

[CranxOC]

BTW, how do you get the pictures to show up in the post so I can put captions above/below them?

[Chaos]

Originally Posted by CranxOC

BTW, how do you get the pictures to show up in the post so I can put captions above/below them?

do an "insert image" instead of an attachment. You'll need to put your pics on a website to host them though... like photobucket.com

BTW... nice pics!

[LBmtb]

Or you can use the photo gallery on here. Go to "photos" on the menu bar. You can make albums and stuff too.

[Pain Freak]

Wow, I didn't know Kipp knew how to ponder!

[CalEpic]

Umm Matt - Where is your right hand in that first pic?

We are not sharing a room in Mammoth.

C