RR: Mt. Zion/Chantry Flats (incl. trail work)

[gurp13]

Great ride! If you haven't been on this trail, you should get out there. Mt. Zion has some very technical spots and lots of exposure, but there's some real beauty out there, too. We rode about 3.5 miles in on some narrow singletrack that was almost all rideable. I even started thinking they were kidding that this trail needed work. Then, we got to the work site. Tools were dispensed and we got to work. Can I just say, dude! Trail work is hard work! It was kicking my ass! I spent some time supervising and Pain Freak got a lot done because I kept him from taking too many breaks.

It was nice to meet a lot of the guys today. I am terrible with names but Brian and Hans were there and did a great job leading. I also met Shecky and he was pretty decent, for a bruin. Was also good to see stjunkie, dean, matt and henry. Sorry if I missed you. (I work my tail off to remember my students' names at school. It's not personal, it's genetic.)

After the ride, we made our way up to the top of Zion and then down the trail toward Chantry. It was a fun ride! Some tech on the singletrack to keep you honest, but lots of good, flowy, rollercoaster trail! I got caught slipping at one point and nearly went OTB. What's scary about that is that if I had gone all the way OTB, I would have supermanned right over the edge of the trail and down about 30 feet to the rocks below. That made me walk a few more sections that my new tires made me feel I could clean. Pretty scary. This is not a trail for beginners but intermediate and above owe it to themselves to check out this jewel of the San Gabriels. There's lots of canopy cover for many sections that give you that "I'm really in the mountains!" feeling.

Now, some pics.
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[dstepper]

Nice RR Glen, glad you enjoyed the ride. That trail has a remote feeling, it is weird that it is actually so close to LA. Lots of history out in that area.

We should pool our $ and buy one of those cabins from a club house.

[gurp13]

Where were those? Did we ride past them?

Yeah, it does feel like you're really out there. I'm glad I went to the trail work because now, whenever I ride that trail, I can feel like I helped keep it open. That's pretty cool.

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by gurp13

Where were those? Did we ride past them?

Yeah, it does feel like you're really out there. I'm glad I went to the trail work because now, whenever I ride that trail, I can feel like I helped keep it open. That's pretty cool.

Yep we rode right past them. There is so much to look at on that section of trail it is easy to miss them.

[Pain Freak]

Out of all the trails I've rode in SoCal (and I've rode most) nothing is as beautiful as the Winter Creek Trail Coming back down this way there were a few places I just had to stop and look. This is not a trail you can look and ride on at the same time, well not most places.

After going over the side yesterday at El Prieto I was riding a little tenatively and it was making it even a bit more difficult then it needed to be. But as we continued on down the downhill portion it started to come back, and I felt really good until some young punk rode by me on that asphalt climb out of the canyon floor.

Lot's of work got done today and I guess you could call the maintenance on this trail almost complete for a while. Major kudo's to Brian (MTBMaven) and the guys from CORBA, EPIC RIDERS, and OTB bike club.

Please take the time to do an excellent ride and to check out all our hard work. I'm sure you'll all be happy with this gem of the San Gabriels.

[Schecky]

Great day on a great trail! So much amazing scenery. Wind wasn't an issue, it was warm and dry.

The trailwork was productive. Much was accomplished. Kudos to Brian and everyone else.
The dang yuccas on Zion are evil. I found a spine tip in my shin tonight.

If you haven't, you should make the time to ride this area.
For a short-ish ride it packs a lot. A 12 mile ride feels like more.
The Mt. Zion hike-a-bike and the asphalt climb make you pay, but they are so worth it for the ride down! What a kick.
Gurp killed the asphalt climb at the end-I've got to find a way to commute again....

Great to meet/work/ride with all of you.

Here are some more pics:



















Full album here:
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/607

[LBmtb]

I see somebody used the new 'linked thumbnail' feature in our photo gallery Sweet photos, shecky

[El Presidente]

Thanks to all that came out! You guys rock! We had a great ride and got a bunch of work done! It is nice to be able to bring this 110 year old trail back to life!

That ride was awesome! That was my first time riding the entire Mount Zion Trail. The BOB trailers are great! Now we can ride and do trail maintenance too! MTBSKI was having to much fun out there pulling that trailer. He was flowing up and down the trail like the trailer was not even there.

Every hiker we passed gave us much praise for fixing up the trail! You all helped shine a very positive light on us as MTB'rs

I hope you will all come back on 1/7/07 so we can rap it up!

[gurp13]

I'm planning on being there. (Somebody has to watch Mike and make sure he doesn't lollygag)

[dstepper]

Hans, thanks again for feeding us all after the trail work...class act. I will be there next work day. You are right that ride is awesome, it just got moved way up on my rotation. I get tried of trails real quick this one has enough beauty, variation and challange to keep my interest peaked.

Thanks Dean

[gurp13]

Originally Posted by dstepper

Hans, thanks again for feeding us all after the trail work...class act. I will be there next work day. You are right that ride is awesome, it just got moved way up on my rotation. I get tried of trails real quick this one has enough beauty, variation and challange to keep my interest peaked.

You guys got free food? Luckees!! Dang!

Dude, this trail rocks. I keep thinking about it and thinking about how much fun that Winter Creek trail was. I'd like to ride over to Sturdevant and Mt. Wilson, too. I haven't been there yet.

[dhshuttlemonkey]

Originally Posted by Hans

Thanks to all that came out! You guys rock! We had a great ride and got a bunch of work done! It is nice to be able to bring this 110 year old trail back to life!

That ride was awesome! That was my first time riding the entire Mount Zion Trail. The BOB trailers are great! Now we can ride and do trail maintenance too! MTBSKI was having to much fun out there pulling that trailer. He was flowing up and down the trail like the trailer was not even there.

Every hiker we passed gave us much praise for fixing up the trail! You all helped shine a very positive light on us as MTB'rs

I hope you will all come back on 1/7/07 so we can rap it up!

Do you guys have any work dates yet for Upper & Middle Sam Merril? I know 3 or 4 guys who are interested in working and repairing this trail.

[MTBMaven]

MTBRacer, No official dates planned for the Merrills. However when the Mt. Zion Trail is complete I want to move to Middle Merrill next. There are several sections on Middle Merrill that need attention. Expect something in the Spring. After the rains will be a great time to work that trail because it is so much drier than Mt. Zion.

[dstepper]

Yes rain would be most welcome. We started work on a benchcut on Zion...some rain would make digging much easier and we could compact the work we did.

I have not been on Middle Merrill for awhile and I am asuming that most of the work needed is thread work...again to do it right we need some rain.

[Burner]

Great day out there, good to do some work and meet some new faces. Winter Creek to Mt Zion to the Gab is a great loop! See you guys next time.

[dhshuttlemonkey]

Not sure what "thread" work is but there's big ruts down the middle of the trail that need filling and some of the corners are blown out. We talked about filling these ruts with bricks ourselves but I guess we'll wait until you guys from CORBA come out so we can do it right. Once a date is set, I'll hound all the local shuttlers to get up there and do some trail work.

[MTBMaven]

The tread is the part of the trail you ride on. Please do not use bricks to fill in the ruts. That would not be kosher. When we get an event scheduled any help you can provide rounding up people who ride the trail will be greatly appreciated. The trail is heavily used so hopefully finding people will easy.

I got an email from the ANF Volunteer Coordinator. He has submitted a request for the IMBA Trail Crew to organize an event on Middle Merrill. If that goes through it would be a cool and much needed event.

The trail needs tread work and vegetation removal in some areas. There are a few switchbacks that need attention. An organized mountain bike sponsored event on the trail would go a long way to show our appreciation for the trails.

[Pain Freak]

I'm not sure about Mid Merril as I haven't rode it in 3 or 4 months, but Sunset doesn't look to bad to me. Yeah, there is some damage, but easily fixed. Most is from riders not knowing how to ride properly and skidding in the turns, which makes the ruts deeper. But the reality is this trail is almost becoming sanitized from the traffic which has smoothed out the trail to make it really easy. I cleared all but one switchback going through this area and I believe it was because of this, although I'd prefer to think my riding ability has increased. I know better though.

I'd definitley join in on some trail work for this area.