Lower Sam Merrill Trail- Cool on Weekedays?

[Sewellymon]

[FONT=Arial]Hey all- I went for a hike/ trail run today on Mt. Lowe’s Lower Sam Merrill Trail above Altadena. I’d forgotten what a sweet trail it is.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I’d always recalled this was sort of a “hiker’s only” trail on weekends, but today was a weekday, and I saw an equal number of hikers, runners, and riders.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Anybody ride this trail often? Am I correct- still weekdays only to be cool?[/FONT]

[dstepper]

Have been on it many a weekend morning...not to bad going up...kind of a pain going down. I always stop and let hikers pass. Yes there is room to stay on the bike, but I always step off to the side. Get there early and not too bad...but a much better trail for the weekdays.

Dean

[Endo Verendo]

It's multi-use so anytime is good, just slower going on the weekends. And yeah... better going up than coming down.

[KBL]

Word.

Ascending is no problem weekdays or weekends. I've also descended plenty of times when hikers have been on the trail. I'm careful to yield the right-of-way and slow down when I see hikers ahead. So far, so good, but it's not the trail to bomb down with a full-face helmet and a full set of pads.

[Dino Brown]

Very fun trail indeed....

[Hanzo]

Last time we were there, we saw this dood.

[Nagaredama]

Every time I ride that trail I have the hardest time convincing hikers they have right of way and can walk past. This is after I'm off my bike pleading with them to keep on going.

[VTVic]

This is one of my favorite rides on the front range of the San Gab's. Most people ride up only for the same reason that it is not as fun coming back down due to high traffic. A fun loop would be to come back down Sunset Trail all the way to El Prieto and finish at JPL. We usually park at JPL and ride the road to the beginning of LSM...

[dirtmistress]

Originally Posted by VTVic

This is one of my favorite rides on the front range of the San Gab's. Most people ride up only for the same reason that it is not as fun coming back down due to high traffic. A fun loop would be to come back down Sunset Trail all the way to El Prieto and finish at JPL. We usually park at JPL and ride the road to the beginning of LSM...

This Sunday.
http://sbmbc.com/newsletter.php?c=200710#upcoming
This is a pretty good club too. They have good rides!

[Foesnasty]

I ride it a lot... It can be ridden anyday, but the Weekdays are much more fun.. less stopping for hikers

[Pain Freak]

One of my favorite climbs. It's hard, but it keeps you twisting and turning all the way up, so before you know it....you're all the way up. You can do as VTVic said, or continue on to the top the ride Upper Merrill then back to Mt Lowe, then cross over to Sunset/El P. This makes for a great long ride.

[Rossage]

Just rode it today. Went up Lower, across Echo to the Lowe rd., up to Middle Merrill back down to Echo, down Sunset and back to the van at Millard. All of the hikers were on Lower and we saw no other people until we got back to the p-lot.

[dirtmistress]

Originally Posted by Foesnasty

I ride it a lot... I can be ridden anyday, but the Weekdays are much more fun.. less stopping for hikers

TMI DUDE!!

[Sewellymon]

[FONT=Arial]Right on, everybody. I am psyched. One reason I’ve been sorta avoiding Middle Merrill and Sunset is climbing up the paved portion of the Mt Lowe Road is horrid steep. Lower Merrill might take as long (or longer) to ascend, but it’s prettier. And it’s dirt.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]So what’s UPPER Merrill like????? Climb up the backside of Lowe and end up near Inspiration Pt., yes?[/FONT]

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

Mt Lowe Road is horrid steep.

Lower Merrill does seem the easier climb...not sure if it is but it does seem that way. Plus Echo MT Singletract is a nice section that you miss buy going up the pavement.

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

[FONT=Arial]Right on, everybody. I am psyched. One reason I’ve been sorta avoiding Middle Merrill and Sunset is climbing up the paved portion of the Mt Lowe Road is horrid steep. Lower Merrill might take as long (or longer) to ascend, but it’s prettier. And it’s dirt.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]So what’s UPPER Merrill like????? Climb up the backside of Lowe and end up near Inspiration Pt., yes?[/FONT]

Yep, youz got it.

Uper is on the techy side with some exposure. I used to have a very hard time with this trail for some reason and never really felt comfortable with it. In fact I'm probably going to end up walking a lot of sections that I'd finally learned how to ride now that I've lost some of my technical skills. Maybe I'll get some back on the Mt Wilson ride this weekend.

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

[FONT=Arial]Right on, everybody. I am psyched. One reason I’ve been sorta avoiding Middle Merrill and Sunset is climbing up the paved portion of the Mt Lowe Road is horrid steep. Lower Merrill might take as long (or longer) to ascend, but it’s prettier. And it’s dirt.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]So what’s UPPER Merrill like????? Climb up the backside of Lowe and end up near Inspiration Pt., yes?[/FONT]

Yep, youz got it.

Uper is on the techy side with some exposure. I used to have a very hard time with this trail for some reason and never really felt comfortable with it. In fact I'm probably going to end up walking a lot of sections that I'd finally learned how to ride now that I've lost some of my technical skills. Maybe I'll get some back on the Mt Wilson ride this weekend.

[Foesnasty]

Originally Posted by dirtmistress

TMI DUDE!!

this thing needs spell/gram check

[VTVic]

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

[FONT=Arial]So what’s UPPER Merrill like????? Climb up the backside of Lowe and end up near Inspiration Pt., yes?[/FONT]

I agree with Steppie and Mike, is a lot more fun to ride up LSM to Lowe and up to Inspiration Point. From there you can either come back down on MSM and then hit Sunset/El Prieto; or continue past Inspiration Point to find the Upper SM trail head right before the Tunnel. I've been on this part of the trail once and never did it again... too many loose sections. I'm with PainFreak, never really liked it...too much exposure and didn't feel too confortable riding it. This part of the Merrills does get a lot of DH'ers up there on the weekends...
A good epic ride, which a number of us at ermtb.com did a couple months ago was to start from JPL, to LSM, up the fire road past Inspiration Point, up through the Tunnel and to the paved Mt Wilson rd, then down to Red Box and to Switzers, from there we continued down JPL. That was a long but fun (and painful) ride. You can view our ride pics here: http://ermtb.com/index.php?name=MDFo...er=asc&start=0

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

[FONT=Arial]So what’s UPPER Merrill like????? [/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Of the three Merrills, Upper is the steepest and loosest. I am not sure how much I like it, it is more a thing of surviving it.[/SIZE][/FONT]