Valley Forge Trail/ Red Box/ Switzer’s Loop?

[Sewellymon]

[FONT=Arial]So I stopped briefly at Red Box on my way up to ride Chilao and Hillyer and beyond yesterday/ Saturday noon. Emerging from the West Fork Fire Road tool were one, two, three, five, seven, ten or more riders. Everybody seemed super psyched. Turns out they had done a classic loop I’d not thought about before. Red Box down to Switzer’s, up Angeles Crest Highway and Mt Wilson Road to Markham Saddle, then down Valley Forge Trail and back up the fire road to the cars. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I’ve not yet ridden Valley Forge or Rattlesnake. And jonesing hard for both. They said Valley Forge is a great ride/ trail in good shape.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Anybody ridden the Rattlesnake trail in recent months?[/FONT]

[dstepper]

I am also interested in Valley Forge and Rattlesnake (Kenyon Devore on older maps). I know Stjunkie (Scott) has been out there fairly recently.

I don't think I like your idea of riding up Highway 2 to connect the two dirt rides. Why not jump across the Highway and take Strawberry from Switzers to Red Box, or just shuttle it?

Or better idea, dump the Red Box to Switzers and climb Rincon Red Box Fireroad twice to ride both Rattlesnake and Valley Forge.

Sounds like a good ride to put together...lets do it!

Sewellymon, for your info: Markman Saddle is near Mueller Tunnel, in between Mt. Disapointment and Mt. Markman, on Lowe Fireroad. The saddle near Valley Forge upper trailhead is Easton Saddle.

Dean

[Sewellymon]

yes, strawberry peak to red box with valley forge thrown in is the better (mostly car-free) option. But that is a longer, harder version. The guys I met likely were riding up Angeles Crest around 8 or 9 AM. Riding the Highway early enough avoids most the traffic… or…. weekdays maybe the better option…

my ride sched is sort or booked next 2 weeks, but if the snows don’t close the backside, Valley Forge and Rattlesnake in April? That does sound like the classic combo..

(I’d be on Valley Forge as I type, but came down with a mild cold……[FONT=Arial][/FONT]

[stjunkie]

In December I did something similar. I started at Switzer and climbed the Gabrielino to Redbox. Took Mt. Wilson rd to Valley Forge, climbed out Rincon rd and then dropped back down to Swizters. It was either raining or hailing 90% of the ride but this loop holds up well when its wet.

The last time I did Rattlesnake was last July. The trail had just had some work done on it and was in real good shape.
- = Epic Riders MTB = - :: View topic - Saturday 7/15 or Sunday 7/16

Another option is to climb the paved road to Mt. Disappointment and take the singletrack down to Markham saddle and then drop down to Wilson rd. From there you can drop straight down Valley Forge or head farther out to Rattlesnake.

[Good_ol'_slappy]

hehe...diggin' up old threads. That was a good ride Scott!

[mtbski]

I was one of the 12 riders you saw that morning. We were just over the halfway mark on our reverse strawberry loop;

switzers->RedBox->ACH->ValleyForgeTrail->Gabrielino(We did not climb the fireroad)->ACH->Strawberry->Colby->ClearCreak Ranger station.

I bailed down the gab to switzers when you saw us, the rest continued on. Right now is the best time to go since it's really cool out there now. We were surprised by the amount snow up there.

GPS and photos here
OTB Messageboard - Kaep Yrrebwarts (That's Strawberry Peak Backwards)

[Sewellymon]

[FONT=Arial]Damn- I am sorry I missed an EPIC RIDE. 23 miles, 5 bills ascending? And Strawberry Peak in reverse. Whatta concept [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]I’ve also been putting off riding Colby Canyon from Josephine Saddle to ACH. But a previous post desribed it as having “full value”. And even your shortened route- Up Gabrielino, Valley Forge and back down the Gabrielino to Switzers sounds like the ticket. Better than using the ACH to ascend…[/FONT]

[El Presidente]

I was there last Saturday also. Colby Trail down to ACH is awesome! That is if you like rocky and technical trails with some exposure! We had ridden up it a few years back after it was rebuilt and since then we had wanted to ride down it. Well we finally got around to it and it was a blast!

The way we did it was all singletrack except for the 2.5 miles on Mount Wilson Road from Red Box to Eaton Saddle where we dropped down the Valley Forge Trail. When you get to the bottom of Valley Forge you make a left on the Gab and you can either stay on the Gab or go through the Valley Forge campground and hit the Red Box/Rincon dirt road. The gab is the nicer option but it is much harder then the dirt road.

The Valley Forge is a really nice trail that does not get much use. It is maintained by CORBA!

Here is the link to the ride on motion based http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2168082

I headed down to the car after Colby but some of the guys headed back up the highway to the connector to get back on the Gab and took the Gab down to Switzers and then the Natures Canteen trail up to Clear Creek.

By the way the Rattlesnake trail is now called the Kenyon Devore Trail.

CORBA will be working on the Silver Moccasin below Shortcut saddle on April 7th. When that trail is cleaned up there will be another way in and out of the Canyon.

[Sewellymon]

[FONT=Arial]Finally rode the Valley Forge trail. Pretty sweet. Not highly technical or exposed, but a sweet place. Lots of oak trees and some old growth Douglas Fur (I think?). [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Next time I’ll take the suggestion and ride up Mt. Disappointment and down it’s single-track. Or the double loop of Rattlesnake and Valley Forge. Too bad the Rim Trail is not passable/ closed (is it?). The Mt. Wilson triple would be epic.

[/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Oh- and Kudos to the American Hiking Club. They were doing work on the trail Sunday (overgrowth petty thick in some of the lower sections/ in need to trimming).[/FONT]

[MTBMaven]

Man I remember that ride with Good Ol' Slappy (Nick) and stjunkie (Scott). It was like 190 degrees, no shade, and 6 miles of fireroad. Heat stroke totally kicked in and I could hardly walk my bike up the damn hill. Good times!

All in all it was a great ride. Riding up the Gab from Switzer was a great change. Rattlesnake (Kenyon Devore) was absolutely beautiful. Super old pines and furs back there. They are huge.

Originally Posted by Sewellymon

[FONT=Arial]Oh- and Kudos to the American Hiking Club. They were doing work on the trail Sunday (overgrowth petty thick in some of the lower sections/ in need to trimming).[/FONT]

Which trail was the AHC working on?

Originally Posted by Hans

CORBA will be working on the Silver Moccasin below Shortcut saddle on April 7th. When that trail is cleaned up there will be another way in and out of the Canyon.

Nice marketing Hans. I like it!!!!

[Sewellymon]

mtn bike maven asked, "which section of trail was the AHC working on?"

Was the lower portion of Valley Forge where the chaparral is so thick it is like riding through a tunnel (where you have to duck low to keep from a death of a thousand cuts). They were planning on trimming back the chaparral.

The AHC was also painting and refurbishing the outhouse at the Valley Forge Campground. They guy I was chatting with said the AHC has adopted the entire West Fork. Said they were also doing work on the Devore Campground (not sure if it was trail work or on the campground facilities).

The entire West Fork as undergone a nice rehabilitation since it has been closed to vehicle traffic around ’97. However, the Forest Service has no money, so the AHC stepped in to keep the campgrounds in shape. Valley Forge and West Fork campgrounds get heavy usage from Boy Scouts, so the AHC work is particularly beneficial (I’d guess Scout groups do a lot of service projects in the West Fork, too….

Your upcoming trail work on Shortcut is very timely and appropriate given the work and focus on trail and facility maintenance along the West Fork.[FONT=Arial][/FONT]