Ride Report Claremarshall Wildroe Glendevey

Discussion in 'Ride Reports' started by jeff^d, Dec 21, 2008.

  1. jeff^d

    jeff^d Active Member

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    A 51-mile, 7300' climbing loop from Claremont Wilderness Park to Marshall Canyon to Wildwood Motorway to Monroe Truck Trail to Glendora Ridge Road to Evey Canyon. Just under 50% dirt as reported here.

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    My obsession with playing connect the dots only seems to get worse with time, and yesterday didn't do much to alleviate the symptoms. I'd been wanting to ride Monroe Truck Trail for a while, and since the VQ training ride fell through I decided to stay local and check it out. After pulling out the maps, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and explore the foothills region between Wheeler in La Verne and Valley Central in Glendora. To top it off, since I didn't get enough of Sunset Ridge two weeks ago on the Crossing Gabe ride, I figured I'd end the day exploring it once again.

    Most of the idea for this ride was born while drinking coffee at 8:30 yesterday morning, enjoying my warm apartment and half thinking about going back to bed. I'm glad I didn't. With a departure time of 9:52, the temperature was creeping up and already at 46 degrees. The Claremont Park was plenty busy, but despite this I saw a few deer on the way up.

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    I dropped through Marshall Canyon and ended up on Golden Hills Rd in La Verne. From here I wasn't sure where to go, but my map shows a few dirt roads through the foothills area between Wheeler and Valley Central, so I picked a steep street (Terrebonne Ave) and endured the 14-15% grades until I hit Sycamore Flats Motorway. This took me to Sycamore Canyon Rd, which I took north through a horse ranch until it turned into Wildwood Motorway.

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    Wildwood Motorway is a scenic 2-track in good condition connecting San Dimas and Glendora. In the interest of time I decided to take Wildwood all the way to Glendora, where it ended on Amelia, but I also passed the junction for Ferguson Motorway which would've taken me further north in Glendora. Other options for exploration exist in this area but involve entering the experimental forest, where it's posted that no entry is allowed without a permit. Along the Motorway stood an isolated bench, overlooking a quiet canyon below.

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    Once in Glendora, I took Valley Central to Glendora Mountain Road, then entered the singletrack known as Monroe Truck Trail. MTT is nearly 100% climbing and gains 2000' in about 7-8 miles, where it rejoins Glendora Mountain Road on top of the ridge. The first section is rocky with some fun technical climbs, then it mellows out and lets you suffer on smooth, slightly overgrown singletrack before widening to a 2-track at the top. The trail was damp with little mud, all easily rideable. You're provided great views of GMR and the San Gabes to the north throughout most of the way.

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    Connecting with GMR, I rode east and planned to connect with the west road up to Sunset Ridge, about 8 miles down the pavement. I passed the entrance to the San Dimas Experimental Forest, where several routes to the bottom exist. Too bad it's marked as "No Public Access".

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    At this point, things got interesting. GMR was closed to vehicles and I was really enjoying the solitude, even thought it was a climb on asphalt with a full suspension, fat-tired bike. Conditions slowly worsened, and eventually GMR was snowy and covered with patches of black ice. I found my home in the ruts on the side of the road.

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    When I found the west entrance to Sunset Ridge, I knew a change of plans was in order. The road was blanketed in 3-4" of snow and was very soft underneath, not rideable without great effort. Being from Michigan, I found this to be rather annoying and felt no desire to "play" in the snow. :lol:

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    So it was back to the asphalt, where I took a break at Cow Canyon Saddle, then took Baldy Rd. down to Evey Canyon, which I climbed back to the Claremont Park then home. I thought briefly about climbing Potato, then thought about dinner and decided to head home instead.

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    All in all I ended the day with 51 miles and 7300' climbing. This was my first long ride with my new Garmin 305 (thanks Brian!), so I was able to geek out a little with the software. I'd like to try this or a similar loop with more dirt in the San Dimas-Glendora area, decending down Sunset Ridge or Barrett-Stoddard instead of Baldy Rd. I'm continually amazed by riding in the San Gabes, and I'm only barely scratching the surface.

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  2. 53-12

    53-12 by design

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    Thanks for the report. That dirt link between San Dimas and Glendora has always eluded me; good to now know of the Wildwood Motorway.
     
  3. chupacabra

    chupacabra New Member

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    Where is Terrebone Rd? I've ridden up behind the Sycamore Canyon Road. But I don't know where sycamore motorway is?
     
  4. jeff^d

    jeff^d Active Member

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    Here is a better map. 1N15 is also known as Sycamore Motorway on a Tom Harrison map that I have. It goes into the experimental forest. The section I rode is incorrectly labeled as Ferguson on this image, it's actually Wildwood Motorway. Ferguson is the darker road splitting off to the north, also shown here.

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  5. chupacabra

    chupacabra New Member

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    Looks like one couldl connect Wildwood Motorway to Gordan Highland Rd. to Bluebird and cut out a couple more miles of Street. I believe there might even be a drop down route into big dalton canyon. Then you could take mystic up to Monroe Truck Trial, although there are a couple of HAB sections on Mystic. It's pretty steep. I may do some exploring this Winter Break if the weather holds.


    Thanks for the inspiration. Pretty fun piecing this together.
     
  6. jeff^d

    jeff^d Active Member

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    I think Ferguson Motorway connects to Bluebird directly, which ends at the start of GMR. Otherwise, Bluebird goes all the way to the top and ends the gate for the experimental forest on GMR. I've also been up San Dimas Canyon Rd to where the pavement ends, and that looks like it ends at the gate on top of GMR as well. I'll have to check out Mystic, I rememer passing the cutoff on my way up MTT.

    Do you happen to know of any connector between Sunset Ridge and Marshall? I've seen one very steep trail, definitely HAB, but didn't have the daylight to explore it.
     
  7. BoingBoing

    BoingBoing Team Sisyphus

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    There are two connectors from Sunset to Marshall. I have never seen them from the top (too busy riding). But one comes out on Stevens Ranch Rd just before the upper parking lot for Marshall Cyn. It's hard to miss--a wide steep rutted face. Recently I saw a rope hanging down the face to aid in climbing.

    The other's location is harder to describe. If you are climbing the fireroad eastward there is a sharp righthand turn that is really part of a T. Turn left and climb the fireroad that no-one ever seems to use. It goes to a water tank. Stay to the right until you see a singletrack to the left. Take that into a deserted freeride area with rotting stunts and overgrown doubles. You can't miss seeing the trail (very HAB) running up a ridge.

    In addition, there is a connector from Sunset to the Claremont Loop. If you know the highest point on the Loop, it's easy to find. Going clockwise, there is the shade structure, the gate to Marshall, and just before the highest point, a trail up the ridge. I have pushed a bike up it and it's really brutal. A little over a mile. More than 1000 ft. I was using my bike like a cane, or walking stick, to drag my tired @ss up the loose stuff. Just before the end, yucca started to appear. I was worried about popping my tires.

    I don't recommend this route unless you want to inflict pain upon yourself for some reason.
     
  8. BFloFoxRider.

    BFloFoxRider. Active Member

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    since this is practically in my backyard, i should try this.
     
  9. 53-12

    53-12 by design

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    I have also searched for that elusive connector. Like Boing-Boing already noted, the closest I ever got was that stunt area above the work camp - it's easy enough to get that far, but beyond that it becomes push a bike. I have talked to various riders about the fire breaks and semi-trails you can see from below when you look up to the Sunset Road and have always been told they are all unridable.
     
  10. chupacabra

    chupacabra New Member

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    How about something from the bottom of Sunset Ridge Road that runs along the base of the mountain behind the houses. Over toward Stephens Ranch Road. On google earth it looks like there might be something that could be connected. I don't think it would totally eliminate the street but would cut out a bit.
     
  11. 53-12

    53-12 by design

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    Kind of looks like that road runs by or through some small orchards, might be private; then again might be worth checking in to.
     
  12. jamisjake

    jamisjake Active Member

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    Dude, thats impressive! Thanks for the RR and the pics.
     
  13. Albacore

    Albacore 34x18

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    Let me know and I'll be there (prob on my Transition).
     
  14. jeff^d

    jeff^d Active Member

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    You can see here where I briefly detoured, near the sandy area in the middle, to check out the singletrack going up. It was heavily rutted but definitely had bike tracks coming down.
     

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