Huge State Park with several entrances in Brea, Yorba Linda and Chino Hills. Good fire road training. A lot of singletrack on eastern end but trail maintenance is spotty and trails get overgrown in summer.
Did a long ride last week including most of the singletracks. Here are singletrack conditions: Raptor Ridge- OK, trail is heavily straw-covered Upper Aliso (to start of Sidewinder) - marginal, straw-covered Sidewinder- straw-covered, dangerous washout halfway up, not recommended Bane Ridge-clear Lower Aliso-clear
Raptor Ridge has been cleared. Ranger Ridge and Pete's plunge (made famous by STR's very own pshloss) is clear as well. For the hikers: The trail from Gilman Peak to Telegraph is in decent condition.
Rode Chino on Friday. Best conditions I've seen there ever. Rode North Ridge, Raptor Ridge, Upper Aliso Singletrack (ST), Sidewinder ST, Bane Ridge ST, South Ridge, Telegraph Cyn, Sycamore Cyn, and Gillman Pk. All were excellent.:drunk:
Rode Scully Ridge to Brush Canyon. It's a bit over grown but it has just turned the fire road/double track on Scully into a single track at some parts. Bane Ridge is free and clear. Sidewinder has part of the trail washed down a cliff just after it splits off from Bane Ridge (on the Chino Hills entrance side). It is passable but slippery from the loose rocks. Telegraph Canyon and South Ridge are in good shape.
I rode from Rimcrest today. I met a local named Steve at the cars and told him about the site. We just rode up Telegraph to 4 corners. The FR is pretty tight, if a bit chunky. Beautiful evening.
I rode from Green River today. I wanted to hit San Clemente but didn't want to drive so far. Fantastic conditions. Clear air, tacky dirt, skinny singletrack, new green growth and nobody else out. My own private Idaho. I'd been off the bike a week, a solo ride at my own pace sounded good. It was cold and windy at the start. Two shirts and a jacket to start, and then shed the jacket once I started climbing. I had a back-up plan of climbing Coal Canyon if the wind looked better, but Chino was the choice once I got there. I didn't have too many headwind climbs, but the wind was fierce on the ridges! I came close to toppling a couple of times. Rode Horse corral FR, Lower Aliso FR, climbed Brush canyon switchbacks, Climbed Skully ridge, dropped Skully to Water canyon, climbed the western singletrack to the Ranger station (middle Aliso, Rolling Ridge?:? climbed Upper Aliso Singletrack, climbed Sidewinder ST with a bit of hike a bike (Cardiac?:?, dropped Rolling Ridge ST, dropped middle Aliso, dropped lower Aliso, dropped Lower Aliso FR, finished with the Horse corral climb and decent. Saw a Golden Eagle cruising the updrafts and a beautiful blue and orange kestrel. I should have brought my camera, gorgeous ribbons of trail. I was about 3 miles into the ride before I remembered the new WTB Pure saddle. The mark of a good saddle - you don't notice it! Probably 30% FR, 20% doubletrack, 50% singletrack. 18-20 miles I'd guess Whee!
Chino Hills is one of my favorite places to ride. It's nice to finally see green in the park. The east side of the park is my favorite area. You can ride for hours and not run into too many people. I did ride by myself on Wednesday, up Northridge and down Sycamore to four corners. Northridge, Sycamore and Telegraph are in good riding condition. I only saw 2 other riders the entire time. I was on Bovinia and Southridge when the park reopened on Christmas Eve (day) and both are good as well. There were a few areas on Southridge where vehicles left a few large ruts. Plan to do Brush Canyon area over the weekend.
Park was still closed today 1-14 luckily I had my CX bike and there was plenty of stuff outside the park to mess around on
Another assault on the state parks: Proposed road would cut through Chino Hills State Park: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/road-mwd-plant-1999530-coalition-park
Good looking out Schecky. The last thing we need is a road cutting through that side of the park. It would only lead to more mess.
I've been riding Chino a lot lately, and boy has it gotten OVERGROWN! The plant life & the critters are taking over. Lots of BUGS. Here are some comparison pics: Raptor Ridge on Feb 9th, 2008 (perfect!): Raptor Entrance on Feb 28th (getting a little overgrown): Raptor Entrance on March 17th (freaking weed fest): Further down Raptor on the 17th:
brewmaster and I did a 20 mile loop on wednesday.... we got owned by bane ridge singletrack... and by the GNATS on southridge. Ranger Steven also owned us... (another story)
