Ride Report Dropped in on BootLeg Canyon in Nevada 3/1/14

Reposted:

Got into Las Vegas Friday night. I drove in the rain the whole time but traffic was flowing except the usual spot coming from Orange. Wasn't to sure about riding the next day, I figured it was going to rain again.

Woke up Saturday to sunshine and started my attempt to locate riding condition on Bootleg Canyon. Since I did not find anything and I was not far from it I made the drive out there. When I arrived I was not alone.
Ran into three guys lounging in their car drinking Lagunitas and talking about the runs they done so far. They mentioned a shuttle and sure enough...it drove up. Craig the shuttle driver charges $5 a ride (the shuttle vehicle is a used U-haul moving van with chairs and sofas in the back and u-haul utility trailer). Craig is a very cool guy. We started talking bikes and stories as he started to examine my Nomad. Without asking, he assured me it will handle the trails and suggested I start with Girl Scout and Boy Scout for my the first run.

He loaded up my bike and I jumped in the back with a few other shuttle monkeys. Nice a cozy.


Everyone in the van were talking about how good the trails are right now and no dust too boot.
Got to the top in no time and Craig let me know of two other riders doing Girls Scout and Boy Scout. They let me tag along if I follow the only rule...have fun. Down we went. The first time I was out here I rode up these two tech trails which were not bad but it seemed it would be better going down; and it was....wheeeee. We had a good pace going all the way down. We almost beat the shuttle back down but we stopped at a big junction where Brandon (of http://allmountaincyclery.com/) gave me a quick trail options at this junction. We proceeded down Girl Scout and my tires took a good beating. I hit one rock pretty hard were I heard the front rim ping but no air leak..:bang:! At the bottom, the other guy that came down with Brandon and I got himself into a hurl position so I peddled on. =P~

I decided to get another run in and go off on one of the optional trails Brandon showed me. But in talk with one of the lagunita guys and that I was all padded up (thanks Dino for the loan) I went for the face of the canyon; the ngar, ngar, ngar stuff. The lagunita guy was giving me directions looking at it from the top and tips about the trails. These guys took off and were gone from sight. While at the top I hung out to see the screaming zipliners go down. It looks like so much fun.
On this run I came down a trail called Snakeback which was good fast fun after getting past the triple ngar at the begining and into the double ngar. Got the call the grub at my Dads Bday party was ready so I called it a day and sped off to get me some of the awesome food to end my great rides.

 

Congratulations on what appeared to be a successful trip to Bootleg!
(good times, great weather, no major crashes, the bike survived..)

-How would you describe Bootleg (i.e. terrain/ length of runs / drive time on the shuttle) to those who have never been?

-Are you a fan of that type of riding? Would you rather ride Snow Summit or Mammoth?

-Was there ever a point during your ride where you said to yourself, "if I crash... it's not gonna be good? I remember saying that multiple times! Haha!

-The shuttle vehicle looks pretty awesome!

Congrats Ray Ray! :clap:

 

Looks like FUN times! Thanks for the report!

 

We're going on April! Woot woot, thanks for the report.

 

Its got something for all. Fun XC to the west of it, a jump track that wasn’t there before at the entrance, techy up and down trails and your full blown sick downhill. I guess you can say, combine Motorway, SJT, Luge, Hawk and Peralta (Oaks) and throw in sharp rock obstacles to ride over will be how to best describe it. Maybe others can chime in here that been to bootleg. Craig the shuttle guys said “if you can ride the canyon here, you can ride anything. There is nothing like it”. I am sure it is local bias.

With the shuttle you can get many runs in. I believe Craig has an all day fee and he runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You can call All mountain bike shop to confirm. The Shuttle up was...guessing about 10-15 min to get you to the top.

Girl scout/Boy scout trails: are techy and flowy. Fast sections to let go, some steps some kickers here and there. Small sharp rock formation to get up and over or around that can take out a tires or a derailleur. Some areas have rock debris which can be slipper on turns outs. Middle section just requires a little peddling. A small price to pay. These trails run parallel to road going to the top. Combined its about 1.5 miles

SnakeBack trail: The start at the top is pretty damn narly until it starts to fan out to different trails. Lots of rock debris sections, most of the rocks coming out of the ground are pointy and pointing in the direction you are coming down plus some section are off camber. Easy to be in a world of hurt sliding off them with the exposure. Once you get past this area (about .5 miles of puckering) it drops a notch in ngar. The rock formation are a bit more intense then the boyscout/girlscout trail but it progressively lessen as you travel farther down the face of the canyon. Then you get into the dirt trails that go up and down like a roller coaster. You can get some good speed and catch some air. Some table tops and other just drop back down. This can be a 2 mile ride or 1.5 if you chose. Once you get past the the triple ngar area and .25 mile you can take other trails like Kevorkian to Diva, or Reaper or G-string. But I understand these to increase in the puckering factor. I believe my prior visit included Kevorkian and it was "I think I will walk this section" moments.

Without a doubt I am a fan of what the Girl scout and boy scout trails offered.
As for the start of the canyon face, I can see being a fan of this too. The adrenaline factor was definitely there, but so was the voice in my head saying "thats going to hurt if I fall". And at my age, recovery is going to be long.:lol: Armor helped with the confidence and I surprised myself at the cr@p I went over. Definitely a long travel bikes is a must at this .5 mile of ngar. The rest of snakeback I am definitely a fan. The fun factor was up there.
My prior visit to bootleg include the XC side which is on the west side of the canyon. That is a hoot. West leg, Mother, POW, Par None trails. If that what you like give a try or head over to red rock. All great for 29er xc.
I can’t speak to compare Snow Summit or Mammoth as I have not ridden either. Only ridden the XC round the snow summit park.

Thanks Dino.
The last shuttle ride up, we had trail dogs hitch a ride up. Five of them to be exact. Four large dogs (two boxers, really large lab, and an american bulldog) and of course there must be a chihuahua. I didnt’ get a pic of the dogs, I had to leave my camelback at the door so I can push my way through to get a seat and unfortunately my camera was in the camelback. The guys told me the chihuahua is the fast one on the trail. Go figure with the little legs.

 

Great report.. thanks! Bootleg is one of our favorites.. It definitely has plenty of the "pucker" factor you're talking about.. in terms of the face or the true DH trails, Snakeback is the easiest way down.. that pucker factor increases from there

It's cool because it's so different from our dirt.. and even with full pads I've experienced the cheese grater effect you can get with a good sliding wipeout over that sharp terrain.. glad you enjoyed it and came back unscathed.. we will be riding a couple of days there most likely during my son Ryan's spring break