I'm planning on riding Santiago Oaks tomorrow 2/2. How's the trail? I've never ridden Oaks and might try following the directions on geoladders. Hopefully it's open.
oaks http://www.ocparks.com/santiagooaks/ Here's the site. Looks like most of it will be open. Just not the Weir loop. I haven't been there since last week's rains. Watch out for ruts.
No.....the 3 B's are part of the regular 7 mile loop. Wier Loop goes out from the top of the 3rd B and adds another 6 miles. They had a large part of road washout or a very large hillslide, so it is closed until further notice.
I am considering riding this place tomorrow. Never been there. Is the 6 mile loop thats on Geoladders, called the Waterfall or Chutes the best way to go? I am looking for about a 15 mile ride, is the only way to accomplish that is to do multiple loops?
What gives? Interesting, I got an email advertising a jenson group riding starting at Wier Canyon @ 8 am 2-2-08.
Yes, the Geoladders route for Chutes is the normal route. If you want to get in more mileage.....do the Waterfall loop on Geoladders, then go back around and do the Chutes loop. After that, you explore the singletracks in the trees inbetween Irvine Park and Santiago Oaks. From OCparks.com under Santiago Oaks: THE WEIR CANYON "LOOP" TRAIL IS CLOSED DUE TO UNSAFE AND HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM THE RECENT RAINS. IT WILL REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WE APPRECIATE YOUR COOPERATION AND PATIENCE. PLEASE CHECK BACK OR CALL FOR UPDATES.
from what i hear, its only one part of the loop, there's another entrance that bypasses the closed section that they haven't barricaded. I went up there today, not knowing about the closure, and just turned around at the signed and barricaded entrance. As far as Oaks' trail conditions, everything up top and along the three bit*hes is nice and the greenery is starting to come back. Barham ridge trail is still too wide and kinda beat, but fun nevertheless. The rains have done a number on the lower chutes trail, the chutes are now even deeper and many have little rutted ravines running down the center. definitely added an extra challenge.
They talked a little about the Weir closure at last week's public meeting. I wasn't clear on the exact location or possible alternate route, but their description was basically that a significant portion of the hill slid, taking out the full width of the road/trail.
