Ride Report solo white mountain ride:epic backcountry poleta

Long overdue to hit this puppy which is a couple friend's top 3 rides ever(6000 drop with shuttle, 5000 for the loop I did). 7 hour ride, complete ripper bombfest-flowfest super fast singletrack, it lives up to the hype!!!

I Cruised to the base in Bishop at 12:30 at night, setup tent real quick and woke up at 5:30, rolling at 6:10, finished at 1:10. The route is up black canyon, down Poleta


"loose" definition of fireroad, a mix of HAB and riding up


I went up black canyon, down poleta. You can see how it got its name (real black in person


canyon gets narrow in spots, pretty cool.


I had directions from a local and map but its a tricky ride to navigate, lots of side trails.
I stuck on the main FR which I thought was good but it got steep and rockier and deadened high up. Dam I thought, this isn't gonna work! So I descended about 400 vertical and took the first left (it went up steep then down steep then hit a doubletrack with creek; alright i'm on the right path!!) I find the 2 cabins/forts, good to go thus far. The climbing before was next to, in a creek ,real green.




I had to find the faint bushwack route to go from one doubletrack to the next, a ok here(took a little time to find)


Let the singletrack commence! This was complete a ripper, super fast, flowy with natural berms from the sides of the wash, just so freaking fun. Some of the fastest trail I've been on. Too fast/fun to stop and take pics of most of the ST


A view of silver canyon and old silver canyon which I've been on many times


After ripping smooth singletrack, it gets more techno with nice waterfall type of rollers where you can huck some, fun fun.


More singletrack showing the sierras in the distance


a mine getting closer to the bottom


good to see my car and other bike still inside. Put the fit to the test.


Indeed a top 5 socal backcountry epic. It does contain a decent amount of fireroad at the bottom but that is still fast and fun. I missed the top 1000 vert which is good singletrack according to others. This is a big shuttle ride (an hour between cars) if you do it how most do it. I could do the loop I did in 6 hours now that i know the route, no backtracking and checking the map many time. most here would love this trail, no joke!

 

Well done.

 

Very nice, thanks... Have a GPS for the route?

 

What a great solo outing--props for the ballsy ride and report!

If you, uh, wanted company next time... 8-[

 

Definitely above My pay grade. Did you get any flats ?

 

Pure DFT! Pure sweetness!

 

You're nuts Tom!! Thanks for the RR and pics; makes me want to try it...sort of.

 

Damn dude! I love that type of back country riding, but I don't think I would do it alone, I would want to share it with somebody. Very brave you are, and thanks for the report!

 

You sir are a true hardcore mountain biker. Nice ride.

 

Baaaad! I want to go!

 

Wow! That is a great adventure and totally different kind of riding then our local trails. I envy you Tom, you are the man :clap:

 

Flown over it in my hang glider many times but your my hero.

 

So none of us have ever seen a RR where you have posted pics before. Who is the secret friend you brought along to take all the pics, and why aren't you giving them credit???

 

Excellent!

 

WOW, great RR.

 

nice scenery!!

 

it was a wild one. no gps folks, just the map. i will do it again for sure, makes a great ride before a mammoth trip, backcountry, then DH riding

 

Epic. Incredible. Awesome.

Just don't have the balls to do that solo: despite being a former Eagle Scout.

Mad props to you my friend!