Ride Report Wildhorse Trail, San Bernardino National Forest

Riders: StJunkie, PainFreak and myself. I have done dozens and dozens of Ride Reports (RR) on STR but I have a self-imposed rule to do only one RR on a trail unless things have significantly changed. Both Mike and Scott have been MTBing much longer that I, especially Mike I think he is into his 7th decade. None of us have ever rode Wildhorse Trail. I have looked at it for years just never done it because I thought it would be a disaster from the horse traffic from the nearby Heart Bar Equestrian Center.

The Ride: Bottom of Wildhorse Trail is about 4 miles past Southfork Campground on Highway 38 very near Heart Bar Campground. We rode 6 miles up Forest Service Road 2N93 (Wildhorse Meadows Road) to Wildhorse Meadows. Very surprised that Wildhorse Meadows where nice and green with a few wildflowers still in bloom. The climb up 2N93 is moderate with excellent views of the San Gorgonio Wilderness and its peaks. Horse Meadows is basically the summit of 2N93 you can continue on it and in another 6 miles of downhill come out at Green Spot near Big Bear City. We played around on one of the many fireroad up top before back-tracking to the top of Wildhorse Trail...more exploration is needed up there it is 9,000 ft and very pretty.

The beginning of Wildhorse is a old logging road that has fist sized sharp shale rocks that makes going down very hard to hold your line. We got to Sugarloaf Trail and pleaded off left down Wildhorse Trail. That trail to Wildhorse Camp is way up there in my favorites. It is steep, narrow and a true backcountry trail that many may not like but we sure did. We all commented that it felt more like the Sierras than our local mountains. There is a 1/2 mile of ferns up to our waste that you could not see the trail, with the steepness and rocks it maybe for a interesting ride.

St Wildhorse Camp there is a 1 mile climb out of the bench where the camp is. I wlaked parts of it but it was very rideable if I was so inclined. Then there was a 5 mile downhill thru the chaparral, sandy in spots, rocky in spots and super fast in spots. The only thing you could count on was that the trail would change in a few hundred feet. One doubletrack section near the bottom was sort of steep but the whole thing was round rocks about the size of a fist and larger that would just spit you back and forth...no way to hold your line.

This loop is way up on my repeat rides list. Coming down Wildhorse will not be for most riders due to the steepness, rockiness and narrowness. But a good intermediate rider that knows when to walk will have a great time. This trail earns Steppies high marks of approval. Hope Mike and Scott add some more pics.

Dean

 

GREAT ride description and pics Dean!! Well done guys!!

 

First Map is the New Wildhorse Trail per my GPS. With a short out and back at the top to find what jeep road goes down Green Canyon and yes that is the one where we stopped.

Second is a map of the loop as I hand drew it. I want to go back and see if the old trail is still there.

 

Looks like fun. Let me know when you're heading back up there. I need some new dirt. Did the horses tear up the trail?

ps - Margo, Tom and I did a fun ride near your second home Thursday.

 

What I learned about horses on this trip was obvious but I was too focused on the name of the trail and the name of the meadows. I did not see any evidence of horses ever being on that trail. Yes it had been raining up there and there where rain puddles on the road but not enough rain to pack the trail in and no horse shit on the trail. I started thinking if I rode horses I would not be riding Wildhorse Trail either when Heart Bar butts up against the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Yes there is some fun to be had behind my house.

 

Great ride report! What's the a approximate mileage on that loop and how was riding on Hwy 38 (i.e. is there a shoulder on that stretch?)

 

I had planned on riding 38 but with Mike coming and a second car we shuttled out the pavement. To ride the highway is: 3.84 miles and 1,038 ft climb, the highway is mostly wide there with a good shoulder except where the guardrails are.. 2N93 is: 5.1 miles and 1,623 ft climb. Wildhorse down is: about 5 miles and a 2,230 drop with a 4-500 ft climb after Wildhorse Camp. 2N93 is a open road that any car with decent clearance could drive so if one was so inclined you could shuttle it. Total loop would be about 15 miles and a little over 3k of climbing.

Don't pay a lot of attention to the number as the route seem like no big deal on paper. Remember that the bottom of 2N93 is at 7,400 and the top is a click under 9K. I was not looking for more to ride at the end, Scott was but he is always looking for more to ride.

Dean

 

Liked the report, and excellent pics. Love those 'almost not there' trails...very wilderness feel. Thanks much for sharing!

But, man, yoo needs ta git a speel chekor!!!!! #-o

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Gets me to wondering about a loop from BB (Top of SS): Down Radford Grade to Front Line Rd. Up to Southfork CG, up Hwy 38 to Wildhorse Meadows Rd, up WHM Rd. . . . Looks like it continues up to Hwy 38 just outside of BB City. Any idea what condition the road is in past where you turned around? Doesn't look like much climbing left after that.

 

If you look at my first post six pictures down. the one with Scott and Mike riding the road alongside the fence at Horse Meadows, that is pretty much what that road is like the whole length. That section is the saddle and is pretty flat.From where we stopped (Wildhorse Meadow) it is pretty much all downhill to Green Spot Picnic area just outside Big Bear City. 2N93 is 12-13 miles end to end, the road is in very good shape and is a easy to moderate climb. I would skip the Radford Road decent and use the newly redone 7 Oaks Trail to descend.

Jeff, from near Horse Meadows there is a combination of singletrack and old jeep roads that goes down Green Canyon that would be a much better route than going down 2N93 to BB. It will take you back to 2N93 a mile from Highway 38 very close to BB.

Dean

 

Very nice Dean!!!

New dirt rocks.
I'd love to check this one out.

Well done sir!

 

Nice RR, Dean... sounds like fun.

^This really sounds like fun.

 

What ever You do, don"t drink out of that concrete/rock, water cistern about halfway down. There's and old uranium mine in the area, the water is radioactive. Got that bit of advice from the local USFS patrolman.

 

Looking at my USGS map the mine seems to be a ways away from Green Canyon and the creek. Maybe there is more than one mine in that area.

Dean

 

Unless you're talking about the short section of trail opposite sugarloaf trailhead. If so, my bad. That RR inspired me, I think i'll do wildhorse this labor day weekend if anybody wants to meet up. Thursday thru Sunday would work for me. BTW, there's a piece of singletrack that's pine knot/trick or treat quality about a 300 yds or so from green canyon. I'd be happy to show anyone, don't think I want to post it though.

 

I pm'ed Dean to see what he was up to this Saturday and he told me of his route. I'd never even heard of this trail so it had my intere3st immediately. He didn't do much to promote it though but I really don't care so much what we ride as long as I get the scenery and the views.Of course I prefer singletrack but it's not going to stop me from riding. We get to the trailhead and it really didn't look to promising as it was a mixture of lose broke up mica and I thought this might be a bummer but it turned out to be just the opposite. First off the trail is a very easy grade and the views help even more....

Prior to leaving, Dean being the senior member of our group gave us some parting advice



Trailhead



Scott being always the slow one to get going was back there somewhere....




Some excellent views, we were close to the timberline but remained below for the entire ride.



Here comes Santa!!!



This ride has a nice "out there" feel to it.....




This was an offshoot and led to a camping spot but deadended after that so we continued up the road...

Scott rode up and checked it out.



Continuing on. This is a very nice easy going climb....

Steppie



More scenery....







Unlike a lot of riders I like riding fireroads as you get to see more because you're not constantly trying to stay on trail. This ride had about everything...




The meadow was a pleasant surprise. I'd never seen one here in the San Berdo's. In fact a lot of the stuff here you don't typically see until you get to the Sierra's. It had that kind of feel to it with some huge gnarly trees.



Scott finally finished frolicking in the meadow.


Trailhead down but we wanted to explore a little more so we continued up a short ways and found a good place to take a break. I walked around and off the top you could see down to Baldwin Lake and on to Big Bear and all the way to Lucerne Vally. I couldn't get a picture of it though as it didn't come out.

Where do we go now?



Big gnarly trees





Pinecone heaven, there must of been a couple thousand of them here. Almost looked like they were put there intentionally.



This is the direction I walked off to and seen down into the valley



Trees were truly amazing....




And as usually is the case we didn't get a lot of pics on the way down as it's so much fun you don't want to stop. Like I said earlier this trail has about everything. A good degree of technical riding along with steep descents, into the ferns where you also have it steep butit's hard to see some of the trail because of the ferns but withy a little effort you'll find it. At this point I had a smile on my face that would not stop.

 

cont......

Even a sign I could follow!



Singletrack!





These ferns were big...



Scott working his way through the ferns followed soon by Dean



Wildhorse campsite but like Dean said we seen no sign of horses at all...



At this point we were reflecting why no one ever has posted up about this great trail. I don't use the term "great" lightly either. This is one of those trail people will ride over and over again. It's just another 15 minutes or so up the 38 from the post office and has so much more to offer then SART. It had rock gardens, technical climbs, some scary exposure, and a few switchbacks that were a lot of fun. But with the elevation this will probably be snowed in by sometime in Oct maybe Nov. I've rode some good stuff in the Berdoo's but this is by far my new favorite trail. The only drawback would be with the short distance but if you're looking for something with more mileage and more of an epic feel you could always ride down to Big Bear and then back up. It could be done easily.





Almost down...




And finished!

This is one of those trails you keep playing over and over again in your mind and you find yourself sitting there with a stupid grin on your face long after you get home. I personally would like to try this again riding down to BB and then back up and over. It's a short ride otherwise but it has some beautiful scenery. I'll be hitting this one again, soon!

 

Very nice guys. Does anyone have a geoladders link for this ride?

 

This is to funny. Chris Hanson posted a picture of what he rode yesterday and I look at his pic and it looked just like mine but we were a little further out I think....

 

my shot was actually at the top of Grand View Point just atop of E101 at Big Bear looking out over the valley and San Gorgonio Peak. It does look really similar!