The idea for this ride was stewing on the back burner since the big Forgotten ride over 7 weeks ago. As Old Man Winter already made its mark over Thanksgiving on the San Gabriel mountains, it was either time to make it reality or put it off until next year’s snow melt. Normal people elect to drive their car via I-15 to get from Antelope Valley to the LA Basin. But asphalt isn’t an option for mountain bikers. And unlike the Forgotten where I pre-road every section, this would be a virgin ride for all of us. So to hell with the unknown risks and dangers that lay ahead, it was time to kick this epic thing up a serious notch…prefaced with
Baldy.
Following the last multi-day ride I guided in the north Gabes, Jeff was game for more backcountry riding. My schedule opened up for Saturday, so both of us finalized a route early in the week. His buddy Terry agreed to come along, but probably couldn’t imagine what he would getting himself into this day. (I don’t think Jeff & I could have either in retrospect.) With Jeff and myself being out of town for the big Thanksgiving weekend, our mileage totals were way down going into this ride. Of course I came down w/ a cold bug mid-week, was able to get it mostly under control by week’s end, but not before having a muscle cramp flair up in my back. The conspiracies against me continued Saturday morning as I forgot my chamois powder, sunscreen, and found my Garmin wouldn’t boot up even though I recharged it the day prior. Nonetheless, all three of us were heading straight for the Blue Ridge trailhead at 9 am. Today’s destination was Jeff’s apartment in Claremont…on the opposite side of the San Gabes.
This had to be one of the clearest days this fall, just looking at the mountains driving away from Jeff’s house in the morning. Although I expected a cooler morning temperature upon arrival at Big Pines, it was already into the 50’s. So it didn’t take long before we were shedding our long sleeve base layer on the climb up Blue Ridge.
Just over halfway up, some residual snow started to appear.
Fifty minutes and 1,000’ later, we arrived at Blue Ridge campground and the backside of Mountain High East ski area.
Next up was the hour ride out to the end of Blue Ridge Truck Trail.
Along the way, the views today were exceptionally clear than anyother time I’ve been up here.
All the way through downtown LA, Palos Verdes, and even Catalina & San Clemente Islands.
As we passed by Guffy campground, the full backside of San Antonio still had snow to about 7,500’ from what I could guess.
A little further, a section of crusty snow covered the road and my thoughts turned to trudging through snow getting up the backside of Baldy Notch
Soon enough we reached the end of the road. I’ve never seen the air this clear in SoCal. Views to the north included thick snow capped peaks of the Sierras. To the east all of San Bernardino mountains, and in the distance San Jacinto mountains to the southeast and tops of Granite and Providence mountains of East Mojave Desert in the northeast.
Baldy Notch was today’s major goal.
Our point of no return was off Wright Mountain’s backside. This would be our first and shortest descent of the day, losing a paltry 3,000’ to the bottom of Lytle Creek.
On the way down, we could see just how far down we would be going into Lytle Creek and climbing back up.
We joined up with Lytle Creek road on the upper ridgeline, but not before I sacrifice a tube to the tire god.
We then picked up the pace on the forest road descent. With a 1,000’ descent still below us, we could now see Baldy’s Notch.
My worry of walking in snow was long gone as the backside of Baldy Notch receives full sun. Once to the bottom of Lytle Creek, it’s as bad as everyone says it is: a wash of baby head rocks.
By the time we got to Big Horn campground, it was already 1pm and time to fuel up for the climb. I originally estimated just an hour for the descent, but I’ve come to expect every ride in the San Gabes of not going to plan.
With 17 miles under our belt, it was time for the 5 mile, 2,000’ climb to the notch.
I expected the worst for Baldy’s backside road to be unmaintained, but was pleasantly surprised to find the entire grade cleared with a bulldozer sometime prior to the Thanksgiving rains and snow.
Although a grueling saddle climb, it was well packed aside from the minor vibration of rolling over dozer and front loader tracks.
Six hours from our start, we peaked out at our main objective for the day.
The wind at the notch was bone chilling cold, so we donned every last bit of gear for warmth. We headed over to the patio of Top-of-the-Notch Restaurant to take in the view.
Upon seeing people inside the lodge, it was definitely hot chocolate time.
Warmth, food, water fillup, and bathroom break would definitely help keep us going the rest of this ride
By the time we were ready to roll at 3:45pm, a system of clouds was starting to roll in from the west. Next up was a 3,600’ descent down to Mt. Baldy Village.
Towards the bottom of the dirt road, San Antonio Falls was running due the prior week’s storm. Once hitting pavement at Manker Flat, speeds considerably picked up easily hitting 40+ mph at times. Terry and I had our own little race going up front. Having formerly road raced motorcycles, this is the one time I wished for some urban tires (i.e. Maxxis Hookworms). The fun was over upon hitting the Village and turning onto Glendora Ridge road for a 500’ climb to Cow Canyon Saddle.
Reaching the Saddle, it was now 5pm and the low sun was already obscured by the cloud front.
Ride mileage at this point was 31.5 miles, but we were all feeling pretty good. So with a full charge of batteries to burn between each of us, what better to do than to finish the ride out with Sunset Ridge at night? I should mention at no point on this trip did Jeff or I have any ride mileages figured out. It was just a route we were riding based on how we felt, with a bail out option. So off we headed towards Sunset Peak. Had we been an hour ahead, it would have lived up to it’s name when we got 1,000’ up to the peak. Instead, this is as much of a sunset we would see on the climb up the backside.
Once we peaked out at 5,600’, the city lights would be the view for the remainder of the ride.
From here it would nearly be all downhill aside from two short 200’ climbs and a smaller incline. But even these short climbs proved to be arduous this late in the ride. The endless Sunset Ridge descent finally ended some 2.5 hours and 4,600’ vertical later when we arrived back on pavement for good in LaVerne.
With 47 miles in the books now, it was time for the road spin back to Jeff’s place in Claremont. This would be the easy part of the day and would help spin our out shagged legs. Half an hour later we arrived back at Jeff’s place, finishing this ride 11 hours and 54 miles after we stared. So with Thanksgiving dinner officially worked off, this would go down in the books as the longest, single day mountain bike ride for each of us. Looking back, I still can’t believe we pulled off this feat in its entirety. But oh man, this was one epic day to remember.
Type: Epic Traverse
Status: Completed
Distance: 54.2 mi
Ascent: ~6,000’
Descent: ~11,600’
