This one is for Bankerboy, who kept reminding me I needed to catch up on TRs


For some time we had been talking about going back to Baldy. Last year we rode Bear Flats trail, but there is also another trail up there Ski Hut, that we wanted to hit. Bear Flat is such a good trail though (if you don't mind heinous HAB) that I didn't want to go up there and not ride it. So we planned to camp and ride both trails.

Falls are going off


After the numbing fire road climb to Baldy Notch and the steeper fire road after that, we finally get to the hard part


Although I got a few pics of the guys riding, don't be fooled




The last 1000ft is a scramble and we had to deal with some slush this time


Almost there


Finally its over


Views up top are awesome even if its a bit hazy


Lots of hikers going up and down ski hut trail


Resting up


We decided to check out west baldy peak. While Topo lists it as a hair under 10k ft, I'm pretty sure Kreechan surpassed the 10k mark standing on a rock, for more summit points.

View from West Baldy


A cool detour and worth it for a better view of the valley


Back to the saddle


Kreechan gets into the loose scree


One of the coolest parts of the trail


The contrast of green against grey rock and blue sky has to be seen in person...stunning




406 continues down the ridge


One of the few climbs on the trail


Another memorable section with incredible view


Things are about to get steep




Kreechan pulls off another switchback


Not to be outdone Kreechan wipes out on this rock right after 406. 406 wins the longest roll down the hill contest though


And then we get to this spot. This rock is a monument to one of the greatest events in MTB history... the first time we caught Sierragoldens lowering his seat . Incidentally he also traded in the Ellsworth for something better and got a drop post soon after this ride, so it really must really have been a profound life changer



We continue on


Some fun steep switchbacks lower down


Kreechan passes below the tree line


And we finally emerge from the fern forest near the bottom


Few pics on the bottom part, too fun. But I did manage to get some gnar for 406. He would have made the turn had he been on an Ibis


It was toasty at the bottom, but nothing that a dip in the creek couldn't take care of. Good times, a great backcountry ride.

Great TR and pics. 406 looks like he's hiking up in cleats - ouch.

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

Love that ride! Tough but rewarding!
Great TR!!

Some great shots on this ride!

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~I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~Nothing from nothing is nothing.
~I'm allowed to be a pussy because I have one!

See? That didn't hurt too bad!

Thanks for posting it up. You teaser pics were keeping me on edge.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

The boys try to get clear on the rules:


waterfall:


It is 5:30 somewhere:


No chairlift ride today:


Are we there yet:


A rare section you can ride:


Looking back toward the ski area:


Should have brought the skis:




10k summit points in the bag:


another 10k, great views of Mt. B-P:


extra 1000 summit points for seeing endangered species, big horn sheep:










kreechan hits the eject button:

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strava:instagram:activejunky

Noice!

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Department of Good Times

Great pictures.

nice summary guys!!!

one of the premire backcountry descents around for sure! takes a heap of effort to get to the top, but you get one of the longest descents around, just a tad under 6000!!

Great pics Evan and Brian! I am still as impressed with this trail as I was last year when riding it for the first time - totally worth the pain of pushing the bike up to the top!
Here are some of my pictures

Beautiful pics guys. I really want to check it out one of these days.

After an awesome ride on Saturday Kreechan and I were really looking forward to checking out the second trail off the peak, Ski Hut. DFT and Maxwell drove up for the day, and off we went. Some of the pics will look familiar but we got some good different shots from the climb, that are worth a look.

Fire road climbing


On to Devils Backbone


Maxwell is the king of HAB. Note the pad taped to the downtube


Now this is exposure


Panoramic


One last pedal before the climb




Steepness


Incredible views that got better the higher we climbed


A brief pedal break on the way up


I don't recall this being here last year. Makes for a cool shot though


After a rest we are ready to go


All the hikers were telling us we're nuts. The first couple 100 yards was mellow, so we were thinking no we're not nuts. Then got steep.




Real steep, with chunk thrown in


You don't often see DFT off the bike


Makes it next try


Like Bear Flats its got a very cool landscape, incredibly beautiful up there


Kreechan drops off the edge


Maxwell tries a steep chute. The main route turns where DFT is. Guess he didn't think Maxwell would make the turn?


Kreechan navigates BOB down some more scree


Many points you just had to hang on and hope for the best


This stuff is Tom's specialty


But then it got a little too chunky for riding


Past the chunk we get into some fun switchbacks. Tight turns, loose scree.


The hikers have created tons of lines. Kreechan and I tried out the switchbacks while DFT opted for the direct line.


At the bottom of the switchbacks things got rocky...really rocky


We dropped in to visit the Sierra Club but no one was home


Looking back to the ridge we had just descended


Maxwell gets his groove on and tries not to be distracted by the scenery


There was plenty of short HAB sections for a while, then it got more rideable




The bottom got real fun. Chunky and challenging but mostly rideable


Dropping out



Ski Hut trail is definitely a whole order of magnitude harder than Bear Flats trail. Bear Flats is steep and loose, with tight switchbacks, but the chunk is manageable and pretty much the whole trail is rideable. Ski Huts steeps are frickin steep, the chunk (usually in the middle of a steep) ranges from challenging to not rideable, and the scree is deeper which makes everything harder. This trail will definitely work you a lot more than you'd expect for a 4-mi descent. I'm glad we did this ride, and I'll probably do it again at some point, but if I find myself sitting at the top of Baldy I'll probably choose Bear Flats.

Ski Hut is hiker central, so definitely bring your bell. Not a trail to ride Saturday or Sunday morning. We rode later Sunday afternoon and it wasn't too bad. If you want to check it out, do it soon...the whole area is being proposed for Wilderness

AWESOME !! I just realized i live on the wrong side of the globe damnit ,

So many mountains, so little summer, thanks for adding one more to my dilemna.

Stunning pics!

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I push my bike up hills....