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Quick write up of my solo desert ride

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ericoneal:
From the KYMBA field office in California:

Last week I was sent to Palm Springs, California for work so I took an extra day to rent a mountain bike.  My coworkers were nice enough to drive me to a small bike shop on the southside of town to pick up a rental, which was a really nice Turner frame with really crappy components.  We're talking V-brakes, bald tires, and  a really old Rock Shox 80mm fork, but they assured me that this bike would do the job. (It was pretty light.)  $30 a day seemed reasonable.  I chatted with the bike shop guys about the trail and all they could tell me was that the climb in was hard and to take plenty of water.  They promised there would be plenty of signage, but they didnt have a trail map.  Luckily, I had a hand-drawn map that I made from Google Earth the night before stuffed in my pocket.  <--risky!

From there, we headed out to small suburb adjacent to the San Jacinto mountain range in Cathedral city.  The trail head was gated, but the locals told me it was ok to just hop the fence.  So I did just that and the guys drove off to the Tilted Kilt in Palm Springs to watch basketball (boring!) and suddenly I was very alone.   The locals warned me that the start of the trail would be a very tough dirt road climb and the 90 degree desert temperatures wouldn't make it any easier.


The trailhead

What they didnt tell me that it was almost 4 miles of climbing 2000+ feet, and was mostly 2-3 inches of sand  >:(  Needless to say I walked alot of it.  (think quarter mile sections like Montana in Waverly, but with sand.)

Half-way to the trailhead now...

After two more tough climbs, I finally crested a hill to see picnic tables and a surreal scene of a bulldozer that had been recently set on fire.  Pretty sure this is where the "REAL" trailhead starts given what I had been reading. 




At this point I was completely drained from climbing uphill on a fireroad for four miles in sun.  It may have been easier if I hadnt spent the whole winter on a couch in Kentucky, but maybe not?  Luckily I found the "Hahn Buena Vista" trailhead and started a much easier climb to the top of a nearby knob from there.  The trail was loose, gravely, and lined with cactuses. 


Soon I had reached the top of the mountain with a vista of Palm Springs that was very bueno.


From here it is a very fast decent to the canyon floor and this is were things got a bit scary.  The trail was very loose and I think a combination of a crappy front tire and inexperience in that type of material led to many wash-outs, one shoving me right into a small, great-smelling, sage bush.  At this point I had the sobering realization that I had no cell signal, no one knew exactly where I was (including myself), and I had no gear to spend the night in the desert. Breaking a leg was not an option, so I began to ride much more reserved.

Sage Bush FAIL


Downhill, with steep drop-offs.


Very lonely country, no sign of humans for miles now.


Soon I reached the desert floor and it was flatland cruising for the next few miles.  I was faced with a four way intersection at the bottom of the mountain, but as promised, there were signs!  One detail that I was not aware of was that one of these trails would have taken me a few miles away to an Indian Reservation that contains the largest oasis in the world.  Very cool tourist attraction that we visited the next day.  Would have been great to have biked in there for sure..



Shade? Forget about it.


More flatland, and much like the entire trail, void of any technical features.

After looping around a small mountain, I finally found myself intersecting with the road that I came in on and was fortunate enough to find a small bush that offered just enough shade for my pasty white self to fit under and have my lunch of water and peanut-butter crackers.  Hard to believe how quiet it is out here...


After a quick water check, I was surprised to find that I was almost empty.  I had drank almost 2 liters and was even starting to feel a bit nauseous, probably due to the heat and sun, so I decided to pack it in and just ride out the way that I came in.  Luckily it was only another 3-4 miles back from here, almost all downhill. (in the sand  >:( )

I really wanted to ride more, but didnt want to press my luck at this point.

They have some great scenery out there and the remoteness of the desert is like nothing else, but I really prefer the shade and the forest of our environment much more.  Anyway, if you ever get the chance to ride something COMPLETELY different, do take it.  It was fun to break out of my comfort zone, especially this time of year.  :P

SuperJETT:
Cool, not sure I would have tried it by myself though.

chuckc1971:
Did you watch a few episodes of 'Man vs. Wild' before this trip?  :D

JoelN:
I like how that sign casts its shadow.  Very cool.  What's that written on the ground in the bulldozer picture?  All I can make out is F-A-M.

Chris Ward:
Awesome.  Sounds like you made good decisions, had some oh shit moments, where exposed to different terrian and had fun, everything a good mountain trip should include!  I have heard before that California has alot of this kind of riding, lots of double track/fire road type stuff.   

Pictures look great.   

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