[MrDNA]

Hi all,



Been up to my ass in alligators this last month (feels closer to two) with my work and my life giving me grief, but I finally took some time off Friday to hit the local hills.



5.5 hours of solid non-stop riding. Had a great afternoon. Up and over Santiago Peak (5600 ft) and then back again, then some of the shorter routes.



A little rubber legged the next day, but I'm so happy we bought these bikes! Enjoy

That's actually Catalina Island, 26 miles across the sea, in the upper right, not another Mt.

 

[MrDNA]

A couple more pics...

 

[jbfla]

I thought all the alligators were in the southeast US.



Glad you escaped them.

Thanks for the pictures... but what's that white stuff on the side of the road?



jb

 

[Mad Mac]

Beautiful pics. Great looking trails, but I think I need oxygen.

 

[xdac]

Doesn't look like you had fun at all.

 

[MrDNA]

Most of my past Cleveland NF pics have been from the west side, Most of these are were taken on the east side of the mountain... the side with the trees!



@ Xdac ... Yea, it sucked being alone out there all afternoon. My only people encounter was a Range Rover coming down the hill

 

[joedirt1970]

Sounds like a great day. Many of us are living vicariously through you right now.

 

[lower al]

Thanks for the pictures.We dont have hills like that in LA lower alabama

 

[MrDNA]

That white stuff? We actually get snow this far south. Not a lot, but it got cold enough here to bring the snow down to about 3500'

This is just a Google Earth map that I overlaid all the trails I've been riding this last year up here. Same area as shown in the picture above.

 

[lizrdbrth]

That young'n road legal yet?

 

[MrDNA]

Howdy. To be honest, after my friend crashed out on Ortega, the wife and I decided to slow down with him. He's got his car permit now and hes got to master that before I send him to the Basic Ridership Course he needs to take to get his moto permit. Probably a month away, so he's getting close. We'll be ready to hook up with you guys this Spring and Summer for sure.

 

[admiral]

Glad you could get it, it looks like such pretty and relaxing ride. Really nice photo of the mountains off in the distance with the snow on them. Thanks for sharing.

 

[evan]

nice pics. looks like some fun riding!

 

[jontow]

Gorgeous.. just gorgeous: I'm jealous from up in the northeast

Keep the pics coming, as someone said: living vicariously through your camera-eye!

 

[paddlesurf]

Awesome photos! I live down in Southern San Diego and get up near Lake Elsinore every couple of weeks- I was looking for fire roads like that to kill a couple of hours on my TW. This may be taboo (hope it's not) but could you give me a starting point for that ride? I've been on some pretty technical trails at Corral Canyon OHV but I prefer the fire road type of rides way more- and those photos make me want give that place a shot. Thanks in advance- and keep posting your ride reports- get's me fired up to wheel out my little TW!

 

[B-dub]

Looks like you had a lot of fun to me! Amazing pictures! Thanks for taking us along.

 

[MrDNA]

The starting point to this part of the Cleveland NF is the ROAD CONDITIONS website. If North Main Divide road is closed, don't bother unless you want to ride from Ortega Hwy down to Wildomar, or even Fallbrook. You can't get to the top of the mountains or towards the North unless that road is open.



If North Main Divide is open, then you get into this area off of Ortega Hwy. to the south, or Silverado Cyn from the west. You can come up from Corona and from near Elsinore on the east side too if the roads are open.



The map I posted shows Ortega Highway, and the foothill road that leads to Silverado Cyn in YELLOW. The parallel red trail in the upper left is Silverado Canyon and Maple Springs Road up to North Main Divide. Off of Ortega Hwy (the long yellow line from the freeway), where the red and blue lines meet is the dividing line between North and South Main Divide roads.



I'm not kidding, I saw one vehicle all afternoon. It still blows me away that nobody is up here when it's surrounded by millions of people. There's plenty of room



Edit: If you want some technical, take North Main Divide from Ortega Hwy and head to Santiago Peak. It's got some good terrain changes to deal with. Slate hillsides to climb (and descend) and rock trail to soft sand. You can see in the pictures how much the geology changes between locations.



Trust me, I only stopped at the sane places to take these pics. Otherwise, I was busy.

 

[paddlesurf]

Great info! Thanks for the detailed instructions- I'm going to give it a shot next time I'm up there. I'll take photos too and report out on the trip. Thanks again!

 

[frog13]

Man...what a nice area to ride in!.A form of rehabilitation!.

 

[lizrdbrth]

We need to herd some turtles that direction.





My fave yuppie biker hangout acoutrement is at Hell's:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhMQsV998Js