[MrDNA]

Drove up Ortega Hwy in Cleveland National Forest late yesterday just to get out and explore some of the local service roads before it got dark. My original intent was to go an hour out and an hour back, but the dirt road never ended, so I just turned around as it started getting dark. Looking down on Ortega Hwy, I saw plenty of cars, but I only saw one other person on my trail in 3 hours. The first 4 miles of the south main divide road are paved and curvy... I was having more fun than anyone on Ortega Hwy - no cars! The bike performed flawlessly.



Some photos:

 

[admiral]

Nice to be able to go out on a leisurely ride during the work week. Looks like a fairly nice place to ride with those trails and hills/moutains. Too bad the sun goes down.



I need to get my bike back on the road...err trail, quick. Your photo's are inspiring me, thanks for sharing.

 

[Kev250R]

Cool another OC local! Neat trail report, I've done quite a lot of exploring in that area, though I typically start in Silverado Canyon and ride up the canyon to the top of Saddleback. I've also done the same ride from Skyline Dr. in Corona as well, it's steep route but not too bad however that gates in Silverado and Skyline have both been locked since December due to rain. I've never ridden from Ortega Hwy, that looks like a neat route as well, nice to see that route is still open.



In the summer I try to go up to this area once a week after work for a mid-week ride. It's nice because on the weekends the route from Silverado is quite crowded with MC's, hikers, bicyclists, 4x4's, etc. I find that mid-week I often have the place to myself!



Let me know if you want to meet-up for a ride sometime, I'm in Fullerton near CSUF and my friend Jerry (another TW rider) is in Brea, we're always looking for people to ride with.



Kevin

 

[MrDNA]

Hey, Kevin



I knew there had to be other T-Dubbers near by! I'm down in Aliso Viejo, so there's no reason we shouldn't meet up at some point. I'm waiting for North Main divide road to open so I can get to the top of Saddleback, and I want to go into Silverado canyon, but it looks limited with the road closures right now. I just got this bike recently, and I've been spending most of my time up Trubaco Creek and South Main divide because those are the only roads open in Cleveland NF right now. Trubaco Creek is 12 miles from my front door, so I can actually drive out there any time to escape, but there's not much road there either. South Main divide is completely maintained, and even paved in parts. I did get on the Wildomar truck trail, off South Main (web said closed, but the gate was open) and that was a complete mess (read fun), so there is a little bit of distance available on the south side right now.



Once the roads all open, I was thinking about a Cleveland National Forest "Crest" trip. Silverado Canyon (or Corona side) up to Modjeska Peak, then to Santiago Peak (Saddleback), across the mountains to Oretga Hwy and on to Wildomar. At least that, or even further into mountains via San Diego county, or even hang a big left from Wildomar and head towards Mt San Jacinto (different NF). I'm pretty open to just about anything right now, but I'm still figuring out the bikes (<500 miles) and making mods. I just want to be able to carry stuff for a couple of nights and I'll be happy for now. I don't get much more time than that off in one block.



I actually bought two of these. I'm teaching a couple of people to ride bikes, but my 15 year old is the one that wants to do the "adventure" riding thing. He's limited for now, but once he's got his permit, we've got one more local rider.



See you out there.



Regards,



Rory

 

[MrDNA]

[quote name='admiral' date='05 April 2011 - 08:35 AM' timestamp='1302017729' post='15720']

Nice to be able to go out on a leisurely ride during the work week. Looks like a fairly nice place to ride with those trails and hills/moutains. Too bad the sun goes down.



I need to get my bike back on the road...err trail, quick. Your photo's are inspiring me, thanks for sharing









At the risk of inspiring you some more... I can't even describe how good it feels to do exactly that. Oh, and it's not always leisurely.

Regards,



Rory

 

[rickclick]

Another TW rider in San Clemente for the next two months. Lets get together to ride trails.