5-21-07 // Trail Report: Santa Ana River Trail

It's Santa ANA—no matter how they spell it, this ride rocks!

The San Gabriel Mountains rise from the desert of Southern California to 13,000 feet. With a yearlong drought turning many of the region’s trails into dust bowls, the mountains offer a welcome respite from the heat. There are dozens, if not hundreds of trails lacing these craggy peaks, but one of the best is the Santa Ana River trail.

Starting at nearly 7,000 feet, the S.A.R.T offers some of the finest drool-inducing singletrack in the area. It runs along Route 38 southeast of Lake Big Bear and can be ridden as an up-and-back or a shuttle, which still offers riders a beautiful 12-mile-long ribbon of dirt.

For the first few miles, the trail clings to a series of long ridges, offering dozens of tight turns and some off-camber ridgeline riding. The occasional slow-speed, exposed corners, however, are broken up by long, high-speed sections of trail. Fast, sweeping corners lead riders around the ridges’ natural contours.

Lower down, pines turn to manzanitas, the trail straightens out and speeds increase. A few stream crossings keep things interesting, but the trail is not overly technically challenging. Still, its corners, exposure, off-camber turns and oddly places rocks demand constant attention.

Although the trail runs downhill most of the time, there are some small climbs, especially toward the bottom. But just as the legs settle into the rhythmic ups and downs, the trail ends, leaving riders with wide smiles—and a 2-mile fireroad climb back to the car.

The Bike magazine editorial team rode S.A.R.T this weekend as we headed up to the mountains for a few days. Its close proximity to the highway makes it an excellent shuttle, but even with the help of an auto we climbed over 1700 feet while descending over 2500 feet. Although Snow Summit no longer allows downhilling, trails like S.A.R.T. will keep us coming back for more of some of Southern California's best singletrack.

Check out our S.A.R.T. ride HERE at MotionBased.com.

Here's a 3D map of the SART trail we rode using a Garmin GPS Courtesy of Google Earth