[BullittX]

The official release from the Ranger's Office, Descanso District.

"The upper 4 miles of Noble Canyon Trail, Pine Mountain Trail, Indian Creek Trail and the northern end of Big Laguna Trail will re-open on Friday, May 28, 2004. Also Pine Creek Road will re-open for vehicular traffic.

Equestrians and mountain bike riders must stay on designated trails within the area impacted by the Cedar Fire. (no free riding or straight lining corners)

The annuals are coming back, the chaparral is resprouting. It is important recreational users do not have a negative impact on this fragile environment which has gone through a tremendous change in the last 7 months. Everyone's cooperation is required.

THANKS to all the volunteers who worked on these trails since the fire. And I especially want to thank Dave Volgarino, who works tirelessly with the trail community for the betterment of our trail system. Through all of your efforts these trails have been transformed from the ashes. ENJOY!" Anne Carey, Recreations Officer.

I, too, would like thank Dave Volgarino, Trails & Wilderness Ranger, and the fire crew that worked on the trails. I would also like to thank all the volunteers who showed up for the trail work events.
mark@sdmba.com

 

[mealsonwheels]

Right on. See you out there Saturday.

 

[Aquaholic]

Where's Noble? Can we shuttle it?

 

[Heidi]

Sweet - I'll have to ride Noble at least once more before we move. Indian Creek - here I come.

 

[BullittX]

Move? Where are ya going?

mark@sdmba.com

 

[Heidi]

Bend, Oregon!

 

[BullittX]

We don't need the likes of you out at Noble, waterboy! Just stick to the Boardwalk, will ya.

dirtflunkie@sdmba.com

 

[BullittX]

Bend, Oregon, eh. Quite a different scene than Socal. Plus they seem to have a pollution problem up there, seems like there's always some falling out of the sky. I think they call it rain.

So when's the move?

mark@sdmba.com

 

[Heidi]

Originally posted by BullittX
Bend, Oregon, eh. Quite a different scene than Socal. Plus they seem to have a pollution problem up there, seems like there's always some falling out of the sky. I think they call it rain.

So when's the move?

mark@sdmba.com

No, only rains about 12 inches a year there. It's on the eastern side of the Cascades, you're thinking of the western side. It rains like CRAY-ZEEEE along the coast.

The move is June 15thish.

 

[largerthan9]

Good to hear!
Just rode up there tuesday for the first time in two months......
It's been cleaned up a lot!
Many thanks to the trail crews and volunteers..

 

[BullittX]

The middle section of Noble Canyon needs some bushwhacking but that's about it. There prolly won't be any more SDMBA trail work events Noble until the Fall. Watch out for the poison oak!

mark@sdmba.com

 

[MikeD]

I am SO there tomorrow morning. Got the day off...

Think I'll raise the seat, lock down the Sherman, and cram myself onto my hardtail for a nice uncomfortable climb before I get to bomb down.

Man, it'll be nice when I get an XC bike built back up...

MD

 

[BullittX]

If you're gonna climb, you might as well climb the singletrack. It's a lot funner than that god awful pavement!

mark@sdmba.com

 

[MikeD]

Originally posted by BullittX
If you're gonna climb, you might as well climb the singletrack. It's a lot funner than that god awful pavement!

mark@sdmba.com

Don't use 'climbing' and 'fun' in the same sentence, young man...

 

[BullittX]

Young? I'm old enuf to be your... uh, older brother, yeah that's the ticket!

mark@sdmba.com

 

[Aquaholic]

Yeah, HecklerBoy is reeeeal old!!!

 

[EBasil]

Are there any of them purty flowers left up there on top?

 

[Kornphlake]

So who wants to loan me a rear derailur and ride monday?

Anderson ate my derailur last week, I tried fixing it but it's useless, none of the shops I went to last night had a derailur that I could afford ($70 for an XT !!!) the one that did wouldn't take my Discover card. I'm a little discouraged to say the least.

 

[EBasil]

When I broke my derailleur, I converted the bike to singlespeed.

Think of this as "a message" from life. It's time.

 

[Kornphlake]

7" travel is a lot of slack for a tensioner to take up on a singlespeed. Besides at 40lbs my bike needs a granny gear. Otherwise I'd slap shimano in the face and go SS. If only I didn't already have shimano shifters I'd do the sram x7 or whatever it is.

 

[MikeD]

Ugh, just got back. Climbed it on my little freeride-y hardtail, which climbs suprisingly well with a ridiculous amount of seatpost and the fork locked down. It does kill my back, though.

Plenty of purdy flowers, and something tried to play havoc with my shifting, though I can't see any damage.

Climbing it on a single-ring/9spd rear bike was an experience. I always figured if singlespeeders could do it, I could at least do it without a granny (and the 34/34 combo is near enough a granny anyhow).

Still, I feel like exhausted poop.

MD

 

[Kornphlake]

I got a derailur. Anybody riding Noble Tomorrow, Memorial day?

I'll probablly ride up from the lower trailhead unless somebody wants to shuttle. I'll be the guy with a dirty purple Saturn and a sage colored Yeti AS-X. I expect to be at the trailhead around 8:30, PM me or email kornphlake79 at yahoo.com if you want to work out a shuttle or if you just want to do an out and back. I've never ridden the upper portion of the trail so I'd like somebody to show me around up top if possible.

 

[mealsonwheels]

The top section is deep in ash, so you kind of float around turns but prolly 3/4 of the trail is in pristine condition. Weather was perfect out there yesterday. It'll be hot tomorrow.

 

[EBasil]

Weather was good, and there were surprisingly few riders on the trail. We had been worried the place would be full, but I was the first vehicle in the Pine Valley trailhead lot at 7:00. By the time we rolled out at 7:30, Aquaholic was just getting ready to head out, but we didn't see anyone else all the way up the focken road, then up to Indian Creek then to Pioneer Mail, then to the Upper Noble trailhead, up over the top and back to the BLT. There, we saw some BLT riders and hikers as we zipped over to the campground to water up. Upper Noble is silty/ashy, with long, clear sightlines that make it faster than before. The BLT is a little dry for the season, but in super shape.

Back across the BLT, we saw a few more BLT hardtailers, then down Noble at noon we saw nobody other than a hardtail climber. Up in the burn area, it's in pretty good shape. It seems a little smoother in sections, perhaps from silting/ash runoff, maybe from the trail repair crews, and there are some drainage dips cut in periodically along the trail.

Aquaholic rolled up on us during a flat repair just above "barney rubble", and then jumped into our group just in time to miss my wake-up-call otb, and then we saw five more cyclists climbing up Noble in two groups, but still no other descenders, our whole way out. The Stairway seems to have had a lot of traffic: it's got some smoothed lines over the rocks in several places.

After we got to the lot, two DH bikes rolled out, but we saw nobody else. The Rangers were around, somewhere though, because there were plenty of meter maid tickets on cars.

 

[Kornphlake]

I was up there, Mike D and I were going to shuttle but he bailed at the last minute defending our freedom, killing terrorists and other noble causes that don't occur in a canyon. So I went out alone determined to ride up the trail, at least to where the road crosses. I made it just past the deepest river crossing when I realized I was knee deep in poision oak. Never having had poision oak before I got a little spooked and decided it would be best to turn around and get that washed up ASAP. Besides the mosquitos were swarming and really driving me nuts. So I bombed down the trail passing a couple of groups who I had passed on the way up. I cleaned stairway on my first try for the first time, possibly because the lines have been smoothed??? I expected to meet Aquaholic before I turned around, he's a freakin' machine, I guess you guys must have been right behind me on the way donwn. Steve's jeep was still in the parking lot when I left around 12:00.

 

[MikeD]

I wish I'd been defending freedom; instead, I was managing the case of 3 new check-ins who were implicated in a pretty heinous crime, getting reports on people who were in Unauthorized Absence status, and trying to deal with an overflow in our barracks population. Fuuunnnn sh1t, lemme tell ya, especially on a day off. The kind of stuff you join the military to do...

Glad you got my PM, though...I was worried you'd be waiting for an hour at the trailhead, all pissed off.

Sorry to hear about the bugs. I climbed the road on Friday, myself (sorry Mark), because I was on a single-chainring hardtail and don't have the leg power yet to get up all the techy stuff without a granny gear. Plus, I know the bugs on the trail can suck on the way up!

MD

 

[BullittX]

That's ok MikeD, climbing the pavement is still getting to the top under your own power. That's what I call freedom.

mark@sdmba.com

 

[MikeD]

Ha, call me a masochist, but if that's freedom, I like being gravity's slave...

(actually, I love climbing Noble, but I do like to mix it up. Both ways have their merits.)

MD

 

[EBasil]

Originally posted by Kornphlake
I was up there, ... I guess you guys must have been right behind me on the way donwn. Steve's jeep was still in the parking lot when I left around 12:00.

Oh, you were way ahead of us...we didn't hit the lot until about three, I think. Flat tires and dirt naps slowed us down, and we didn't leave Laguna Camp until just before noon.

It sure looks like it'll be a hot summer up there.

 

[lovebunny]

how is anderson havent been there for a while

 

[shocktower]

You just thought you can move to Oregon for work when I really know your after me .Well thats what I`am thinking ,BTW congrates to the move you will like it here ,I moved to Molalla and yes it rains but I love the rain ,the people are so nice like real nice

 

[Kornphlake]

how is anderson havent been there for a while

Having never ridden it before the fire I'd say it's in pretty bad shape. If I handn't heard of Anderson's legacy from before the fire I wouldn't have gone back to ride it a second or third time. Most of the turns are pretty soft and they're gettting rutted out pretty bad, you really have to drag your brakes to get around a lot of them, which makes them even more rutted. There's a couple guys who are cutting new improved lines around some of the rediculously ashy sections and it's gradually becoming rideable. If you haven't been out there since before the fire don't plan on bombing down the trail though, there are plenty of places where the trail is rutted deeply and if you're not completely in control you'll get into trouble.