PALM SPRINGS
EPIC
Desert
Beauty, MountainBiking Fun, Sheer Exhaustion
Saturday
March 29,
2008
Early Saturday morning six of us left
the comfort of the Hilton Garden Inn in Rancho Mirage and headed for the
mountains south of the city. Up Highway 74 into the Santa Rosa Mountains
we caravanned in 3 vehicles, dropping off one car at the base of the Art
Smith Trail and continuing up the road with the remaining 2 vehicles, 6 bikes
and 6 manly men--SteveK (who we thank for organizing the trip), Rod, Jamshyd,
Greg, Dean and me. About 15 miles later we unloaded bikes at the Pinyon
Flats Trailhead.
Anticipating cactus on
the trail, tires filled with Stans or Slime, bikes are unloaded, shoes
duct-taped....
We had a short ride on
the Pinyon Flats Trail which brought us to dirt Palm Canyon Drive
which we took north. We passed a community of isolated homes along the
dirt trail, wondering about the people who live out in this desolate area.
We met one retired doctor who was kind enough to let Jamshyd use his land line
to check in with his service since we could not get cell service out here.
My guess, though, is that Jamshyd actually just wanted to use his porcelain
toilet.
Following Steve we came to the
junction with the Dutch Charlie Trail which we did not take. Instead
we backtracked a few meters and took the road up Puke Hill to the top where the
road intersects with Dunn Road.
Dean, our leader Steve,
Rod, Jamshyd, and Greg at the Dutch Charlie junction
Starting the climb up Puke
Hill....various activities....
Steve climbs ahead, Jamshyd
takes care of business, Dean and Greg yenta, Rod rides
To the top of Puke Hill we struggled,
observing plant life in its own struggle to beautify the
desert.
Colorful wildflowers dot
the sides of the roads and trails
And, of course, the
ubiquitous desert cacti
Another
view
And
another
Rod climbs along Dunn
Road
A caterpillar struggles to
cross the road
Eventually we arrived at Mike's
Desert Oasis where we stopped to refuel and rest at some picnic benches.
This was also the point where we
began an approximate 7 to 8 mile loop before coming back to this point for the
final leg of the trip on the Art Smith Trail. So with food in our bellies
we headed onto the best part of the loop--the wonderful Hahn Buena Vista
Trail.
Steve leads us on the
initial climb on the Hahn Buena Vista Trail
Greg is all smiles as
he climbs
With the Coachella Valley
in the distance, Rod pedals across the desertscape
Cactus flowers bloomed
everywhere
Trail sign at the trail's
peak
Jamshyd starts the
wonderful descent on the Hahn Trail
Dean pedals thru the
colorful landscape
Dean captured this shot of
Robco with his protective leggings
(they helped me at
least once when, later in the ride, fatigued, I steered into some cactus on a
short steep climb)
The 3 or so mile long Hahn Trail
ended in a sandy wash where we then took the Cathedral Canyon Trail back to Dunn
Road. It was during this stage of the ride that real fatigue started to
build; it was a very long and steep climb up Dunn Road to complete our loop
back to Mike's Desert Oasis. By the time we reached the Art Smith
trailhead, I was already beat. Yet we had another 8 miles to travel
before arriving back at our lower vehicle. And although it was
primarily a descent, it included about 1000 feet of climbing plus lots of
technical areas that required us to walk.
The final leg of our
epic
Jamshyd and Rod descend
into one of many sandy washes on the Art Smith Trail
A couple of photos stitched
together along the Art Smith Trail show Jamshyd, Rod, Greg and
Dean
A pair of photos from
Dean's collection along the Art Smith Trail
A view down the Art Smith
Trail (with barrel cactus added in)
It took me a long time to get to the
bottom of the Art Smith Trail. I think we were all tired but
I was thoroughly exhausted and ended up walking a lot of
sections for fear that I would crash because of lack of concentration and
energy. The ride was about 30 miles long and, if I am reading the ride
statistics correctly from Rod's GPS posting, we climbed about 4,350 feet
and descended about 7,200 feet. Arriving at trail end, Steve,
Dean and Rod drove back to get the other cars from our start point, while Greg,
Jamshyd and I waited with the bikes. Also they could show off their
respective bloody body parts....
Greg and Jamshyd proudly
display their manly war injuries
A short drive brought us back to our
hotel where we cleaned up and were then joined by Greg's lovely wife Rhonda for
a well-deserved dinner at a fine restaurant in Rancho Mirage. It was
a long day on an epic ride that this old fellow feels fortunate to have
survived.
Still aching but alive,
Robco Baggins
