SD->Big Bear-> Joshua Tree Loop

[AlphaOgre 29]

I took the BMW on the SD to Big Bear to Joshua Tree and back loop this weekend. I didn't realize we had such epic trails in our backyard! I used a trail to get from Hemet to San Bernadino then went up the west side connecting a few trails (Adler Creek Rd, City Creek Trail, Clarks Summit, to Mill Cr.) The west side was pretty rutted and rocky, so it took me longer than expected, but I found first gear was great for crawling down sections and keeping a slow steady pace through technical sections. I had some creek crossings which was a blast, and almost had an incident with a mid-sized bear running across the trail right in front of me! Definitely locked up the rear on that one!

I've been wanting to get up to Big Bear since I've gotten the bike to explore some of the trails and now I'm just made I haven't done this sooner! I stayed the night in town and took Burns Canyon down the east side which popped me out right through Pioneer town. From there I went into Joshua Tree National Park, which is an awesome ride with some dirt roads and trails you can explore as well. The only bummer was the Southern dirt road/entrance was shut down due to a fire, so I had to backtrack through the park and then just take the 60 to the 10 and then just took the back way home through Palm Springs rather than go along the Salton sea and come back through Borrego.

All told it was about a 430-mile loop with plenty of first and scenic views. I might do another version of it in the fall, temps were getting high in the lower parts of the trails, especially on the east side. 95-105, up the mountain it felt great!

When I came down the east side I used Burns Canyon (2N02) which popped out basically in Pioneer town (red Waypoint Below), that road was not bad, with some sand at the bottom, maybe a mile's worth, and some rutted sections but easily avoidable along the edges of the trails. For the most part, I would call that road fun and easy for 90% of it, even the rutted or rocky sections are only for 20-30 yards, so easy to make it through or around.

The southwestern part (1N16 Adler cr, 1N09 City Cr, 1N54 Clarcks Grade, 2N10 Mill Creek, 2N17 Camp Osito) was extremely rutted and rocky and I spent most of my time in 1st or 2nd gear ascending in rocky sections and descending in rutted and rocky sections. It was definitely a lot more work and I would say would be considered moderate with hard sections. You really need to be able to work your lines through sections of huge ruts and rocky sections. By the time I was getting to the top of the mountain, it finally got enjoyable again, enough to be able to look around and enjoy the scenery more.

This was the first time I've used On X Offroad to plan the map and use the service while riding and I love it, I build the route in there and downloaded the GPX file and up it, on my Garmin as a backup, and the On X map was much more intuitive and easier to build routes in and read while riding. I didn't have a phone set up for the bike yet so I had the phone on my tank bag, but I will be looking to get a quad lock or something for my phone now so I can run On X. Things like looking up other trails or options while on rout was waaaaaay easier and faster.

If I were to go back tomorrow and was with newer riders or riders that get tiered faster, I would go up and down through burns canyon, then explore along the top and trails that go down a little, around, and back up. If you are looking for a legit ADV challenging with different types of terrain and challenging sections you have to push through, the southwestern route is for you.

 

[shutterrev 475]

Fantastic bike, I put 20k on my first F800GS, before getting a F800GSA and putting 40k on that one - low maintenance, extreme dependability and a really great bike on or off road for what it is. And you are right, the first gear on the F800GS is tractor mode!

Thanks for sharing 🤙

[moto_rph 177]

You're right @AlphaOgre, it's a great loop in our back yard, so you never get to it.  Of course, I've lived in SoCal for 40 years and never been to the Universal Studios tour 

Would you mind posting your gpx track for us wannabes?  I'm still a couple of months away from riding (broken clavicle), but this would give me motivation to hang on!

 

[Zubb 1069]

Nice right up!  

[Pokey151 247]

4 hours ago, moto_rph said:

You're right @AlphaOgre, it's a great loop in our back yard, so you never get to it.  Of course, I've lived in SoCal for 40 years and never been to the Universal Studios tour 

Would you mind posting your gpx track for us wannabes?  I'm still a couple of months away from riding (broken clavicle), but this would give me motivation to hang on!

 

I also would like to get the gpx tracks,  What an awesome loop it seems

[Oracle 195]

I'm curious where you ran across the bear? I had a bear run out in front of me on 1N16, just west of the crossing with 1N09 a couple of years ago.

[AlphaOgre 29]

Here are the GPX files, there are two since I broke it up into two days, and I wanted only the one I needed for each day for my Garmin 78 that I was using as a backup, it doesn't display the greatest, but it gets the job done and doesn't have issues. One is Vista to Big Bear, the other is Big Bear down through Joshua Tree and out the southern end of the park to come back through Borrego. 

I've heard there are mines and some cool stuff to check out on Burns Canyon, so I'm going to look into that and add them to the map when I go back in the fall. Spend more time exploring on the way up. 

@Oracle Of course my go-pro died so can't go back and see what part it was at exactly,  so thinking back on where I came across the bear I wanna say it was on the 1N09 (City Creek trail) because it was on the nicer/smoother gravel section that was a break compared to the earlier part of the trail which was so rocky and rutted, it was definitely before I turned up Clarks Grade and started to go up more and it got rocky again. 

 

 

onx-markups-06282023 (1).gpx

onx-markups-06282023.gpx

[Mr.JAJA 380]

I have never used Clacks grade during the Jeep roots. Use the Rutherford  trail from Angeles oaks in state.

Nice trip.And you can go from Farnskin all the way up to California city and more north dirt.