DigDug's Big Bike Ride - Ramona to Toro Peak

[Crawdaddy 96]

Caitlynn and I decided to join the SDAR guys on their Big Bike ride today.....(even though our COMBINED “cc’s” were less than most of the bikes on this ride - Caitlynn was on the CRF230F and I was on the WR250R)....I think we had about a dozen riders....

We met the gang at Packard’s coffee shop at ~7:15.

Then we set out towards Anza……..Caitlynn riding along Santa Isabel Truck Trail

Once we reached the end of Santa Isabel Truck Trail we jumped on Black Canyon Rd. over to Mesa Grande.....Caitlynn along Black Canyon

Lake Henshaw in the back ground as we descend down Mesa Grande towards The Hideout Saloon/Hwy 76

Once down to the 76 we rode over to the 79/Lost Valley Rd.....Caitlynn stopped at a view point along Lost Valley Rd.

The pavement eventually ends on Lost Valley and you transition to dirt on Puerta La Cruz Rd which seamlessly ties into the Cooper Cienega Truck Trail....

A few pics along that stretch....

The crew stopped at a view point:

The trail to Anza is just over Caitlynn's front tire in this pic....

Trophy kicking it up.....

Another shot of the trail/climb towards Anza.....fun stretch

Hill crested......Anza in the distance:

Once we reached Anza we pulled over with the gang for a rest/snack/fuel break.......~70 miles to this point since we left home......wait a minute Caitlynn......don’t wipe off your dirt goatee

The boys took off for Toro Peak (~42 mile roundtrip)........Caitlynn and I hung a U-Turn and rode back the way we came since it was now 11am, we were 70 miles out, and I needed to have her home by 1pm so she could get ready for work......the ~30 mile homeward stretch between Anza and Hwy 79 was the highlight of the day for us........we reached the intersection of Lost Valley/Hwy 79 at 12pm straight up.......

Then we slabbed it home on 79/78 so we’d be sure to have Caitlynn home by 1pm.....

Stats for the day:

Today was Caitlynn’s longest ride yet at 130 miles.......nice work Caitlynn (too much pavement on the return trip but we had no choice given the time constraints.....if we had ridden the “dirty” way back on Black Canyon/Upper Santa Isabel it would’ve added ~10 miles and ~45+ minutes )

I’m sure her butt was sore but she still managed a smile while removing boots in the garage at 1pm.....

Fun day of riding with one of my daughters and SDAR friends

[socalhodaka 104]

Nice work, looked like fun.

[Zenosan 2]

Well it is 7:00 pm and none of the other riders have posted anything yet. Must have been a long ride.

[DigDug 0]

Good ride today everyone! Thanks for coming out. It was a little warm, but not too bad while we kept moving.

Here's a few pictues:

Looking south to Borrego Springs from Toro Peak - Great views up there!

[kkug 147]

Well we missed you on the little bike ride. We did not start up Toro till about 2-2:30. We did not see any tracks,you guys were stealthy.

The jeeps must have wiped them out.

I am sure more pics will be coming this way.

[DigDug 0]

Well we missed you on the little bike ride. We did not start up Toro till about 2-2:30. We did not see any tracks,you guys were stealthy.

The jeeps must have wiped them out.

I am sure more pics will be coming this way.

Yeah.. we were having lunch at the 371 Diner by then. Nice day on the mountain. You could definitely feel it get cooler as you climbed!

[dsfox 0]

Man......Sorry we missed you guys.(and Caitlyn).....We were hungry and decided on lunch in Idyllwild...would have been starving if we did the whole loop before Lunch......sounds like everyone had a fun day all the way around....(I've yet to try that stretch from 79 to Anza....next time......)

[TrophyHunter 15]

Thx to Doug for the ride lead and to all who joined in. Good to see some new faces getting out there. 257 miles door to door for me. Convinced me to finally work on the DR seat project.

My camera went on "intermittently blurry" mode so here are some pics that actually stayed somewhat in focus.

Caitlyn

The group.

The road to Toro.

Random view up to Toro.

As we headed to lunch, I remembered my neighbor was having a catered Mexican fiesta. I waived and slabbed it home from Anza with a very short recharge at the Warner Springs store (carrot cake & pepsi - yeah, I'm a gormet)

[kellymac530 0]

what a nice ride guys and caitlynn. that was a big ride on a cr230...props to her.

[KTMrad 513]

Looks like fun..........I called DigDug on Saturday to tell him we weren't going to make it Sunday morning.......6am to get up on a Sunday....too early for me to go on a local ride........9am start time would be more like it ! Luckily I called him to tell him we weren't going to make it, because we ended up being out late Saturday night.

[dirt dame 561]

The little bike group all hoped that we might get to cross paths with you guys and give a shout out of "Howdy". But we had fun anyway. Glad you did too.

[DangerMonkey 0]

Thanks to Doug for putting the ride together. A few more from Sunday's ride;

At the meeting place:

Stops along the way:

At Toro Peak:

Returning to the pavement after the Peak:

Post-Ride Analysis:

[DigDug 0]

Great pictures everyone! Thanks for sharing...

I'm ready for another big bike ride! Maybe actually complete the North Main Divide ride into Corona and back!

[X-country-Rider 0]

I want to do a similar ride this spring. But meet up in Hemet then to Rouse Hill Rd then Thomas mountain and then up to Santa Rosa Mt and then Toro Peak. Camp out up at Santa Rosa Peak. Whats the earliest would this ride be a good idea? I'm thinking of doing it in May.

[K's Folly 0]

This ride looked fun. Was there any hard terrain?

I've only tar miles on my GS and my dirt biking experience is all at motoventures on a 250 with real tires.

I'm still running the stock Tourance EXP's (street) with a deflate this trail looks doable.

Next time.

Ksfolly

[X-country-Rider 0]

This ride looked fun. Was there any hard terrain?

I've only tar miles on my GS and my dirt biking experience is all at motoventures on a 250 with real tires.

I'm still running the stock Tourance EXP's (street) with a deflate this trail looks doable.

Next time.

Ksfolly

Here's my Basic idea to the camp on Santa Rosa Mtn. http://www.dualsportmaps.com/?link=107508

[Covered in Dust 163]

We tried this at the end of April this year and it was still closed do to snow. Middle of May would probably be open.

CiD

[X-country-Rider 0]

We tried this at the end of April this year and it was still closed do to snow. Middle of May would probably be open.

CiD

So mid to late May it is then. We could have two return options. One for the OC/LA riders up to Idyllwild and down Bee Canyon and a second for us San Diego riders with a return from Anza down Copper Cienega Truck Trail/Puerta La Cruz Truck Trail/Lost Creek Rd to end at the Glider Port at Warner Springs.

[Leoffensive 0]

that toro peak place looks awesome

i wanna go!

[X-country-Rider 0]

that toro peak place looks awesome

i wanna go!

Here's a video to wet your appetite but the scheduled ride/camp out isn't until may. I'll start a new thread for it. I know its early to be doing spring ride planning but just want to block out the time.

[tvscum 43]

This ride looked fun. Was there any hard terrain?

I've only tar miles on my GS and my dirt biking experience is all at motoventures on a 250 with real tires.

I'm still running the stock Tourance EXP's (street) with a deflate this trail looks doable.

Next time.

Ksfolly

Here's my Basic idea to the camp on Santa Rosa Mtn. http://www.dualsportmaps.com/?link=107508

hmmm... that dualsportmaps link ain't working for me Craig.

[X-country-Rider 0]

hmmm... that dualsportmaps link ain't working for me Craig.

I'll try it again Dual Sport Link, I also started a different thread for the ride.