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Last Updated on 07/10/2004 |
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Hesperia, CA to High Road
Level desert MTB ride |
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Location: High Desert, Mojave Desert, Southern California
Region: Hesperia Region
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Total Distance: 32.6 Mi
Elevation Gain: 1,645 Ft
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Season: Sept-April
Type: Out & Back |
Start Elev: 3,100 Ft
Peak Elev: 3,406 Ft
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Total
Time: 2.7 hr
Time In: 1.2 hr
Time Out: 1.5 hr
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| Driving Directions |
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Drive to Hesperia, CA. A good place to park would be Hesperia Lakes. You can get here by taking I-15 to Main St, Hesperia, head east approx 8 miles to Hesperia Lakes on your left. Park here. |
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| Route |
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From Hesperia Lakes, ride North on Arrowhead Lake Rd to Calpella Ave. Continue on Calpella to it's end at a dirt path that drops down to the Mojave River. Ride across the river bed, which is completely dry during most months. Yeah right, you'll be walking across the riverbed. At the other side you be at the only east-west portion of Deep Creek Rd. Ride east along Deep Creek Rd, watching for traffic for about 3/4 mile. Leave Deep Creek Rd by continuing east up a steep dirt road. Just as you crest the first short steep portion of this road a diagional road takes off to the left that follows a buried gas line. Follow this road. Continue on this road for some distance, up and down a few small, steep hills, passing Kiowa until it meets up with the powerline road. Make a slight right onto the powerline road and follow the it over two gravel/asphalt roads. The third asphalt road is Sagebrush Rd. Make a left here and ride to Roundup Way. Make a right at Roundup and stay on the wide dirt shoulder. Follow this up a hill where the shoulder becomes narrower. The next road you will see is Alegre Vista. Continue on Roundup Way to the next road which is Mesa Vista. Make a left here and ride up Mesa Vista and then back down to Tussing Ranch Rd. Tussing Ranch (E-W) becomes unpaved at this intersection. There is a dirtbike trail on the side of Tussing Ranch which makes for better riding than the road itself. Tussing Ranch Rd become Desert View Rd here. Continue east on Desert View road. Be careful when you get to Central, the only paved x-road as cars are going very fast and have no stop sign. Continue on Desert View Rd for approx 8 miles to High Road. Return the same way. |
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| Details |
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I road up High Road for .8 mile to Falcon Rd and turned around here. On the return trip, I took Desert View Rd to Valley Vista, made a left, climbed about 200 feet and descended to Ocotillo Way. Made a right here (paved, but not much traffic) and followed it to the powerlines. Made a slight left onto the powerline road and followed it to Alegre Vista. Made a left here went about 100 feet to Roundup Way. Made a right here up a slight hill and narrow portion (fast traffic, watch out) and road the left shoulder back to Sagebrush. Sagebrush to the powerline road, made a right and followed it to Kiowa (I missed the left at the gas line road). Left at Kiowa to the gas line road, right here, back down to Deep Creek Rd, across the river and back to Hesperia.
It's a nice ride that is fairly level along most of Desert View Rd. The return trip is more difficult closer to High Rd and easier from Kiowa to Deep Creek. The return trip took longer because on most any afternoon day you will be fighting the wind the whole way back.
I made it to High Rd in 1 hour and 6 minutes which is not a whole lot longer than it would take me to drive there. This route is very direct and probably many less miles than the normal driving route. My average speed out was about 14.5 mph and round trip average was 12.0 mph. Max speed on this trip was 31.2 mph. Temps were as high as 96ºF. I left at about 4:30pm and returned at about 7:30pm.
This ride offers great views of the Ord Mountains in the Marianas area and the North San Bernardino Mountains further east. It also offers some good views of the Hesperia Region on the return trip.
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| Trail Condition |
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Dirt roads/trails most the way, all in good condition. Some sand/washboards but easily rideable... except the river bed. |
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| Notes about this ride report |
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High Road can be the beginning of an adventure. One can ride up High Road to Grapevine Canyon Road which has a very sandy lower portion. This road meets up with Coxey Rd after a few miles of climbing. From here, there are forest service roads that can take you to Holcomb Valley, Big Pine Flat, Fawnskin, White Mountain, Green Valley Lake and you can even take Coxey Rd (AKA: Oak Springs Ranch Road, AKA: Coxey Truck Trail, AKA: 2N48) back down to the desert where it meets up with Bowen Ranch Road a few miles east of Roundup Way.
Be sure to take enough liquid. I recommend about 100 oz. |
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| Additional Elevation & Distance Information |
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High point 3406' was on return trip at the top of Valley Vista between Tussing Ranch Rd and Ocotillo Way. High point going was 3280'.
OUT:+742', -895'
BACK:+903', -750'
Low point was 2906' |
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