|
 |
 |
| You are here: Home : Mountain Biking |
Last Updated on 08/22/2004 |
| RATINGS |
| Diff: |
 |
| Scenic: |
|
| Tech: |
 |
|
Baldy Mesa Road from Hesperia Lakes
on desert roads and trails |
|
 |
Location: High Desert, Mojave Desert, Southern California
Region: Hesperia Region
|
Total Distance: 30.3 Mi
Elevation Gain: 1,700 Ft
|
Season: Sept-April
Type: Loop |
Start Elev: 2,925 Ft
Peak Elev: 3,850 Ft
|
Total
Time: 2.5 hr
Time In: 1.5 hr
Time Out: 1 hr
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Driving Directions |
|
You can park at Hesperia Lakes and ride from there. Take I-15 to Main St., go east about 8 miles to Hesperia Lakes on your left. |
|
| Route |
|
From Hesperia Lakes take Arrowhead Lake Rd north to Ranchero Rd. Make a left. Take Ranchero about 3 miles west to Danbury Ave. Make a right and a quick left onto E-Avenue. Go down a steep short hill and back up the other side. The first road at the top of the hill on your left is Fir. Make a left here and ride up to the railroad tracks. Ride along the railroad tracks to across from the south end of lime street park and jump the tracks and ride west on Lime St. Continue on Lime St 1 block past 11th ave and make a left. This road deadends at a right turn. Make the right, go one block and make a left and go 1 block to Mesquite Road. Make a right and ride to the stop sign at Maple Ave. Make a left here and go 1 block to Mission which is a road on your left and a dirt trail on your right. Make a right on the dirt trail. Follow Mission, more or less, it eventually dead ends at a right turn then you can go around about a block and get back on it. Eventually however, when you start getting near the I-15, Mission ends altogether and you have to take Mesquite to go any further west. Mesquite is about 1 block north of Mission. Mesquite will continue to Mariposa Ave (paved and fast). Just before you go up the hill to Mariposa, take a sandy trail to the left that follows below the road to the railroad track undercrossing. Go under the freeway here, the south side of the tracks makes for easier riding. After the initial segment of the rocky railroad track road, you can get on the path just south of this that goes up and down the 6 small valleys between the freeway and Baldy Mesa Rd. Continue on this trail with some pretty short/steep inclines at the edge of each of the valleys. From Baldy Mesa Rd, there are all sorts of dirt roads that go all over the place, to Hwy 138, to Phelan. You can really get around good once you make it to Baldy Mesa Road.
I took the better route for the return trip. Take the path on the south side of the railroad tracks back under the freeway and hop the tracks and continue to Ranchero Rd. Continue across Ranchero along the path east of the tracks a short distance to where it connects with a newly paved road (I've been riding this road long before it was paved). This road is Farmington and make a left. Follow this on a paved section, then a dirt section, then a paved section, then a dirt (sandy) section to the road that intersects it just before it looks like it is going to deadend into some junipers, this road is signed, but I forget the name. Make a left here, go one block, make a right, go past the last house on your left and make a left and follow the road around when it curves to the right past some water tanks and dumps you out on a paved road, I think this is Maple. Make a left here and take the first right and ride straight to the stop sign, make a left and ride to Ranchero. Make a right on Ranchero, ride over the aqueduct and continue east on Ranchero to the railroad tracks, jump the tracks and continue on Ranchero back to Arrowhead Lake Rd, make a right back to Hesperia Lakes. |
|
| Details |
|
I don't actually use as many paved roads described above. There are dirt trails that I take to get around most of the paved sections but they are too hard to describe. |
|
| Trail Condition |
|
I prefer not to ride along the railroad tracks, it's too rocky. |
|
| Forest Details |
|
It's all desert with junipers pretty much all the way. |
|
| Notes about this ride report |
|
Computer Readings:
Distance: 30.27 miles
Odometer: 5334.1 miles
Max Speed: 41.0 mph
Time: 2:29:29
Average Speed: 12.1 mph
It was real windy out there today, especially along the railroad tracks west of the I-15, damn it really picked up out there... like being on top of a dam. The air quality today was pretty bad, lot of ozone, just like the day before. I tried not to push it today because I was hurting after riding hard with all that ozone the day before. |
|
|
| Pictures |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
