Cannell Meadow Trail
7-15-01

Steve, Dan and I rode the trail without doing the extra credit ride to the summit of Sherman Peak. We wanted to, but on account of a late start (~11:30) we decided to just go right down the trail. Harry generously offered to shuttle us on account of being so sore from yesterday's ride and the prospect of fishing for golden trout.  Although we didn't see any snow along the trail, it was pretty cool at 9,150' Sherman Pass.

The trail starts off downhill with some motorcycle whoop-de-do's and sandy spots, but before long climbing ensues. It's up and down to Mosquito Meadows and then some steep climbing to a pass at about 9,400' near the 4 mile mark. From the pass, the trail drops some 1,600' through forest, meadow and stream. The top part is mostly buff forest singletrack that passes by all too fast. It gets progressively more technical as the trail grows rockier, but it's a "fast technical" that is an absolute blast to rip through. Make sure you have good tire pressure or you're sure to pinch flat through here.  Since Dan and Steve were really beating me up on this first part of the ride, I didn't get any pictures here.

At about 9 miles you reach Big Meadow and fire-road. The route follows the fireroad on the west side of Big Meadow for about a mile before singletrack starts again on the left (it's sign-posted). The trail is mostly flat and a little sandy here. Shortly, you'll come to an equestrian staging area. Bear right to find the trail again. You'll cross a meadow and come to fireroad and a youth camping area on the other side. Follow the fireroad up through the gate and go right (uphill) on the fireroad for about 2 miles. You may see a steep, sandy singletrack paralleling the road on your left. It's the Cannell Trail, which we lost down at the youth camp, but we thought it was just fine to climb on the road. When the road turns downhill, you can jump on the sandy singletrack or just ride down the road for about 1/2 mile. The singletrack crosses the road and you want to get on it going up to the right. It's steep in places with some very tough rocks. You top out at about 8,400' before dropping 800' over the next 1.5 miles on nice rocky, technical singletrack into Cannell Meadow. 

The next 3 miles are mostly flat as you cross in and out of Cannell Meadow and the forest that's alongside it. At the end of Cannell Meadow, the canyon closes in a little making the trail a little more challenging. Then you're at Pine flat and the top of "The Plunge". The biggest view you've had for the whole ride, other than from Sherman Pass, was looking across Big Meadow, but as you round a turn in the trail, you have an excellent vista of Lake Isabella and beyond, 4,000' below you. The Plunge is about 10 miles long and was quite different than what I expected - it was mostly buff decomposed granite with banked turns with only a few technical areas as opposed to the rocky drop into Cannell Meadow earlier. But it was ear-to-ear grinning fun to bomb. The lower section had some loose rocks in the trail and some switchbacks but it was still very fast. Near the bottom, you come to a fireroad that bears left and up to a gate. We tried going right here but soon lost trail and had to back-track to the gate and over. 

All told, we covered 26.7 miles in about 4.5 hours, went up 2,290 feet and down over 8,300 feet. Sweet, epic, awesome, quintessential, classic - one of the best rides ever. The only tough thing about it is coordinating the long shuttle from/to Sherman Pass.

 

dropping into Big Meadow	Cowboy Dan in Big Meadow	ditto	on the edge of Big Meadow	crossing the far end of Big Meadow
the last bit of climbing before dropping into Cannell Meadows	"I think that was the last of the climbing"	Dan going down to Cannell Meadows	Steve grinning down to Cannell Meadows	Chris going down to Cannell Meadows
		cool rock formation at the lower end of Cannell Meadows
	top of "the Plunge", Lake Isabella 4000' below	Dan	on the Plunge, about 6,000'	Chris
Hey, I thought the Plunge was all downhill	Dan, taking it all in	Chris	Dan	Steve
Dan, somewhere in there	Chris	Dan	these damn right-hand switchbacks!	Steve
Dan & Steve	Dan & Steve	link to Saturday's epic Albanita - Jackass - Granite/Broder - Monache - Big Dry Meadows - Casa Vieja Meadows - Fish Creek Trail ride