I’ve been itching to ride new trails ever since my Arizona trip. One place that caught my eye was Mt. Laguna in Cleveland National Forest Descano ranger district. There’s a campground there so we decided to make it into a mountain bike camping trip. The campground is at 5800ft and is nestled between tall pine trees. There are a lot of campsites with plenty of open space and shade. The weather was pretty cold which made up for a great day of riding.
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- Base for the next 3 days.
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- This bird was stuffing acorns into the tree.
Click more to view the rest of the ride report
We started off our ride in the afternoon at the Laguna Campground trailhead. We were greeted with a spectacular view of Laguna Meadows. Little Laguna lake was completely dry. We headed south east towards Redtail Roost Spur. Once we got to the trail, pine trees covered us from the bright sun. We made our way to the top Red Tail spur where we finally got some great descending in. This trail was very smooth and flowly with minor sections of uphill and areas with loose ‘baby head’ rocks.
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- View of Laguna Meadows.
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- Groupshot at Laguna Meadows
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- The start of our ride.
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- Almost to RedTail Roost Spur
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- The scenery is very distracting, I love it!
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- Nothing beats easy scenic climbs.
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- The trail level off as we get close to the top.
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- Haters gonna hate!
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- Brandon focused on his line
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- Smiling as she zooms by
After the fun downhill, we pedaled our way to the black diamond rated trail called Los Gatos Spur. The climb to the top was fire road and not very challenging. We encountered a group of deer to the side of the trail in a clearing. The trail than split into a single track and immediately went down. It was pretty fast with a lot of berms weaving in and out of trees. The trail than split again and we were welcomed by the black diamond trail sign. There were all sorts of fun rollers, thin wooden balancing ramps, and jumps all along this trail. The actual trail itself was pretty smooth but it does get fast in a few spots. As we made our way down, the laguna meadows started to come into view.
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- The fireroad followed the Agua Dulce creek.
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- This is the only steep section on the fireroad.
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- Family of deer running away from us.
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- This deer is on high alert.
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- There’s a mother f’ing snake on the mother f’ing trail!
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- Its only black diamond if you do the stunts.
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- Almost like rally notes… but for mountain bikers!
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- Danny bailing and compressing his fork to full travel.
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- Piece of cake!
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- We need more of these in Orange County
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- Danny and Brandon cleared it on the first try.
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- This log roller obstacle is taller than me!
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- Brandon balancing it.
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- Brandon hucks off the end of the skinny
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- Group shot at the southern end of Big Laguna Trail
The rest of the ride took place on the Big Laguna Trail which rides along the edge of the meadows. The views were stunning! We came across a small spur called Indian Potreros. Around the corner was Big Laguna Lake. If you are taking a mountain bike newbie on a ride, take them here! The trail has very little elevation gain,is very smooth, and really enjoyable. This is a great place to camp and ride at.
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- This is a nice place to take a break and to take in the views.
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- Anneka with Indian Potero spur and Laguna Meadows in the background.
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- Actual single track, not huge triple track like in Orange County.
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- Downed tree.
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- MTB/Rider shadow at sundown.
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- Sundown is the best time for pictures.
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- I would totally bike pack here if it was legal.
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- Gotta have another one before the ride ends!
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- And that’s a wrap!