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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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.
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.
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.
