Any tips on trails to ride? I'm gonna be up in Big Bear Lake this Saturday hoping to do some pedal laps. I'll be riding the bike park while I'm up there, but also wanted to do some pedaling one day. I did some googling and found stuff, but nothing looks like a slam dunk and I want to see if I'm on the right track or if these trails suck, and I know there are a ton of SoCal people on Vital. Ideally I'd like something steeper, faster, and rougher for a 170mm bike, but would also be happy if it's just a good classic MTB ride, and I don't want to spend all day on fire roads. If you know the area, let me know if I'm way off base and there's something else I should look into:
1. Cougar Crest on the north side of the lake. Looks like 1300 feet of climbing, meets the PCT at the top, but seems like it would be a super popular hiking route on labor day weekends and seems kinda flat?
2. Exploration Trail near Snow Valley. 1500 feet of descending with a pretty direct pedal-up route, could be alright?
3. Gold Mountain pedal or shuttle route in OHV area, off 18 near Baldwin Lake. 1500 foot descent and probably pretty rough?
4. John Bull trail. This OHV trail comes up everywhere on google but looks like weird loop with seemingly lots of roads in it. Looks like a lot of pedaling for 600 feet of descending.
5. Santa Ana River Trail as an out and back. Seems like this could be the most boring ride ever, but maybe there are good sections.
6. Pedaling laps at the bike park or at Snow Valley. Looks like you could pedal up Keller Peak and ride the park down, but I'm sure the resort hates this. And it looks like a loooooong pedal for 800 feet of descending.
7. All of these options suck and I should just buy another lift pass at the bike park for Saturday.
It's been about 8 years since I've been there when I moved away from SoCal, but from what I remember most of the trails outside of the park there were better suited to shorter travel bikes. At the time, there were a few fun trails out of the park that were accessible via a short pedal from the top of the lifts with a short pedal back to the base of the mountain. Those trails seemed kind of "off-menu" at the time, so I'm not sure what the current status of that stuff is. If those trails are still there, then there's probably some trails you could string together for some single track climbing to make for a fun loop.
I voted for chairlift because those are the best in Big Bear in my opinon, but if you really want to put in pedals, this is what I know.
Cougar crest is ok, but South facing so its hot and super dry. Need to ride early or at sunset.
I haven't rode Exploration, but everyone says thats the best if you want to pedal.
Ive heard S.A.R.T is really good for ebikes, but not sure how long that ride up it.
If you are in the Sugarloaf area theres some small XC loops by the highschool. Very mellow, beginner friendly trails if you want easy loops.
My profile pic is from the day I pedaled up Club View Drive to 2N10 (Skyline) and onward to the top of Snow Summit. There's a rumor that you can ride down any of the trails without a lift pass if you "somehow" find yourself up there. At least, that's what they told me on the phone before I did it. There are signs which say otherwise, so I may have been really nervous when I may or may not have dropped in on Miracle Mile.
you might go hit Santa's Village which is a pedal up bike park. trails are pretty fun and you can bang out loads of laps
Wild, do you need to buy a ticket to ride Santa's Village?
yeah you need a ticket to ride santa's village.
https://skyparksantasvillage.com/parks/bike-park/
there are pirate trails just off Summit property but good luck finding them, the builders have learned to hide the entrances. Go left off the summit property and you'll find a paved road behind the condos. it turns into a dirt road, go right at the crossing and that's the fireroad that leads to the top of summit. pretty sure you can't ride on summit property without a pass but nobody would know since they only check for tickets at the lifts.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I ended up riding XC trails up to skyline ridge from the Summit parking lot and riding most of the skyline ridge trail. Came back on the same trail (by accident somehow) and dropped into the bike park to finish the ride. It was definitely not a super sick gnar winch and plummet big bike ride, but it was a pretty incredible XC/trail route. Shock locked out and no-kneepads sort of ride. Super pretty views and was really impressed by the quality of the off-bikepark trails. Also, I got a dozen laps in at the bike park the day before, so I definitely got my fill. Map of my skyline ride here if you're interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/9772066612
I usually make time for Exploration Trail, classic trail. But after bike park laps of course
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