It had been over 10 years since I had ridden Mendenhall Ridge and the Condor Peak Trail. After a fire a handful of years ago the trail was closed. It had recently been fully reopened so it was time for a revisit.
I shouldn’t have watched this before going to bed. My pulse is racing and my palms are sweaty now. Nice work! Excellent editing. Looks like an epic ride. I’m going to put this one on my list.
I would have to put this in the epic category as well. Some of the exposure I really did not notice as much until I was looking at the video. In the moment it was all about being hyper focused on where the tires had to go. Glad you liked it.
That blind left on the lower section with the bar-grabbing cliff on the left, the hole outside on the right, and the surprise grade reversal is like 50/50 for me. Need to be in the right gear.
Bike handling skills are certainly a premium to have on that trail. The trail tread itself is for the most part in the upper intermediate range, but the the exposure and the need to maintain a precise line pushing this trail up into the advance range.
So I have a couple of friends who have done Trail Canyon. (One of them is my riding buddy in this video). Neither one of them has been on it in over a decade and neither is interested in giving it another go. As I understand it the lower half of the trail is very popular with hikers up to a waterfall. Above that the trail get exceptional rugged and crossing a very rocky streambed numerous times. One has done it going up and one has done it going down. Both of them lamented about being beatup and chewed up from the semi bushwhacking above Lucas Camp. There are no ridelogs on trailforks and some exceptional faint line on the heatmaps. Sounds like you need to do it and report back :-)
Trail Canyon Tr above the falls is in a proposed Wilderness area, and slated for decommission. Upper TCT (from Indian Ben saddle to Lightning Point CG) is on Lowelifes' radar. USFS is working on restoring LP. Like MTBBill and his riding buddy, I'd stay away from TCT with a bike.
Hey, it's the riding buddy here - also named Bill. I've descended Trail Canyon twice, once after climbing Condor Peak and once descending off Mendenhall Ridge. Both times were before the Station Fire. Climbing Condor is doable but grueling, as you can tell from the fast descent here. But IMO the Trail Canyon descent isn't worth the climb up Condor, and Condor is a really fun descent. All that said, MTBill and I met because of that first Condor-TCT ride. I posted a writeup on MTBR which got the attention of a dude who in turn introduced Bill and me, and 20 years later we're still riding together. So by all means, go see if trhe loop is still doable and report back - you never know where that could lead.
@@biloneil5259 I'd ride it again, up or down. Condor from Mendenhall is fun, but up Trail Canyon is quicker and a loop, so less driving even if it is a push a lot of the way up.
You can climb it, but dealing with some of those exposed bits as a climb is another level of interesting. Here is some info on the Mendenhall Ridge loop we did. mountainbikebill.com/CondorPeak.htm
Lower section is relentlessly steep. It mellows a little bit after the land bridge, but the exposure really kicks in. I like riding it up to Fox Saddle or the high point. As for loops, Yerba Buena Tr is currently being restored. When it's done you'll be able to park at TCT or above Vogel Flats, ride up Gold Canyon TT to the Gold Creek Saddle, and then climb up YB Ridge to Mendenhall.
