Above The Clouds

A group of us - okay, five burly guys and one wiry Italian - rode up Saddleback last Saturday. We started in Silverado Canyon, spun up Maple Springs to Main Divide Road, hiked over the saddle, descended the Upper and Lower Holy Jim trails and finally rode out Trabuco Canyon Road. If you know this ride, then you know just how great it is. For the uninitiated, well, read on. The ride up Maple Springs is probably the easiest route to Main Divide, but it's still a seven mile grind...albeit a scenic seven mile grind. We began Saturday in the dense clouds which blanketed all of SoCal. I was hoping for sunshine at higher elevations, but I was somewhat skeptical until we neared Main Divide and spotted patches of blue sky. About this time a couple riders blew by our group. Our egos deflation subsided when Tom recognized one of the speedsters as Thomas Frischknecht. Frischi (got that one from Wikipedia) is a Swiss pro rider with a long storied career. I'm pretty sure he's retired now, but he was still pushing a big gear up Maple Springs on Saturday.

When we reached Main Divide, we followed the gravelly dirt road around Modjeska Peak (the lesser of the twin peaks). We had lunch near the radio towers and took in the incredible views. Check out the photos above. In person the clouds below us resembled enormous pillows, lazily stretching to the horizon. Above us was only blue sky and mountain peaks. The top photo shows a not too distance Santiago and in the bottom photo, San Gorgonio is in the hazy distance. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I believe these are all from Ron's iPhone. Not bad though.

After a short, somewhat stickery, hike-a-bike over the divide, we began our descent. Upper Holy Jim is a hoot: steep, scenic, switchbacky and lightly traveled. This is definitely the more technical of the Holy Jims. Upper Holy Jim is a bit reminiscent of the San Juan Trail. It's cut into a hillside of decomposed granite; small rock gardens are interspersed between tight switchbacks. In comparison, Lower Holy Jim runs smooth and fast. Not too fast though, since there are plenty of hikers heading up the trail on an early summer Saturday morning. It's hard not to have a smile on this trail. The scenery is, again, magnificent. Every time we popped out of the canopy of manzanita we were greeted with blue skies above and views of lush Trabuco Canyon below. After the generous downhill we arrived at the Holy Jim fire station. Crowds of hikers and Jeepsters filled up the parking lot. This is definitely one of the nicest places in Orange County. The only downside is that the long drive in on the dirt road is a drag - all bumps and dust. On a bike though the ride out is fairly easy, we pass the cars, hold our breath through the dust and glide across the stream crossings. It's all good...can't wait to do it again.