I finally managed to get a video pushed out of some of the riding I did in August up at Mammoth Lakes. Here is Lower Rock Creek. Your video quality may vary based on device but don’t forget to try and bump it up in the YouTube quality settings. It will go up to 1080p 60fps.
Tag: Lower Rock Creek
Lower Rock Creek Trail – Fire Damage
Last week on my way up to Mammoth Mountain for some chairlift-assisted mountain biking I met up with Dave and Michael for a run down the Lower Rock Creek trail on my way into town. We met up at the lower trailhead and then made our way to the top for some great riding back down the trail. I had so much fun that I did not take any pictures. You will have to take a look at last year’s post for some pictures. Michael did snap a few pictures and one of those is below. I was however running a video camera. A fire came through this area back on August 5th that burned 122 acres. Now wildfires are pretty common but the cause of this one was interesting. The USFS has determined that fire was caused by a mountain bike pedal strike against a rock. I’m not one to argue on this one, plenty of pedals have steel bits that can create a spark if struck against the right stuff in the right way. Whatever your thoughts here is a clip of us rolling through the burn area.
Update:
Here are a few links to articles and forum post on this fire.
Cyclist incensed after being blamed for a forest fire.
MTBR’s NORCAL forum thread. (Be prepared some comedy in the responses here)
SFist Article (Read the comments)
Lower Rock Creek
Last week I spent some time at Mammoth Lakes for some lift-assisted mountain biking. The opener for this trip however was not lift-assisted. Dave and I and checked out Lower Rock Creek located about 15 miles south of Mammoth Lakes right off of HWY 395.
To keep the logistics simple, we did this ride as a loop. We parked at the bottom of the trail and climbed Lower Rock Creek Road. It was about 7.8 mile climb that gained somewhere around 2,200 feet of elevation. Considered that we started off around 5,000 feet of elevation was quite apparent that we were not beach cruising. Dave and I eventually made our way to the top and then it was time to cash out that elevation.
The trail crosses Lower Rock Creek Road twice dividing the trail into thirds. The upper section is nice and flowy with lots of buff goodness that weaves through pines and aspens. It pretty much all downhill as well.
The trail is exceptionally beautiful and follows along Lower Rock Creek the entire time. It was really cool to have the sound of creek along the entire route. After the first road crossing you are in the section colloquially referred to as the “Middle” section. This section also has some nice flow with the flora shifting to more pines than aspens. If you do not smile at some point in this section just throw your bike in the creek, hike out and give up all outdoor activities forever as you are clearly too calloused to be out in mother nature.
After the second road crossing the trail gets much more technical as canyon narrows on both sides.
Dave working through the rocks.
More fun in the rocks
At several places where we stopped to figure out a line or session a move, we could see trout in the creek. Awesome!
There was some tastiness waiting in the cooler at the lower trailhead for us. This will not be my last time on this trail.