Entrance of ANF to Baldy Ski Lodge + dirt: 13.3 miles, 5,630 ft elevation
Epic rides are important.
Having the time to be one alone with all that nature offers provides the opportunity to exhale and escape from your everyday life.
Living in a big city can be a large impediment, but even in a large metropolis like Los Angeles, there is plenty of opportunity around.
Mount Baldy is well known to locals as being the tallest peak, while cyclists know it often serving as the Queen stage for the former Tour of California.
This is a climb that is epic all by itself on a road bike, but ending at the ski lifts has always left me for more since you see more mountain.
What most don’t know is that before you hit the final steep pitch off of pavement, there is a fire road to take you up to Mount Baldy Ski Lodge which only adds to the greatness of this climb.
Once again, Victor was up for this type of adventure despite being off the bike for travel the last few weeks.
We took the fire road up to the ski lodge (not to be confused with the lifts a mile below) which is a three mile grind up dirt averaging 8%.
Being able to experience that level of solitude among unfettered beauty made for a great Friday ride:
Enjoy the switchbacks
Conferencing
Blessing
Manker Falls
Dry & dusty
Getting close
It’s tempting to get on the ski lifts at the end…
The view from the ski lodge
It’s a bit of climbing…..
Victor getting a view from the other side of the mountain of what else, but Victorville!
Mount Baldy itself
