Your #1 Source Of Dirt On The Crumm's: High Desert Action

Since it's Saturday and I didn't have to work today, MM3 and I decided to go explore some new MTB Trails. By 7AM we were on our way headed towards the High Desert area of Pear Blossom. But first we could have to drive through the Angeles Crest Forest, one of my least favorite drives on earth! The drive through Angeles Crest was pretty sketchy as usual. Not only do I hate mountain roads, but the fog was extra thick this morning, and there was some dipshit driving like a madman passing people every chance he got, and doing spin outs in the dirt turnoff areas! I'm sure he won't be around too much longer if he keeps that up, as Angeles Crest claims quite a few victims every month. Eventually we burst through the fog and were on the other side of the mountain. Amazingly it was a beautiful day! The weather forecast said it would be cloudy and cold, but as usual it was the exact opposite of what they said, which was perfect for us. It's always a lot more fun riding on a sunny clear day because once you get to the top you're rewarded with a great view to enjoy and relax to. We eventually found the camp grounds our directions told us to park at, geared up and headed out. Today we were going to attempt to ride as much of the Devil's Punch Bowl Trail as we could in 3 hours. We basically rode up it for about an hour, but could tell early on that it was going to be pretty technical. Most of the trail was no more than a foot and a half wide (if that) and was comprised of really loose and crumbly dirt and gravel, making traction very limited. Eventually we came to a point that seemed too dangerous to attempt so we turned around and bombed back down the hill. Lucky for us the Manzanita Trail was right on the other side of the campgrounds. As it turned out, this was the trail we should have probably rode in the first place. Although it was a grueling climb filled with switchback after switchback it had much more of a payoff at the end. Actually I don't even think we were at the end, but somewhere high up on the mountain there was a really cool rock formation area to chill out at, and we could see a bunch of different trails branching off from this particular area. After messing around at the rock formations for a bit it was time to leave, and we rode down. This ride down was super fast and tons of fun. Lots of dips and a good wide trail allowed for some serious speed! We rode back through the campground and got back to the truck at around 11. Mission Accomplished and in perfect time too! We even made it back in one piece without one bail between the both of us. Little did we know that a bee would almost be the death of us 45 minutes later! Basically when we were almost home, but still driving on Angeles Crest, i felt something crawling on my hand. I look down and there is a bee on it! Of course my knee jerk reaction was to shake my hand and yell, but this only shook the bee off towards MM3 and startled him in the process, right as we went around a blind curve with oncoming traffic headed our way! I'm sure it wasn't really that close of a call, but it did manage to scare the shit out of both of us. Anyways check out the pics from the ride!