Looking up the trail.
Last week I rode up the Santa Clarita Truck Trail in the late afternoon. The weather wasn’t much of an issue since the temp had cooled down a bit. This isn’t a climb I can do in the middle of the day during the summer heat as it’ll just run me into the dirt. With relatively cool temps, its not a totally difficult climb. Just a long haul with great views, and a big payback for loaning the mountain your legs and lungs for the 5 mile climb and sadly, only 2,100 ft or so of climbing.
So I headed up the trail on my Trek to the communication towers. During my trek (no pun intended) to the 3,864 ft summit, I stopped a number of times to pull out my DSLR from my hydration pack to take photographs (On occasion, I’ll bring my DSLR along for a ride).
Me and my Buddy checking out the view.
I didn’t see a soul between the trail-head and the towers. No hikers, no other riders for the 5 mile climb; only rabbits and lizards running for cover and I heard a few creatures rustling in the vegetation as I climbed past them. Very peaceful. I had to stop to take in the scenery a few times with my buddy.
Long story short, what took me almost an hour and twenty minutes to climb (Yeah, I’m a slow climber).. All 5 miles.. All 2,100 ft of total climbing.. Gone in 20 minutes. The big pay off was the downhill.
This climb will now be one of my regular rides.
Newhall in the Distance.
The Towers. They actually look smaller than what I would expect.
