I cannot begin to tell you my LOVE for this ride. All I can say is BE PREPARED(Tools/Food/Tubes/Water/Energy snacks). The Cholla Cactus here is downright nasty...and there is sometimes no avoiding it! Leave before 10am and shuttle vehicles accordingly. The only drawback to this ride is the Omscott Dry Wash....ie: The Indian Death March, a 3-mile slightly uphill grind where deep sand saps your energy, while you try to find the "hardest" surface line.

Once you reach Dunn Road...might as well do the Hahn's Buena Vista Trail; a gravelly, 3-mile singletrack DH fest, with inspiring views. Be of above average fitness and this ride will have it's own place in your singletrack dreams....

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Ribbonwood/Pine View Road - This drop off point gives you the MOST downhill action....fast and flowing!

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Hurkey Creek
Thomas Mountain
Toro Peak/Sawmill Trail
Ramona Trail

Palm canyon is a long ride that will tire you out by the end! one cool thing is it was raining on my side of the San Jacintos(west side) all day! We left at 6ish as we drove down 111 we could tell we were in for an epic day as it was dry in palm desert. once up at pinyon we could see rain up in high country but resulted in a light misting which made the desert soil moist and not as loose as it usually is! first time I finished with water! I did lower half earlier in week and almost got blown off murray peak. wind was so strong it literrally pushed me up a hill after first switch back on way up to murray! on sunday 2/24/08 only hit wind also on the way from hahn to clara burgess aka murray peak! We finished in 5 hours! with no flats! or mechanicals! so if your in so cal in winter and it is raining just head over the hill and ride in the dry!

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pinyon flats trail to canyon trail(follows wash) eventually ride through sand wash. canyon trail has some rollers that are cool natural doubles! turn right(east) at end of wash(the wash continues north!)we had found another wash right before this one but is not as wide(20 ft)!also it is marked off with rocks! we walked our 36lb rigs up past hahn/wild horse cutoff-to top of dunn rd. bailed down hahn! ends in yet another wash! this is where cutoff from wash raod deal comes in!head towards dunn heading n.e. pass up wild horse cutoff! came out on dunn 200 yrds took faint singletrack to left off dunn. follow singletrack a little ways making sure you dont miss the right which takes you to clara burgess! if you start to descend i believe it ends up on that wildhorse cut off! after ascending towards murray peak you come to a big clara burgess sign. head up to murray peak and decend the north side! it is steep and has switchbacks but not really gnarl tech. just exposed factor! get to bottom head north will decend into creek bottom, you will se one last climb up a little hill! decend east towards road hop on for breif up hill take trail off road to left but still parrelling road ! this secti

awesome trail!! me and my buddies did it just a few days ago and its was pretty amazing. one of the guys i rode with had a blow out about 2 miles in on dunns road, he used my spare but then popped that one 3 miles later. so he basically rode the last 21 miles with a flat. on palm canyon there is some climbing but its not bad at all once you get to dunns road though its pretty much all downhill into cat city. once we got to the goat trails then i got a flat so i had to walk the last 3 or 4 miles with a flat. i reccomended to everyone TAKE EXTRA TUBES AND PATCH KITS!! awesome trail though on some parts you hit about 35+ miles per hour and if you keep your eye out theres some nice rockjumps and little dropoffs.

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take 74 to palm canyon road (i reccomened having someone drop you off at the top) then ride palm canyon road until the last gate once youve reached this then go around the gate and your on dunns road go down dunns for about 21 miles then keep your eye out and make a left at a small single track take these goat trails into cat city your gonna come out at a shooting range so be careful! then go to the gasstation and get some candybars and water and if you need to go get some tubes at target across the street.

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idlywild 24 hour loop, bump and grind

I found this to be an epic downhill ride - much like Noble Canyon in San Diego County. Its over 28 miles long and has about a 4000 foot elevation drop. Most of the trail is single track. There are many ridge rides and rides along step embankments with off-camber turns - quite thrilling at speed! At times, you have to travel through sandy washes, but I did not find these too bothersome in light of the overall ride. I did the ride on Sunday morning on Memorial Day weekend, in 2003 and did not see a single person on the trail, though there were plenty of bike tracks, indicating a fair amount of use. Scenery is spectacular starting in high desert with small pines, descending into the drier and hotter desert along the way down. Mountain views are abundant.

To complete the entire ride, you pretty much have to shuttle it drop a car off in Palm Springs and shuttle back to the top on the Palms to Pines highway (74) start at the Pine View Drive.

Be sure to take plenty of water and extra tubes and patch kit I had 4 flats going down (ran into a cactus on one turn).

For a detailed trail route and description, see the Southern California A Guide to the Classic Trails, 3rd Edition.

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I started the ride at Pine View Drive, off highway 74, very near Santa Rosa Mtn. The first 1/4 mile or so is pavement. The trail appears on the right, and is marked with two signs - a triangle and square - be sure to look for these. Follow this trial. There is a fork in the trail at about 2 miles. Take the Ridge Top ride. For the next 10+ miles, the trail is fairly well defined, though it does go through numerous sandy washes. The trail is marked with brown 2' tall 4X4 poles. At around 14 miles, Dry Wash Road appears - take a left and climb the hill. From there, take the Hahn Buena Bista trail to Cathedral Canyon trail to the Clara Burges Trail. You'll end-up in Palm Springs, 28+ miles and over 4000 feet of elevation drop. Take plenty of water and extra tubes. The ride pretty much requires a shuttle. Figure at least 3 hrs for the ride.

Leave one car at home and only take 1 car to the trailhead!! This is a large loop (35-40), however it is a classic long fire road climb and a long trail back. Dunn Road is a great climb, nice & smooth with great views of the desert below. Leave early in the morning in the winter or fall. Once at the top of Dunn road turn right on Hwy 74 for short distance. (Please note: be careful on Hwy 74-the road is narrow at times and I have noticed that the drivers are very aggressive along this stretch- don't get run down!!)
Once you find the palm canyon trail, it is lot's of fun with a backcountry feel to it. Be careful of the cactus & thorns and if it has rained a lot recently, there can be a lot of water in the bottom of the canyon (I recall several years back riding through the "creek" with the water almost over the top of our wheels. That was way back when we didn't think twice about re-packing our hubs & BB's after the ride!).
The trail is a nice long run, however, it goes by quick compared to the LONG climb you had up to the highway, so stop a few times & look around. If there is snow on the peaks & it is not too hot, palm canyon can be a very enchanting desert scene! The climb from palm canyon back up to Dunn road is relatively easy, can be a bit sandy, but not very long, just spin it. (I have seen a couple of my bros who were forced to walk that little climb,...completely spent!!) Once back to Dunn road, a few very short rollers & then some wide open fast downhill. If you are running behind the sun, the city lights look great from up above-trust me, I have come down Dunn Road in the dark more times than not.

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Up Dunn Road, down palm canyon.

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Check the map,..there is a lot of adventure available in this area.