[Jul 31, 2013] Cimeron Weekend Warrior If you like empty, rolly polly single track trails in pine forests and fast descents, heaven awaits you at Boggs Mountain. It's a fun little mountain with lots of trail options - definitely worth a trip to explore it. The trails are all extremely well marked, and the map (available at the ranger station and online) rates each route with a ski-mountain-like system from super easy green dot rides to technical double-black diamonds. The majority of the trails are intermediate but there's a bit of technical thrown in here and there. My husband and I rode there yesterday and we had a great time!



We sampled the front side, backside and the ridge during our 14.7 mile ride, which had a moving time of 2 hrs 23 minutes and 2,178 ft. in elevation. Here's the route we took and what we thought of the segments:



Interpretive Trail and Creek Trail to Gails (some roly poly, some climbing):

Paralleling the lush banks of one of the few creeks in the park, the climb was really beautiful - I half expected little forest sprites to fly out from behind enchanted trillium leaves. It's mostly roly poly here, but there are a few challenging roots and rock outcroppings to get up and over. One of the things I noticed most though was the absolute absence of poison oak, which made me jump for joy and strip off my long socks and sleeves. Anyway, this was a fun little climb and would definitely be a super fun descent. (Tip #1: bring lots of water – it can get hot in here and we didn’t see anywhere to refill the camelbacks).



Gails (rolly polly):

This was pretty “m’eh” to us. It's just easy, kinda boring roly poly riding through the pine forest. Nothing really remarkable about this section except for the fact that we saw no one on it at all (which was the same story with all the trails we rode in the park).



540 to Boggs Peak Trail to High Point (climb):

Easy rolling climb.



Bear Bones to 400, then Crew Trail, 220 and High Chair (rolling, then descent):

The single track sections were pretty fun and fast, albeit a bit short. Not too challenging and not too remarkable, but still fun.



200 to Berry to Jethro's (descent):

Jethro’s was a very fun section of downhill! It starts pretty steep with a sharp turn, then you can haul it, and then there's a surprise rocky section at the end for a bit of a technical challenge. I loved this section.



300 to Game Trail (rolling):

It's a rolling, easy fire road - not much else to say about it.



Game Trail (descent):

Now this was a super fun 9-minute descent! There are occasional rocky sections for a bit of technical challenge, there are fast, smooth sections, a few tight trees and no one around for miles - yay! This was our favorite trail of the whole ride.



100, Boggs Enduro Hill Climb (fire road climb of death):

This is where you pay for the fun you had on the Game Trail, and you will pay dearly. On the map, this fire road parallels the Game Trail but it shares none of the GT’s joy. It’s a long, hot grind with about 1000 ft in elevation gain. Every time you think you see the top, WRONG – you get another hill to climb! Our legs were fried from a tough ride the previous day, so that made this fire road all the more fun. And bonus, I was going so slowly that the buffalo gnats figured out I couldn’t outpace them so they decided to take the opportunity to try to mate with my eyeballs. Either that, or lay their eggs in my corneas. Don’t worry - you will have plenty of time to decide which is a more repellant thought as you slug your way up this hateful fire road. (Which brings me to Tip #2: wear wrap-around glasses, lest you want amorous gnats to make sweet love to your eyeballs).



200, Bogg’s Ridge Trail (more fire road climbing – joy!):

Just a little more climbing to get to Scout Trail.



Scout Trail and Karen’s (descent):

If you like to bomb it on smooth carpet-like single track, this is awesome fun! It’s a nice reward (and really nice to air out) after the doomed fire road climb.



Hoberg’s Loop and Mac’s (descent):

This is another really fun, smooth and super fast section. We took the long way around the Hoberg loop, which was like riding on berber carpet. Mac’s is a nice, fast descent, so when you hear the Cal Fire helicopter coming in for a landing at the nearby helipad, you will probably think it’s you who is making that whooshing noise as you bomb it down the hill. It’s a great way to end the ride!

Customer Service Start at the ranger's station, go up the Interpretive Trail and Creek Trail. If you want a longer ride, do the Gail's/Boggs Peak loop. Definitely do Jethro's and Game Trail, and if you like fast riding, do Scout's to Karen's, Hoberg's Loop and Mac's down - very fun!

OVERALL

RATING 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ VALUE

RATING 4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★