Monrovia Canyon Park to Spring Camp by bike

[Slowest_Hiker]

Like several others, I've been eyeing Spring Camp on the maps for some time. Although I was happy to learn that it can still be accessed from Big SAC, it's a bit too off-trail to be our bag. Neither am I into downward-only biking like from Red Box. My hiking range is approximately 1.0 Mt Wilson Trail roundtrip (14 mi), so getting there from anywhere else was going to be difficult. We considered an overnight, even that being a couple miles longer than our longest overnight, but probably do-able if we worked the ultralight thing harder. Anyway, last year we hiked up the Overturff trail to White Saddle from Monrovia Canyon Park, and sitting there looking at maps, hatched the idea of getting to Spring Camp by bike. I've ridden longer, and I've ridden on fire roads (i.e. off pavement), but this would be my longest off-pavement attempt. I felt good after a Chantry to San Olene ride in May and we decided to give Spring a shot on Memorial Day weekend.

Since I'm not fast, and cars have to be out of the Park by 5pm, we got an early start when they opened at 7. It was misty and quasi-raining on us until we got a good bit of the way past White Saddle toward Rincon OHV road.
DSC00318 by moore91024, on Flickr

I was hoping the hard work would be over and the last leg on Rincon Rd would be mostly flat, which wasn't exactly true, but it all worked out. The sun was out (and welcome) for our eventual arrival at the camp.
DSC00323 by moore91024, on Flickr

This trip was perhaps more about the journey than the destination. Not a bad place to sit at a picnic table and have a snack before the return trip, but there is no water at all at the camp, and it would have cheered the place up a bit. There's a fallen tree on the outhouse. The most interesting thing to me was the abundance of wild orchids. I've seen these in small numbers in Big SAC and on the Mt Wilson trail, but at Spring there was truly a small field of them. Ladybugs swarming and crawling too, which I've seen mentioned in other Spring Camp trip reports.

DSC00324 by moore91024, on Flickr
(They're not that blue. My new camera blew the macro flash shot They're purple like the ones in the background)

I had, as they say, "an off" on the way down approaching White Saddle and still have some souvenir bruises, but luckily that's it. Back to the car by 3:20 so plenty of time to spare. Don't know that I'll ever be back! But pleased to have reached it.

[Sewellymon]

that's a good ride. i did it about 6 weeks ago. took me prolly 3 hrs ride time to get to Spring Camp, tho I had no interest in it.. nothing particularly special about it, tho that entire back side of Monrovia Peak is very nice .. but I did take a turn and go down the seemingly abandoned Upper San Olene fire road. I'd like to explore it further some day..

[Sean]

Thank you for the report. Did you see a water tank there?