I do a lot of rides and stuff where they don't really warrant a full trip report, but I usually have road and trail conditions to share, or just ideas or photos or whatever. I figured I'd start a thread based on this, and maybe if you guys are interested in sharing in the same fashion I will change this from my own TR feed thing to a group one, since that'll probably be more fun and sensible anyway. Let me know what you think. Love, your pal and ancient admin, Taco.
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-=20260120 Toilet Ride=-
First Toilet Ride of 2026. The Toilet Ride is riding up to the summit of South Mount Hawkins from the city, so one must start in Azusa or Duarte or whatever minimum and complete this ride. You get big Ape points for doing this. I consider this my favorite overall ride around here, as it is pretty long (86mi from my place) , has a lot of climbing (about 9,000ft gain), takes you through multiple biomes, and requires enough time and effort that you too travel through different states of mind and all that. Good for getting some solid thinking in, and time well spent with loved ones if you're not alone.
I've done this ride many times so I'll stick to the big points. The road above the primary campgrounds is in poor shape. The two big storms washed out a few sections a little, but dumped a ton of debris on the roadway. Most can probably be fixed with a dozer, but there is one section where the road bed is washed away about 1/3rd of the way across the width of the road. Once you hit the dirt road leaving Deer Flat, the washouts are much more substantial. The road was bulldozed during the Bridge Fire to give firefighting access, making it the best I've seen it in the 20 some odd years I've been going up there. After the storms it is now in the worst shape I've ever seen it, and unlikely to improve. I think there were three major washouts, one or two 6ft deep requiring some thoughtful movement carrying the bike down one side and up the other. A lightweight bicycle helps significantly in this regard. The closer you get to the top, the better the road is, since there are fewer major drainages with enough force to rip things apart. Total for the day was 86mi and 8,9k00ft of up. Since I left at a casual time, I didn't get to the summit until a while after sunset. It is in mountain bike shape. Again, after the fire it was in good enough shape that I took my rim brake touring bike with 35mm tires up it twice, and now I probably wouldn't go back without my MTB unless peer pressure was involved to some degree.
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-=20260125 Canyoneering - Winking Mummy Gulch=-
I first descended this small canyon north of Azusa in 2014. I took my buddy, who is a big plant nerd, so we could see all the new growth and maybe get him into bushwhacking and getting itchy and scratched up and bitten by thousands of annoying flies. Having not done much canyoneering in a few years, I found I missed doing this sorta stuff that many others don't enjoy. Lots of cool plants and bugs, some parasitic worms squirming in the tiny pools in there, and a lotta neat flowers growing.
I think the first time I did it I completed 10 rappels, but we only did 3 this time, with a bunch of downclimbs, and found none of my old anchors, which might not be surprising since I probably ghosted some of them. The downclimbs were fun and easy with some thoughtful movement but low consequences. We had TONS of those annoying tiny black biting flies but I don't recall any of them biting, for some reason. I would clap my hands in front of my face every few seconds sometimes and killed many of them.
The bushwhacking wasn't bad, and there wasn't any poison oak in the canyon itself, just on the approach and hike out. Only got a few bumps which were defeated by Benadryl cream.
I brought 1x 200ft rope, with the rope stopping just short of the end of the last rapp, requiring a careful transition off rope in a low-consequence setting. I recommend a 150ft rope and 150ft pullcord, or more sensibly a standard 200ft rope and 150-200ft pullcord. One anchor was a deadman off some boulders we buried and improved, one off a tree with webbing, and one where we simply wrapped the rope around a large bush with a thick trunk above a short rappel covered in canyon kelp.
Total was 4.4mi and 2,270ft of gain, though I don't think the gain was that high. I'm going off Strava's measurements.
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-=20260203 Mount Islip South Ridge by Bike from the City=-
For years I had wanted to ride a MTB down the south ridge from the summit, but only recently had the means to do so. Awhile back, my buddies and I drove up to Crystal Lake to camp out, and Eddie and I brought our MTB's to ride the south ridge. It was long, fun, and had amazing views. I wanted to cut the car out of it this time and do it all by bike, since I'm me, and thus I set off at too late a time in the morning at a chill pace. I live at 420ft above sea level (no joke, blaze it), and the summit of Islip is 8250 or something like that, so it's a long slow but pretty easy 8,000ft climb to the top. 39 went by as it always does, nothing special to report. It's a little slower on a fattish-tire MTB but not too bad. It was a Chewsday so Adam's cafe was closed. No worries, I brought a po'boy sammich to eat somewhere up there. In my usual way of thinking I didn't even eat the damn thing until I hit the summit. So goal oriented, such a squared away private! Someone hire this guy (I already have a job)!
Went up to Deer Flat, took the dirt road towards SMH before taking the trail up to Windy Gap. I walked the entire trail up to WG, which as you expect was very windy. Got up to WG at sunset, and pushed to the summit, getting there after last light with a really badass view. Ate my damn sandwich and headed down. I'm glad Eddie and I did this in daylight last time so I didn't miss the amazing views, but it's still beautiful at night, as the entire megalopolis is out in front of you most of the way down. The wind was powerful, with some gusts strong enough to almost knock me off my bike, so I walked a few very short stretches. It added to the fun. The trail is in good shape most of the way with a few washed out portions lower down. The trailbuilders have done a fantastic job on this one, as even though some of the sections are damaged and I had to walk, their reinforcements have survived with just the dirt washing out betwixt the rocks and poles etc. Shout out to those guys (Fred Rice and company?) for their work. I don't think it'll take anywhere near as much work to fix as other trails I've been on after our last two big rain storms, which really did a number on stuff around Wilson etc.
It took an hour to get from the summit of Islip to the lake parking lot. I think a MTB rider with average skills and bike could probably do it in 35-40min during the day with low wind etc.
I also wanna say hi to the nice young dudes who went to the Big Boulder south of the cafe to do some climbing. It was fun hanging out with you guys and showing you the lines and such. I sent them here to talk, and also sent em yer way, Matt, cause they're into bouldering. Get out there and get climbing, and be careful on our rock!
Totals for the day were 81 miles with 9,400ft of climbing.
Takeaways etc:
-If you want to ride the south ridge, I recommend a light MTB with suspension. If I had a hardtail, that's what I would take, but I ride the whole way up so that makes sense. A full suspension would be the most fun. My MTB is rigid with 2.6" tires and it is long, since it's meant to carry a lot of luggage and water etc. I usually dismount for switchbacks.
-Fill up water at Little Jimmy. In all but the hottest weather, this should be enough. After descending to the lake, next water resupply (without a filter) is the spigot at the Ranger/visitor center opposite the cafe.
Taco's Ongoing Minor Trip Report Feed
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Taco
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