Chantry Flats
| Technical Level: |
Intermediate |
| Strenuous Level: |
Beginner Plus |
| Altitude Gain: |
Not much |
| The Ride: |
4.5 miles one way -- 9 miles total |
| Where: |
LA Area - Near Arcadia |
| When: |
Whenever there is more air than smog |
To get There:
Map
Marking Trail Head (Click on More Detail for a better map)
Take 210 to Santa Anita Drive. Take Santa Anita North until it
dead ends into a parking lot. There is a paved road leading from
the upper parking lot beside the picnic area. Take this road up the
hill about a half mile. The trail head is located on the right side
of the road and is well marked. Just as a heads-up, you have to have
a wilderness pass to park in the parking lot. You can buy one from
a USFS van that sits on Santa Anita Drive near the parking lot or from
the Arcadia Pro Bike shop for 5 bucks.
The Ride:
This is any easy trail to follow. There aren't any turns (that I
remember). It ends at a small campground with a nice little stream
to take a break at. You can also connect to Mountain Wilson Road
from this trail. There is sign pointing you that way at the end of
the trail.
The Trail:
This is a pretty nice single track. There are a few technical spots,
but its not too bad. There are some really big drop offs. We
had a bit of excitement on this trail. About 3/4 of the way down
Geoff Faraghan shot unicycle
about 150 feet down a big ravine. He had climb down and fish it out.
I wasn't there, but Nathan described it in detail so we were able to thoroughly
make fun of Geoff for not being able to keep his stuff on the trail.
It was a good test for the new Telford,
it took a good fall and didn't even get scratched. I thought I was
pretty cool -- after all I don't drop my unicycle off cliffs too often.
But that was about to change. Just before we got back to the start
of the trail there was a big drop off to one side. I had a slight
mental lapse while riding on it, and the next thing I knew I has literally
hanging off of a tree with my feet dangling over the edge of big cliff.
It was just like the cartoons. I biffed, flew off the trail and got
caught on a branch on the way down. Luckily I climbed back up with
no problems, said my prayers, and then got made fun of a lot! Yeeha,
that was fun.
This trail was one of the trails that we road at the 1998
National Unicycle Convention held in Monrovia California by the Unicycling
Society of America. We had several informal rides during the
competitions on the weekend. We also had a Mountain
Unicycling race, with about 50 participants. A video crew from
TrailBlazers did a lot of
filming on this trail, and hopefully this footage will make it on a Fox
cable network soon! This was the first time that Mountain Unicycling
has been highlighted at a Nationals. It went very well, and hopefully
next years convention in Seattle will also feature lots-O-MUni!
Trail Details:
Sunrise/Sunset
Weather
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