You can also begin this ride from the Pedro Fages monument/trailhead on Sunrise Hwy, thereby adding about 6 miles to the total, and one more climb. With a 29 hardtail, sand is not a problem, nor are the rocks on the descent into Oriflamme. This is a beautiful ride in the right conditions (I prefer 75 degrees or less), and if you ride alone, as I do most of the time, there isn't a significant risk due to technical singletrack. It's fire road - you either like fire road or you don't. If you want to increase the difficulty, and you don't mind walking a bit, do it counterclockwise...

Great intermediate trail with superlative views. Excellent ride after a rain. I would not recommend this during anything other than cool weather. Rode it 23Dec 2010 after the 4 day rain in socal. Perfect conditions. My 29 hardtail was the perfect choice for me. Mostly casual climb up Rodriguez, great scenery- classic!

Customer Service

As described above in 3 canyons loop. Sure would like to know more about that singletrack 4th canyon!

I think this ride's lost a canyon somewhere along the way. When I did this ride, years ago, it was called the "four-canyons" ride and it was a 25-mile round trip. (I guess I need to look at a map of the area sometime and figure out which canyons it used to include.) Technically it wasn't difficult. I rode it on a hardtail and had no problems at all. Maybe it's gotten worse though. I recall that the upper section was a fun single track (above Banner grade), with the rest being mostly dirt roads all the way down to the desert.

Can you say HOT, DRY, SANDY, and BORING? Almost no trees, sun scorching, and the ground is hard and overly rocky. Full suspension only. Hard tails is what I ride and this is not the trail for us. The down hill portion, going clockwise, will average you about 5mph because of excessive rocks and ruts. My recommendation, find somewhere else to ride.

I am an experienced rider and this is no place for a novice. Bring a lot of water. At least 2 qrts per/ person min.

An intermediate network of fireroads for a decent non-technical workout. Hardtails welcome!

Customer Service

A nice fireroad triangle, as the intro describes: Once you immediately start ascending Chariot canyon, you leave Banner Ranch below you and at about the 1.4 mile mark, you'll pass a road on your left. Thats rodriquez canyon road and thats where you'll come back out in about 3 hours (the trail is mainly a triangle, but could be described almost as a "lollipop" figure since you double back at the end over a mile and a half of road). At the 5 mile marker you'll desend into Oriflamme canyon. As you descend (see picture) you'll see where you'll be going ahead of you - it bottoms out below. Once you bottom out, you'll be making a sharp left at about 9 miles (you'll see the powerlines) and follow the lines and Rodriguez canyon back to your initial trail along Chariot canyon. Just make the sharp right turn back down the hill to Banner Ranch Recreation store.

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Grapevine Canyon