Take the 210 Frwy to Hwy 2 and go north about 11 miles to Clear
Creek Station. You will see a turnoff for Palmdale. Park at the
corner of Hwy 2 and the Palmdale turnoff. Make a left off of Hwy
2 like you are going to Palmdale. On the right side less than
100 feet from Hwy 2 you will see a gated (fireroad) dirt road.
The trail starts here.
The fire road climbs steadily for 2.5 miles to the saddle between
Josephine and Strawberry Peak. From the saddle, instead of following
the fire road left up Josephine Peak, go right on the road-turned-singletrack
towards Strawberry Peak. A short distance later the trail will
stop and you will have to go left or right. Go left (up) to Strawberry
Peak singletrack (right goes down Colby Cyn). The singletrack
goes up and down following the contours of the mountain with some
very steep drop-offs to the left. The trail can get very narrow
(6" wide), so be careful and don't let your wheels stray too far
to the edge of the trail and erode the edges. After about 5 miles,
you drop into Strawberry Potrero. The trail sort of disappears
for 100 feet or so, but don't panic, you'll find it to the right
of an old picnic table. At the bottom of the potrero, there is
another trail junction. Go right (uphill of course). It bears
up for about 2 miles to the saddle between Strawberry Peak and
Mt. Lawlor. From here it's almost all downhill singletrack with
some awesome views and scary drop-offs. In another 2-3 miles,
you reach the Hwy 2 and Red Box Ranger Station. Go to the far
West corner of the parking lot (next to the highway and a picnic
table) take the switchback down on to the trail again. The top
part of this trail is old fire road but it quickly changes into
singletrack again. After about 2 miles, there is a turnoff to
the left (to the right returns to the highway and is seldom used).
This part of the trail will finally end at Switzer's picnic grounds
after about 4 miles from Redbox. Follow the paved and steep road
up about 1/2 mile until you see a sign for a trail off to the
left. Follow this last mile of single track back up to Clear Creek
Junction (or you can follow the paved road another 200 feet to
Hwy 2, make a left on Hwy 2 and you'll reach Clear Creek in less
than a mile). The total ride distance is somewhere around 17 miles.
Intermediate
Current Trail Rating = 9
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