The Pony Express Trail With the folsom break outs

When Jeff Barker said he was riding the Pony Express Trail from Echo Sumit to Kyburz I was intrigued. I haven't ridden every trail within a 2 hour drive of home, but I'm pretty sure there aren't a lot of (officially mapped) 25 mile trails within a 2 hour drive that I haven't ridden. How is it I'd never heard of this trail?

(Pictured is Isaak, Nicki, and Kim)

This sort of less known "Epic" trail is right up my ally, and the timing worked out. I met up with Jeff in the tiny town of Silver Fork where we were leaving a car and taking a shuttle vehicle up to Echo Summit.

(Pictured: Caryn just a mile or so out of Echo Summit)

I'd realized Jeff had some friends coming along, but I hadn't expected quite how many (I'd also somehow forgotten that he was in the Folsom Breakouts). In total, 11 members of the Folsom Breakouts showed up plus one of Jeff's friends Bob. Add in The Ogre and we had a perfect Baker's dozen. (The Ogre is behind the camera)

We spent a little time getting set up then loaded the two trucks to the brim with Breakouts and bikes. 20 minutes later we were unloading at the top of the Pony Express Trail (PX) at Echo Summit.

(Pictured: Jen near Echo Summit)

The first few miles of the trail are classic Tahoe decomposed granite and boulders. A combination which is saps your energy on climbs but is super fun otherwise.

(Pictured: Isaac with the camera and Jeff working up a tough climb on the bike)

One of my concerns about this ride was bike setup, aside from the afore mentioned tires, I was on my single speed with a fairly steep gear ratio.

(Pictures: Kim, Nicki, and Jen pushing bikes with Isaac supervising)

For the most part my concerns were over-blown, most of the trail was either well suited to a single speed or so steep everyone was hiking anyhow. I've been riding a fairly aggressive 32x18 gear ratio which hurt later in the ride, but for the most part this ride is very hard-tail and single speed friendly.

Pictured: Kim bombing down from Lover's Leap.

Trail conditions on the upper half of the trail were premium for late June, snow was melted and the trail was mostly clear of debris in the upper half. Traction wasn't great, but it never is on DG.

(Pictured: A work-gang doing some trail work)

The first 7 miles of the Pony Express Trail is mostly downhill rolling cross country trails after which you hit fairly consistent climb which turns into a chunky hike-a-bike section for about half a mile. While it's fun to play on, I expect it would take someone with serious trials skills and endurance to clean this climb. Matt made a valiant effort, but there was another 100 yards or so of this stuff above here.

The climb is steep but brief and the reward is well worth it in terms of the view and the descent to come. Lover's Leap is a spectacular lunch stop with a huge slab of granite on a cliff facing west towards Placerville. There is also an unmatched perspective of the descent down to highway 50 which we're about to begin.

Pictured: Jeff playing around on the precipice at Lover's Leap

From Lover's Leap we descend over 1,000 feet to the town of Strawberry. It's a fast and flowy descent down more of the chunky decomposed granite we rode above here. This is easily the best payoff of the entire ride, plenty of chunk mixed in to keep things interesting, but mostly just fast and fun. I fell in love with my Magic Mary all over again on this section.

Pictured: Bob near one of the road crossings on the way down from Lover's Leap.

Right in the middle of the steep sketchy descent from Lover's Leap there is a fun little section of jungle. A lush green tunnel amidst a ribbon of browns and greys. It isn't very long, but the contrast makes this section stand out. The close vegetation is also a bit of a tease of things to come.

Pictured: Jen rolling in the green.

The downhill from Lover's Leap is easily everyone's favorite section of this ride and there are some intriguing options here. You could either shuttle just the top 10 miles from Strawberry, or you could ride the top 10 miles of this as an inverted lollipop, starting in Strawberry and pedaling up dirt roads and trails to where they intersect this trail above Lover's Leap then climbing up to tap the trailhead at Echo Summit and coming back down.

Pictured: Megan on the descent to Strawberry.

Interlude

This short video is a bit of an experiment, it's put together with the 3 second Live Photo clips my iPhone takes when I'm snapping photos. While it's choppy, I think it gives a nice quick video summary of the ride. I haven't put sound to it at the moment so enjoy the silence.

The North Side

About 10 miles into the ride, the trail crosses Highway 50 near the town of Strawberry and the character of the trail changes. Decomposed granite gives way to plush pine needle and bark covered loam. For a couple miles the trail follows the old road bed and it's fairly easy rolling

Pictured: Replace this :|

The change in character is immediate, but for the first few miles it is still fun. Or at least it is for me, I suspect people who struggle with steep, loose descents will not enjoy this part of the trail.

Pictured: Isaac lighting it up above Lover's Leap.

Water crossings on the north side are more frequent and generally well maintained. We really enjoyed cooling off in this rather large creek/ waterfall a few miles into the lower section.

Pictured: Who is this?

The underbrush which was a welcome break above got thicker and more difficult to ride through. Clearly the lower half of the trail saw much less traffic than the upper. On whole, it was still super fun to ride until we got to Sugarloaf...

By the time we hit Sugarloaf, it was later in the afternoon and things were still really starting to heat up. Long sections of steep sections and overgrown trails meant lots of hike-a-bike.

By this point, Nicki had fallen and her wrist was torn open. That plus the accumulation of delays inherent in big group rides had me dehydrated and a little bonked.

The climb up Sugarloaf felt much tougher than the ride statistics suggest. The long day, steep gearing on my bike, and the steep–overgrown trail conspired to sap the fun out of the 3 mile grind to the top. I hadn't expected a long grind at the end of the day so I kept expecting we were going crest a hill and descend back down to the car.

The views on this last section where pretty unique and a bit breathtaking which helped, but overall it was a frustrating section.

Eventually (long after this image was taken) we did crest the high point on Sugarloaf and there was a short, rather underwhelming mile or two of singletrack which ended in a fast fireroad down to the highway and a short pedal up highway 50 to the car.

Overall the ride was excellent, but it was a bit spoiled by a frustrating finish. I suspect next time I ride this trail (and I hope I do!), I'll park at the forest road near the east end of Kyburz and cut out before the Sugarloaf section.

Final Thoughts

This was a great day of riding. We rode just about 25 miles and the trails were mostly spectacular. There were piles of epic views and amazingly fun trails, I was riding with a great group of people, and while we did have a ride ending injury, it was not life threatening or serious and we were able to effectively get Nicki off the trail without too much hassle.

Numbers and Charts

Elevation Profile

As far as effort versus reward goes, cutting out the last 5 miles of this ride seems like a fairly safe bet. Even if the trail were cleaned up a bit, it's still very little payout at the end of a ton of work late in the ride. Trimming off that last 5 miles eliminates about 500 feet of very grindy climbing and very little of the really fun trail which would make this a stellar 20 mile ride.

For a much easier ride, consider just parking in Strawberry and shuttling up to Echo Summit. That's an easy 10-11 mile ride with some great trails and views which is accessible to most riders. I wouldn't call that a "beginners" ride, but anyone who is comfortable on moderately technical terrain should enjoy it.

For stronger riders who don't want to shuttle; consider parking in Strawberry and riding up Strawberry road to Slippery Ford trail looks like a good option for a 15-20 mile loop or inverted lollipop. The lower half of the Pony Express trail has a lower grade so folks looking for an even bigger ride can climb up the lower trail to Strawberry then up Slippery Ford to Lover's Leap and back to Strawberry. (I suggest starting a little east of Kyburz if you do this).

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