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| Sherman Peak | Cannell Meadow and Plunge |
This trail is located in the mountains between
beautiful Bakersfield and Ridgecrest California. I had heard about it before
but never had the opportunity to go and do the ride. Another friend suggested
the ride so several of us made the journey from San Diego to Bakersfield and see
what all the talk was about.
The ride must be done as a shuttle but it is by no means purely downhill. You
still make payments to the gravity gods on this one! We used a shuttle company
to get us to the top of the ride which was 25 bucks a head. It takes about an
hour to get from Kernville to the drop off point but the views on the way up are
well worth it.
At the drop off point, we chose to not head straight down the Cannell Meadow
trail (which is already at 9,000 feet) and instead take the 2 and a bit mile
Sherman Peak trail to get to the highest spot on the ride. There's nothing like
exiting the shuttle vehicle and immediately start climbing at 9,000 feet when
most of your "altitude" training happens at about 100 feet! The trail instantly
got sort of steep so we all were pushing within minutes. Fortunately the
initial incline ended and except for the remaining 1/2 mile all of the trail
could be ridden. The last half was hike only but the views from the top were
well worth it. Plus, the downhill back to the drop off point was stellar. Most
of the first video contains this downhill and the early part of the Cannell
Meadow Trail.
The second video contains the remainder of the Cannell Meadow Trail and some of
the early part of the Cannell Plunge. Unfortunately, my camera lens got fogged
up so I got almost no footage of the actual plunge which is of course the
signature aspect of this trail.
The Plunge is the signature part of this trail because it drops you 8,000 feet
over 5 miles. But, the previous 20 something miles of the trail still had us
gaining and losing 3,000 feet so we still paid for the privilege of riding down
the hill! Unfortunately, the combination of elevation and loose terrain meant
that several of the hills or sections of hills were hiking only.
There were some spectacular sections of trail along the Cannell Meadow and the
terrain ranged from loose rocky descents to smooth grassy meadow and everything
in between. What this trail does not have is any really big hits or super
rocky, technical terrain but that is not to say that the trail was easy either.
The looseness of the trail made it difficult at times and to do it fast made it
that much more exciting.
The plunge was just fantastic. There was one spot in the middle where you had
to hike up a steep hill. Other than that, the trail was downhill the whole
way! Two buddies and myself were just hooked up really well and were railing
out in front for most of the ride. At one point I said to my friend "man,
you're really going fast today". He responded, "really, it doesn't feel like
it". To which my other friend said, "well, at some point we hit 29 mph!" I'm
upset that I don't have any footage of that section but it was fantastic.
All in all, this was the best ride I've ever done and I had more fun on my bike
than at any other time. I think it will be part of the annual riding schedule
now just because the trail has everything. It's got some technical stuff, some
fast stuff, some epic downhills, and fantastic views.