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Whiting Ranch - Cactus - Sage Scrub (California)

Route Overview

Overall:  7.3
Technical:  5.6
Rate
 
 
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Time (avg): 0:55 minutes
Distance: 6.9 miles
Ascent: 880 feet
 
 
Ladder Points 24 per ride


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Popularity 9.0
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Manual Ride
  (GPS post, see right)
 


Directions
Terrain 7.0
Trailhead
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*** Revised Route. This route is the original Whiting Ranch - Cactus but now includes the road portion along Portola instead of ending at the gate onto Portola, so make sure that if you're recording your 'time' it includes the new road portion. ***

This is one of many routes in the Whiting Ranch Wilderness park. The first section, (Borrego Trail) is a popular hiking area - Keep Your Eyes Up and Watch Your Speed! Upon reaching Mustard fire road hang a right to begin the main climb of this ride. At four corners you'll need to make a right behind the wooden fence and travel no more then 50 yards to reach the Cactus trailhead on your left. Expect some immediate singletrack excitement before a short climb that connects Cactus to Sage Scrub singletrack. The final highlight of the ride is the highspeed winding Live Oak singletrack.
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 Gallery (14 images)
 Directions (20 images)


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Calendar: 0 entries

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Route Comments: 1485 comments

   
NameDateComment
Ben Boronow07/29/10AM ride with Lonnie. Skipped Cattle pond this morning because I got there late. Did some feeble wind sprints on Mustard. Still felt OK going up to Vulture ridge. Some hikers wanted to chat on the first part of that climb. New GPS HR monitor worked great. Thanks geomangear.com. Now I just need to fix the GPS itself. Maybe I'll get an Edge 500 for my birthday. 
Lonnie07/28/10Great ride with Ben. 
JTuttle07/27/10Wondered why there were so few on the trail. OTH tonight. NICE! 
Ben Boronow07/27/10Morning ride with Lonnie. He was on a mission. I could hardly keep up. 
vt1ryan07/25/10Mid morning ride with redbaron. I split off at 4 corners. The heat bonked me out. 
vt1ryan07/24/10Quick evening spin. Broke in the new Avid disc brakes. Sweet 
The little woman07/24/10Ride with "that guys girl" had to stop to help some guys with broken derailleur. 
bacramer07/22/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
Lonnie07/21/10Great ride with Ben. It was a very pleasant cool moring perfect for riding. 
SKINNY07/21/10Good ride on the 29er with jtuttle.. Ran in CWilliams (good to meet you). 24min from parking lot to 4 corners.. 
SKINNY07/20/10lunch loop on the 29er.. Lovin the new bike. 
Ben Boronow07/16/10Nice ride with Lonnie & Ron. Ron gave us a 15 minute head start and caught up with us at the top of the hill above the stables. 
JTuttle07/16/10+ Cattle Pond. Fun Ride with Skinny. 
SKINNY07/16/10rode with jtuttle 
DIRTULS07/16/10Good ride today with the TA's. 
quikflip2707/15/10Morning jaunt with Brian (Natch). 
Lonnie07/14/10Great ride with Ben and Ron. It is sarting to get warm out there! 
redbaron07/14/10Mid afternoon ride, not as hot as I thought it was going to be going up Mustard. 
SKINNY07/13/10It was downright blazing climbing mustard today at 1pm. At times I felt like I was breathing through a hair dryer.. Interestingly, I didn't see anyone else out today. 
sixfoot607/12/10The trail work done so far is terrible and very unsafe. Every other turn down Cactus is a sand pit. Saw two riders dump it on the same turn. Couple spots on Sleepy Hollow were the same. Yet every braking hole remains? Also the climb from Cactus to Vulture got a trimming, but they used a truck. It went from an awesome singletrack climb to a loose fire road mess. Should this work be done in the dry season? I don't get it. Bummer. 
redbaron07/12/10Ride number 1 of 2 today, Solo mid afternoon ride around Whiting. 
javarockers07/10/10Short little ride with Cory. Planned to hit STT Luge but first time back out for Cory in about a year. Enough said. Still fun to be out riding. 
bacramer07/10/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
bacramer07/08/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
Lonnie07/08/10Great ride after work with Andre. 
bacramer07/06/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
BoneBag07/06/10Forgot the GPS. 
sixfoot607/05/10Just me and the rest of Foothill Ranch's casual "hiking" community this morning. Crowded, but everyone was having a fun 4th. 
TECATE0107/02/10Had the place all to my self for most of the ride... 
Lonnie07/01/10Solo ride. Saw a rattle snake about 2/3 way up Mustard. 
dman354006/28/102nd run with str group 
bacramer06/28/10+ cattle pond 
Keith B06/28/10Quick after work spin. 
Kimo06/28/10Quick loop after work. Little warm 
ko kidd06/25/10Fun ride with the littel woman and that guys girl! 
That Guys Girl06/25/10Ko Kidd rocks 
dman354006/24/10first run - 45 minutes 
Troy @ TLC06/24/10First ride at Whiting Ranch. Lots of fun singletrack (along with long hills and sand). 
The little woman06/24/10newbie took a newbie! nervous but felt good. 
redbaron06/24/10The sand pits at Whiting are getting enormous in size & depth! Came home after the ride this afternoon, and found my replacement 305 had arrived from Garmin. Time to set it up and test it out. . . .but not at Whiting Ranch! 
TREE06/23/10After work STR ride - 11 riders 
bacramer06/22/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
redbaron06/21/10First ride in 15 days since my yard sale across the rocks at the Toad Festival. Nice and easy pace through Whiting Ranch and up Mustard. Knees felt ok. I went downhill a lot slower than uphill, due to my paranoia from my spill at Trabuco! My Garmin is still at the shop getting fixed from the accident, so it's manual posting for now. 
bacramer06/21/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
NO GO06/19/10PB up to the water tower. Road with Twitch, Slowride, cleanbeater, toro & vt1ryan. THanks guys. Did a littel extra credit too. 
bacramer06/18/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
cleanbeater06/18/10Fun afterwork ride with SlowRide, NO GO, Raul, VT1Ryan & Twitch. 
JTuttle06/18/10+ cattle pond. 
SKINNY06/17/10WTF? 
Slow Ride06/17/10Good ride with NO GO, Toro, cleanbeater, vt1ryan, and Twitch (kind of)... felt good even though it was warm. Did a little extra credit with cattle pond and marks bench in there. 
mtbkel4406/17/10had a wild hair to ride after work when I got off a bit earlier than usual. No one to go with. Tried to evade my dog when I sneaked in to get my bike clothes. She caught me...came flying through the doggie door and brought me her toy giraffe. I looked the other way and thought of the trail. Chased myself all the way (except up Mustard). Fastest ride ever. Got back in time to take my Boston Terrier to play ball at the park before it got dark. We both got what we wanted. Yee-ha 
Lonnie06/17/10Solo ride. 
bacramer06/16/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
JTuttle06/16/10+ cattle pond. 
drg06/16/10Wednesday ride with linked. 
Keith B06/13/10Hot afternoon ride with Sarah and Lynne. Felt pretty tired about half way through for some reason. 
bacramer06/12/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
JTuttle06/12/10+ Cattle Pond + Rode from home. 
Ben Boronow06/12/10Wednesday AM ride with Lonnie. Pretty nice out. Got a late start so we skipped cattle pond. 
Dmac06/11/10Lap One 
Dmac06/11/10Lap Two 
sixfoot606/10/10Super crowded Wed evening. Not necessarily a bad thing, just slow. 
vt1ryan06/10/10quick loop before the game tonight. PB on this route tonight 
Lonnie06/09/10Great ealy ride with Ben. 
JTuttle06/09/10Rode here from work on the Aliso Creek Paved trail. This added about 10 miles to the ride. Nice evening. 
dd.oconnell06/09/10Second loop with the Linked group 
JTuttle06/07/10+ Rode from home. + Cattle Pond. 
NO GO06/07/10Quick MTB ride with the wife. GPS went crazy on me today??? 
bacramer06/06/10+ cattle pond 
TomG06/06/10Nice and cool with a 4 o'clock start. 
Keith B06/06/10Quick afternoon ride to get the new suspension dialled in. Amazing how the AM bike is so much smoother than the XC race monster. 
sixfoot606/04/10Careful, Cactus is getting "powdery" in some of the turns. Front wheel was swimming. 
Keith B06/03/10Did some extra credit up to Marks bench and Vulture Crags. RR was on his old hardtail and got a total beating coming down Cactus. Chased some dude through the live oak section and warp speed which was beacoup fun. 
bacramer06/03/10+ cattle pond & up to bench 
RoughRiderR06/03/10Took the beater bike hard tail gary fisher. was great fun. chased keith around on his race machine. took a beating down some of the hills but it was a blast. a lot of people out, including the tasty treat at the end. 
SKINNY06/01/10solo rolo 
JD15805/31/10Memorial day ride with my son. Didnt see any riders out this afternoon. Few hikers on Borrego. Son's first ride on the Stumpy and at least over a year since he's been to Whiting. He made it through Borrego and up Mustard without stopping for the first time. Guess he's determined to do a few OTH races this summer to start. =) 
TomG05/31/10Great ride 
NA1NSXR05/28/10Was playing with my new computer the whole time. 
ZULU05/28/10Lap 2 
trobe105/28/10Late afternoon solo ride. Hit Upper Cattle Pond for some xtra credit. Pretty quiet when I rode. Passed 1 rider on Borrego who must have been using her bluetooth phone. At first I thought she was talking to me. Saw about 10 hikers as well. Talked to a rider named Eric back at the car and told him about geoladders. Good seeing thinkfast at RnR afterwards. 
lmadisono05/27/10cooldown. :) 
Lonnie05/27/10Great ride with Todd and Christophe. 
SKINNY05/27/10Thanks jtuttle 
JTuttle05/27/10Good ridin with my old buddy; Skinny. lol. Couple extra climbs added including cattle pond. Loved the cool weather. 
Royster7105/26/10Busted this out with Chris good riding with you big guy! 
EK-RSM05/26/10IM: 1:30 with Dave. 
TREE05/26/10Quick STR ride after work. Grant, Dan, Anthony and Scott - thanks for joining me! Sometimes I forget how fun Whiting can be. 
sixfoot605/25/10Man, the climb up to Vulture from the bottom of Cactus is just awesome right now. Basically singletrack into the gorgeous switchbacks. The first right turn is just surrounded by wildflowers, every color and type, weeds, bushes, trees, it's surreal even. 
mtbkel4405/25/10quick ride. well not quick in time, but short. took out a friend who had not ridden in 2 or 3 months. she had trouble with the sand... UGG the sand is back again. was not feelin it. my old bike felt like an alien. need to change my flat on the 29er so i can ride it again. 
NA1NSXR05/25/10I hate catching up to people and when they notice they try to get all macho and speed up to stay ahead of you. In vain. Holding people up. Nearly half the entire descent of this ride. 
bacramer05/25/10+ cattle pond 
bacramer05/25/10+ cattle pond 
Lonnie05/25/10Solo ride this afternoon. Saw a bobcat on the ridge above horse stables. He was a young one about 2/3 grown. The weather was perfect. 
vt1ryan05/24/10Pretty easy ride today with Redbaron and Twitch except for the middle ring climb up Mustard with Twitch. Thanks for the push today. Mark got taken out on the sharp turn down from Marks Bench. 
Kimo05/24/10Quick loop after work. Legs were sore from previous day rode ride. 
S.L.O. Phil05/23/10A fast ride after my last day working at Rock N' Road. Randy and John are fast, but I kept up alright. Racing down was super fun and a hiker coming up the wrong direction could have been bad, but Randy's skills eased the situation. 
JAYHINOJOSA05/20/10SOLO RIDE- 
Keith B05/20/10Stacks of people riding tonight. Mellow ride but I was all over the place on the downs. I'll put that down to being tired. 
Ladera Dave05/20/1016 riders today, good food and beer afterwards. 
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