Exploring beyond the Goat Trails and the end of Dunn Road

[zippetydude]

Awesome information Scott, thank you. I'll look forward to more exploring this fall, or maybe if we get a cool spell in the next couple of weeks...

z

[recordalley]

"In fact, President George W. Bush mountain biked up here while he was in office. Always wondered how the secret service dealt with that."

How do you know that?

[zippetydude]

She could tell you, but then she'd have to kill you...

Hi Recordalley, long time no post! I had thought about the logistics of it and came to the conclusion that if no prior knowledge of the ride was leaked then it would be an ideal place - isolated and easily scanned the night before using FLIR to be sure no one was out there. Any random hikers could be readily checked. Probably a smart choice.

z

[recordalley]

She could tell you, but then she'd have to kill you...

LOL, just hard to believe...maybe Obama

[seekingforth]

From the Rimrock shopping center, one can access the 'goat hills' and Dunn road. It makes for a wonderful days long run up to hwy 74 and then back down via palm canyon and then over Buena Vista point, Murray Hill( crows rest), or just through the goat hills on the way back. One of my favorites, along with the Pct from Hwy 74 to the I-10, and Whitewater to San Gorgonio. All providing incredible scenery and varied terrain.

[cynthia23]

Ooops, RecordAlley, I just saw your post/question. I wish I could say I had 'inside knowledge' about George W. Bush riding his mountain bike up near Murray Hill but actually I just read about it in the Desert Sun--they had a little article about it at the time. During his presidency, he came on one of those presidential 'golfing vacations' here and took a break from golf by mountain biking near Murray one day. Apparently he had started mountain biking a few years previous to that because his knees were too bad for running. Bush was actually a pretty fit guy, physically. In other areas, he wasn't, perhaps, so fit.

[Sally]

After Ellen broke her shoulder on the second-to-last day of 2015, she behaved herself by not hiking until the surgeon that put her back together gave her permission to "hike, but take it easy." The "easy" hike she chose was the Art Smith Trail. It may have been easy as far as steepness and roughness were concerned, but we made up for it by taking it all the way to the picnic tables and bulldozer. It ended up being a long hike for all of us!

I think that we did Murray "Hill" (oh yeah? I would call it a peak!) next. One good thing about Ellen breaking her shoulder is that we took the time to explore some of the "Goat trails" trails in the desert. It was the first time for me that I had done any of those desert trails other than Skyline.

Here are some pics of our Art Smith hike that we took towards the end of February. The bulldozer was quite photogenic!: https://picasaweb.google.com/1009477359 ... directlink