There aren’t any mountain bike specific trails in the preserve, but we rode our bikes out some gravel, dirt, and rock roads back to see Rock Springs and then further to some giant rock boulders in the New York Mountains. Our ride was 27.6 miles with 1760′ of climbing up to around 5800′.
We started off on riding on the dirt 4X4 Cedar Canyon Road towards Rock Springs where we stopped to look around. The Rock House was constructed by Bert Smith in 1929. He came to this area to recover from poison gas exposure suffered during World War I. Doctors told him he didn’t have long to live, but the dry desert air proved so beneficial to Smith’s health that he lived here for 25 more years! The second long-term resident was artist Carl Faber, who lived and worked at the rock house in the 1980s, selling his artwork to passing travelers. There wasn’t any water in the spring when we hiked down to check it out.
Back on our bikes we turned off onto New York Mountain Road and climbed up into Coruthers Canyon and a wild landscape of giant boulders. The road is sandy in places but nothing too deep and on mountain bikes we were able to spin right through. The area would make for a fun day of hiking up and around all the formations but we were in cycling shoes so we didn’t go far.
The ride back was mostly downhill and we were back at camp in time to relax and enjoy some beers.
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