February was pretty rainy here so I again headed to the desert for an Art Smith – Hopalong Cassidy loop via Dunn Rd/Wild Horse/Vandeventer/Dry Wash. 31 miles and 5.2k of climbing.
I had never ridden Hopalong Cassidy, but seen it many times on the way out to Art Smith trailhead off Hwy 74. Once was enough for me. There were way too many pedestrians on the lower part of the trail. I will also mention the rather large elevation change on the way “downhill”.
The area around Mt. San Jacinto was where the storm broke as it came over Coachella Valley
There was water running in many of the washes from rain the previous days
Art Smith at Desert Oasis
Palm oasis along Art Smith
Hopalong Cassidy is mostly bench cut trail in the hillside
Hopalong Cassidy drops into a wash just west of neighborhoods along Hwy 74
The trails comes over the mountains through the notch across valley. It was close to 1000ft of elevation gain coming back out of the wash.
I had never ridden Hopalong Cassidy, but seen it many times on the way out to Art Smith trailhead off Hwy 74. Once was enough for me. There were way too many pedestrians on the lower part of the trail. I will also mention the rather large elevation change on the way “downhill”.
