Rock Creek Canyon Trail

The Best Mountain Bike Trail in the Mammoth Area

Just as the worker at Mammoth Sporting Goods had promised ... the Rock Creek Canyon Trail was the best in the area ... by far! Over 7.5 miles of pure downhill singletrack.

Trail Crossed Rock Creek 6 Times!

This trail crossed a gushing Rock Creek no less than 6 times, all on small, well constructed, wood bridges. It crossed Lower Rock Creek Road 4 times (counting the initial crossing from where Alissa ... my daughter ... dropped us and the final crossing to get to my brother George's Ford Bronco II).

Alissa had volunteered to drive to the bottom of the Rock Creek Trail (where we left the Bronco) then shuttle us back up to the trailhead. Cindy, Kayley, Nicole, and Aunt Cindy were champing at the bit to go see the last Harry Potter film which was showing in Mammoth. Jeremiah (Alissa's friend) had agreed to watch Bubby and Sissy (Alissa's kids) while Alissa shuttled us.

I finally got my bike from Footloose Sports. The worker had said they would call me when it was finished getting repaired, which would take about an hour. After two hours I called them. The bike had been fixed for some time but, of course, they didn't call me as promised. Cindy (my wife) and I have always said we could be a success in any service profession if all we did was:

1. Return calls
2. Show up on time at appointments.

After I paid the bill I told the worker we were headed to the Rock Creek Canyon Trail. He responded with, "Yes, the Rock Creek Canyon Trail is a nice trail, but the bottom gets pretty technical." George and I looked at each other and grinned. "Technical" in our book usually meant "un-ride-a-ble". I couldn't wait to see what that part of the trail looked like.

After we picked up my bike, we headed south on Highway 395. The Rock Creek Canyon Trail turn-off was less than a mile south of the Tom's Place turn-off. Alissa and I (in the Toyota Tundra) and George (in the Bronco) passed right by the upper trailhead and drove 7.5 miles on Lower Rock Creek Road to get to the lower trailhead. We left the Bronco next to some kind of disused campground ... then drove back up Lower Rock Creek Road to the trailhead.

While traveling the 7.5 miles George told us Lower Rock Creek Road used to be part of Old Highway-395 before they built the new express highway (which is now called Highway 395). He also told us about a Harley run where they were freezing at the top of Rock Creek Canyon ... yet had to strip off all their leathers due to extreme heat at the bottom.

George ... Ready to Ride!

It was hot, probably 90 degrees when we unloaded our bikes. We thanked Alissa before she headed back to the campground in Mammoth. George and I crossed the road ... and headed into mountain bike nirvana.

Cold, green/gold, Rock Creek ... typical for Sierra

We were immediately on a narrow singletrack that wound through some tulles then crossed Rock Creek ... a crisp, cool, clear, gold/green flow like most Eastern Sierra streams. The temperature was cool when we rode the stretches of trail on the creek's bank. Occasionally the Rock Creek Canyon Trail wandered away from the water and we immediately felt the hot, arid wind ripping the moisture from our faces. Don't get me wrong ... the air was still. The only gusts came from us flying down a smooth, sweeping trail with reckless abandon! I rode ahead of George so I could stop, turn around, and take pictures of the trail with a real person riding on it instead of empty like my usual photos.

1936 Studebaker?

About 3.5 miles down the Rock Creek Canyon Trail we came across several wrecked vehicles in various stages of decay. It looked like the favorite community dump site for useless vehicles. We looked at the steep canyon wall and figured a road must lie on top, just over the edge. Maybe the locals enjoy pushing them over. George, who knows cars, told me the model and year of some.

Okay ... maybe 3 fingers!

I was riding along when my front tire nudged a rock and it made a strange, peculiar ringing sound. I stopped and kicked another rock ... same sound ... it almost sounded like glass. I bent over and picked up a rock the size of a loaf of bread. It weighed about as much as half a loaf of Wonder Bread! I told George, "Pick up one of these rocks with two fingers and I'll get a picture of it." He did. What was this stuff? You guessed it, pumice!

Rock Creek Postpile

The canyon seemed to narrow and grow deeper the further we rode. Less than a half-mile past the wrecks we spotted some unusual rock formations on the opposite canyon wall. Devil's Postpile! The rocks looked almost exactly like the ones we had seen the day before (Cindy told me they were basalt) in the National Monument. Tightly packed prisms with edges as straight as the ones created by ancient Egyptian masons. Then George pointed out the same type of shapes on our side of the canyon but in a different color ... a different age of basalt rock? There were also worn-down versions of the Postpile ... glacier action, rain, wind, belt sander?

"Technical" Part of Rock Creek

Just south of the postpile sightings the Rock Creek Canyon Trail began to get a little "technical". It looked like there had been a couple of major rock slides over the trail. The trail builders or "re-builders" had done a pretty nice job of clearing rock and re-routing. There were only a few spots that we found just too technical to ride. The BLM or somebody else had done a nice job with the whole trail. We found it well-signed with several bridges, and the tread (trail condition) was excellent. There were plenty of warning signs prior to the trail crossing the Lower Rock Creek Road.

About a half mile from the end we passed a woman with 3 small kids and fishing poles. I could only imagine how many times she was going to be removing hooks from bushes. Rock Creek seldom ran more than 20 feet before it ducked back under a thick cloak of brush.

We were probably doing 20 mph (fast on a mountain bike) down the dirt road that dumped us back onto Lower Rock Creek Canyon Road when we passed an impressive mansion built of rock surrounded by thick trees. I didn't get a real good look at it and there was no way I could immediately stop. I kick myself for not going back to take a picture.

Love this "no-stock" sign!

Rock Creek Trail Exit

Parked Bronco in the Shade!

George after Splashdown

We had parked the Bronco in the shade ... so the drinks in the ice chest were still nice and cold. After racking our bikes we moseyed down to Rock Creek and did some splashing, then made the drive back to our campground. Our conversation never strayed away from all the different aspects of our ride. The Rock Creek Canyon Trail? Yes, easily the best ride we found in the Mammoth area.

Click Mammoth Mountain Biking for a review of all rides in this area.

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