Mountain Bike

15.5 miles

Distance

3,628 ft

Climb

-3,745 ft

Descent

4,475 ft

High Point

Ride these trails at your own risk. Ride with a friend or take a SPOT GPS as the trails are extremely exposed with death drops.

Park near JPL.

Ride the road to Chaney Trail until you reach Mt. Lowe Motorway. Proceed to climb for 3 miles until you reach Inspiration point where you will see the trail head. Ride these trails at your own risk. Ride with a friend or take a SPOT GPS as the trails are extremely exposed with death drops.

Bring at lest 2 liters of water person in the summer.

Have fun

Detailed Description

MIDDLE SAM MERRILL TO SUNSET RIDGE is a 15 mile moderately popular expert route located near Altadena California. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a hard overall physical rating. This route includes 8 trails. This route climbs 3,628 ft with a max elevation of 4,475 ft then descends -3,745 ft.

Local Trail Association

Mount Wilson Bicycling Association (mwba.org)

Please consider joining or donating to the local riding association to support trail development & maintenance.

donate to earn trail karma!

28 Reviews & Comments

Score Time Route Post Comment

We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!

Create a FREE account to view route comments and much more.

Create a Free Account

Trails in Route

	Mt Lowe Railroad (Inspiration Point)				3 miles
	Middle Sam Merrill				1 mile
	Echo Mountain Trail				3,750 ft
	Mt Lowe Railroad (Inspiration Point)				220 ft
	Sunset Ridge				2 miles
	Mt Lowe Railroad (Inspiration Point)				1,198 ft
	Upper Horse Trail				2,661 ft
	Altadena Crest Trail				23 ft

Details

Riding area

Brown Mountain
Primary Activity

Mountain Bike
Difficulty rating

Black Diamond
Route Type

Loop
eBike Allowed

No
Bike type

AM
Direction

One Direction
Physical rating

Hard
Ridelogs

6

More Stats for MIDDLE SAM MERRILL TO SUNSET RIDGE mountain bike route

Avg time

2 hr 48 min
Altitude min

1,161 ft
Altitude start

1,281 ft
Altitude end

1,161 ft
Grade

-0.1%
Grade max

-69.2%
Grade min

51.5%
Distance climb

8 miles
Distance down

7 miles
Distance flat

2,411 ft

Save this map view

Map Views

click to load your map views

Trail Conditions

1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
All Time

Unknown
Snow Groomed
Snow Packed
Snow Covered
Snow Cover Partial
Freeze/thaw Cycle
Icy
Prevalent Mud
Wet
Variable
Ideal
Dry
Very Dry

Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)

Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.

> 96%
> 90%
> 80%
> 70%
> 50%
< 50%
bi-directional trail
no data

Trail Last Ridden

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.

< 2 days
< 1 week
< 2 weeks
< 1 month
< 6 months
> 6 months

Trail Ridden Direction

The intended direction a trail should be ridden.

Downhill Only
Downhill Primary
Both Directions
Uphill Primary
Uphill Only
One Direction

Contribute Details

Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.

Description
Photos
Description & Photos
Videos
Only trails in this region hierarchy

Trail Popularity ?

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.

most popular
popular
less popular
not popular

ATV/ORV/OHV Filter

ATV - 50 inches
OHV, SxS - 60 inches
Jeep - 72 inches

Max Vehicle Width

inches

Ridelog Year

Radar Time

x Activity Recordings

Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.

mountain biking recent
mountain biking (>6 month)
hiking (1 year)
moto (1 year)

Activity Recordings

Trailforks users anonymized public skilogs from the past 12 months.

Downhill Ski
Backcountry Ski
Nordic Ski
Snowmobile

Winter Trails

Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.

x Missing Trails

status	trail	date	condition	description
	Upper Horse Trail	Jan 30, 2025 @ 3:00pm Jan 30, 2025
	Middle Sam Merrill	Jan 30, 2025 @ 2:59pm Jan 30, 2025
	Sunset Ridge	Jan 30, 2025 @ 2:59pm Jan 30, 2025
	Echo Mountain Trail	Jan 30, 2025 @ 2:59pm Jan 30, 2025
	Altadena Crest Trail	Nov 9, 2024 @ 10:27am Nov 9, 2024