Southern California - GMR/GRR status (July 4 weekend)?

Does anybody know anything about official status of GMR and GRR this weekend? I rode up this morning from Glendora to the village (and on to the ski lift). The gate was closed at the bottom of GMR, and the lower gate on GMR was closed, but the upper one was open with "road closed, no outlet" signs. They generally close the road for the 4th of july weekend, so it's very nice to ride up then.

When we went to ride back down, a ranger who was coming out turned around and told us he'd have to cite us if we went past the signs. We chatted with him for a while, and he was very polite and pleasant, but firm about it. Normally in the past 10-12 years that I've been riding it, when the road is closed (even on July 4 weekend) it's been open to cyclists unless the whole forest or section of the forest is closed. As far as I can tell, that area is open (they're having events up on baldy, and there's nothing about being closed to hikers), but there's nothing at all about road closures posted on the forest service web site. And it's unusual for them to chase cyclists off those roads unless there's major washouts or a lot of construction going on (and in those cases they've had the lightup sign at the bottom say "closed to peds, equestrians, and cyclists".

Anybody seen any official memos/postings?

http://glendoramtnroad.blogspot.com/ Checked on this site which is always up todate with GMR info. Says closed till Wednesday morning. Ride at your own risk.:50:

That's lame. Thanks for the heads-up.

Hi,

I guess my clubmates and I are going to test the tolerance for cyclists this morning. I wonder if the back way (via East Fork) is "legal" for cyclists.

I'll let you know what happens when I get back this afternoon.

Hi,

I guess my clubmates and I are going to test the tolerance for cyclists this morning. I wonder if the back way (via East Fork) is "legal" for cyclists.

I'll let you know what happens when I get back this afternoon.

So how did it go?

Please tell. We were planning to head up there Monday morning.

Hi,

Sorry for not posting sooner.

A group of seven of us rode from Encanto to the base of GMR. We hoisted our bikes over the gate a rode merrily up the mountain. The gate just east of the GMR GRR intersection was also closed and after some more hoisting we were on our way to to Baldy. There were barricades set up at the Cow Saddle (no hoisting required). After refilling our bottles at Baldy we repeated the route in reverse. No official looking people anywhere in sight and there were a number of cyclists but NO cars, No motorcycles, and only ONE downhill skateboard thing.

It was really pleasant for a July ride up there. The temperatures were just about perfect, not too hot and not too cold.

I read on the blog posting (link above) that the road is closed until July 7th.

Hope this helps and happy riding.

That is good to hear.:50:

Thanks for the update! I'm going to try to ride GMR/GRR on Monday Morning, July 5th.

Rick / OCRR

Same here. Look for a couple - one on a Specialized and another on a Bianchi- and say hi. It will be my wife's first time up there.

Had a great ride today (Mon. July 5th) with Lauretta and a 7:00 AM start from Boulder Springs. Kinda cool and foggy / misty to start (see photo), but cleared up when we got to the first descent.

158501Saw lots of other riders since it was closed to motor vehicles. Met Mike, Christian and Jason as the Shed, then rode on to The Village. The Cafe wasn't open yet so we rode back the same way we'd come, saw a couple of other large groups of riders including one from Velo Orange.

Not a real fast crossing but a beautiful day and near perfect conditions!

Rick / OCRR

My girlfriend got ahold of the forest service by phone this morning and was told that the Forest Service officer who told us we couldn't ride the road back down was wrong (as were the county people who were shoo-ing people away). There was apparently something on their outgoing phone message that said it was closed to motor vehicles, but no mention of bikes either way. Kind of annoying to have to ride down baldy road and along baseline instead of GMR back down.

Monday morning was great on GMR. The road was closed and there were the most number of cyclists I've ever seen up there. It was awesome seeing the cars and motorcycles having to turn around at the gate while all we had to do was lift our bikes over. Took my wife up for her first ascent. She did great (but slow). But she made it to the shack which is a lot farther than I thought she would do.