San Juan Trail | Ortega Mtb Ride | Long Downhill Ride

This is a video of my mountain bike ride down the San Juan Trail. This trail takes you through the Ortega mountain range, through all sorts of different terrains. It was really hard to make a short video about this trail cause its such a cool ride and there are so many cool features along the way. So I just put together little snippets of some of my favorite sections so you can get an idea of the terrain that's out there. Trail forks says it's and intermediate trail, I would say that it's at the more challenging end of intermediate. The whole way is technical so this trail definitely improves your riding skills. It is about 10.9 miles from start to finish and takes about an hour and a half to get to the bottom if you don't stop. The first half consists of some flat pedaling along ledges and through trees, short climbs over rock gardens and small downhill sections. After mile 6 it's pretty much predominantly downhill until you reach the bottom, so you get 5 miles of uninterrupted downhill riding :p
Directions: Since it's such a long ride, instead of pedaling up, you can bring two trucks and a friend and shuttle to the top. To get to the first parking, from the Orange County side head east on Hwy 74 (Ortega Hwy), turn left on Hot Springs Canyon Rd, go down a mile or so and drop off your first truck at the day use area. Then keep heading east on Hwy 74, stop at the Candy Store along the way and grab a day parking permit for the top. Keep heading east and then turn left on Long Canyon Rd to proceed to the Blue Jay campground. Park your truck with the permit at the San Juan trailhead (there is also more parking around the corner). Don't forget to check road conditions to make sure the Ortega Hwy is open. And before you drop in don't forget to bring your keys to the truck at the bottom :-)
Happy Riding :)
For more content check out my instagram / lacieormonde

[@arshiamohd2482]

POST MORE MTB CONTENT I AM LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOU DURING WORK

[@lacieormonde]

Hahaha love that ☺️

[@danielmedina_mandown_mtb6363]

Epic 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@lacieormonde]

Yeah! It’s such a badass trail! ☺️

[@allanridesbikes5856]

Ah yes, the site or my last crash. Broke my derailleur and left some skin on the gravel. Still had a blast going downhill on one good gear.

[@MTBMOR]

Those rocks cracked my frame. Lots of carnage on this trail.

[@allanridesbikes5856]

@@MTBMOR ouch!

[@radidoc4832]

Nice video! I am planning to Shuttle the same trail with my friends, soon. Can you purchase the pass at the 1st parking location or did you purchase it beforehand? I am assuming you need two passes, one for each truck?

[@lacieormonde]

Technically you should probably have a pass for each truck but I don’t know anyone who gets one for the 1st parking. But I don’t know the rules for certain so park at your own risk 😅. It’s definitely more regulated on the riverside county side so I would pick up a pass from that candy store on the way to the second parking spot. :)

[@bossmak6645]

💜💛

[@PabloH]

it's a cool thing to be hanging out with your pops... on a mtnbike trail... the san juan trail... so cool! i wish my daughter would ride mtnbikes.

[@lacieormonde]

Haha it really is, I’m very lucky ☺️🙏🏻

[@monkeysize]

Love that techy stuff! Beautiful trail! More MTB content please...we have to get your subs up!

[@MarkGrindberg]

Loved it

[@gregwebster8784]

You get bonus points for the switchbacks. Even the guys on Vital mtb/syndicate video had a tough time.

[@lacieormonde]

Hahaha bonus points! Nice! I appreciate that! They were really tight, but a fun challenge ☺️

[@erne5815]

Hit up the Fullerton Loop! Great content! Keep it coming

[@alexbecerra805]

Love the content, but....becareful with the music you use. If it has a copyright..youtube will demontize you and or worse. I wanna see more of your content, you seem fun and I'd ride with ya anytime! :)

[@lacieormonde]

Haha thank you! And yes they told me I wouldn’t be able to make money from the videos if I used music, but I’m cool with that because I make these videos just for fun, not to make money from them 😂

[@clintblokdyk526]

Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

[@MTBMOR]

Nice video. This is such a great trail.

[@lacieormonde]

It’s one of the best!

[@tomesguerra5495]

You guys are lightweight! Climb from the bottom! Anyone can ride down hill!👎🏻

[@lacieormonde]

😂😂😂