Sullivan Canyon trail (Santa Monica, CA area)

I'm wanting to do this Muni trail as I hear it's one of the best in all
of Los Angeles county. Vivalargo and company often do this trail and
say it's really fun and challenging, and I want to go out there
tomorrow and ride it...the problem is, I'll most likely be going it
solo (unless anyone living in this vicinity, and reading this post
wants to join me!) but reading all the forums about this trail, the
consensus is that there are LOTS of cougar/mtn lion sightings and they
STRONGLY advise against going alone!

Problem is, these big cats are super stealthy, and you won't even know
they are near until thay are ON YOU! So that gives me pause about going
alone...any thoughts? Am I overreacting? Should I go alone anyway and
just keep alert? This is a very popular trail so I'm sure there will be
hikers/bikers there througout my ride, but that's no guarantee of
safety.


--
MuniAddict

"On Earth it would be...12 noon" (Twilight zone episode, "To serve
man.")

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MuniAddict wrote:
I'm wanting to do this Muni trail as I hear it's one of the best in all
of Los Angeles county. Vivalargo and company often do this trail and
say it's really fun and challenging, and I want to go out there
tomorrow and ride it...the problem is, I'll most likely be going it
solo (unless anyone living in this vicinity, and reading this post
wants to join me!) but reading all the forums about this trail, the
consensus is that there are LOTS of cougar/mtn lion sightings and they
STRONGLY advise against going alone!

Problem is, these big cats are super stealthy, and you won't even know
they are near until thay are ON YOU! So that gives me pause about going
alone...any thoughts? Am I overreacting? Should I go alone anyway and
just keep alert? This is a very popular trail so I'm sure there will be
hikers/bikers there througout my ride, but that's no guarantee of
safety.



Of *course* you should just go ride it. Cougars be damned. But be sure
your camera is set up well so we can have some clips of the carnage.
"Uni-Geezer: A Big Cat F***ing Ate Me!"

Joking aside, I'd say wait until you have a riding buddy. I get nervous
riding alone even on the popular trails in my area, and always bring
along ID and a cell phone. Maybe I'm paranoid, though.


--
pkittle

*==========================
Peter Kittle * Chico, CA
"The Revolution is just a t-shirt away."
--Billy Bragg
==========================*
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The trick is to ride a quarter mile up the Westridge fire road, then
drop into Elevator Shaft which takes off the fire road directly on the
left. That is a short but challenging run into the bottom of the
canyon. Then you ride UP Sulivan Canyon and reverse it, picking off
all the obstacles on the flanks of the regular trail. There's some
good drops up to 6 foot and a bunch of skinnies on trees and so forth.
The regular trail is easy and a blast at high speed. I've done this
run twice in the last month or so - with both Jamey and Don and will
probably do it again this weekend with Eyal because it's local and fast
and it's a shuttle (or a big ass atreet climb back to the top).

Cougars and mountain lions virtually never attack people and I've never
seen either in Sulivan. It's still a little spooky to find yourself in
the bottom of that canyon on a weekday and all alone. Unlikey too
beacuse it is so popular.

JL


--
vivalargo
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MuniAddict wrote:
I'm wanting to do this Muni trail as I hear it's one of the best in all
of Los Angeles county. Vivalargo and company often do this trail and
say it's really fun and challenging, and I want to go out there
tomorrow and ride it...the problem is, I'll most likely be going it
solo (unless anyone living in this vicinity, and reading this post
wants to join me!) but reading all the forums about this trail, the
consensus is that there are LOTS of cougar/mtn lion sightings and they
STRONGLY advise against going alone!

Problem is, these big cats are super stealthy, and you won't even know
they are near until thay are ON YOU! So that gives me pause about going
alone...any thoughts? Am I overreacting? Should I go alone anyway and
just keep alert? This is a very popular trail so I'm sure there will be
hikers/bikers there througout my ride, but that's no guarantee of
safety.




I'd ride it without hesitation. Firstly I don't know the numbers, but
I'm sure that you are much more likely to get killed both by the drive
to and from the trail and by riding the trail itself, than from a cat
attack. And secondly, what better way to go out (and I'm being totally
serious here) contributing to the food chain the way it was always
intended to be. If a cat eats you, it was hungry. Sure you died in the
process, but you allowed a starving cat to live a bit longer. When I
die (possibly in direct result of) I'd like to be fed to wild animals.
Screw expensive burials and such. I'd like to get back to the way
things used to be, no reason to waste a bunch of really good meat.


--
AscenXion

*\ /*
*/ \*

*µニ Rider*
*SingleTrak'n*
*Order Of One [O³]*


*You've shown your true face, AscenXion, and revealed that only an
exclusive order of people can exist in your world where you are an
intolerant god.*
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You're kidding about the mountain lions, right? We ride at night where
2 mountain lion attacks have happened. You are much more likely to be
killed by a coconut or a donkey!


--
Munivision

Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right!
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Oh my god!! My biggest fear in life. Death by coconut.

I would bet that the noise/sight of a unicycle on the trail would keep
lions away. I've never heard of a mountain biker being attacked. When
I do hear about it happening, it's alway a lone hiker. I have a very
paranoid friend who runs in lion country all the time. He figures that
a lion would see him as fleeing prey and that he'd be much more prone
to attack. His solution is that he wears a custom bandana around his
head with embroidered 'eyes' in the back. He says a mountain lion will
only attack from behind. You could just paint eyes on the back of your
helmet.


--
underdog

'I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody
tell you different' - Kurt Vonnegut
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Ooh, I like the eyes on the back of your head thing! Statistically you
are more likley to be killed by a falling coconut than eaten by a shark
or a mountain lion.


--
Munivision

Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right!
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Haha, well I rode a new trail today called "7th Avenue loop", and the
BIG sign at the trailhead warned about Mountain Lions, Poisonous
insects & snakes, poison oak.....I was pretty much the only person
there, but I went anyway and LIVED through it, lol! This is a really
fun trail, although the first mile is solid climbing and very steep.

I had to walk the last 1/4 mile climb to the top as it was way to steep
to keep any momentum, even standing on the pedals and doing half revs!
Beautiful views and lots of shade, and the last half of the loop was
all DH singletrack and fast! My GPS logged a Max DH speed of 8.8 mph!
That's fast for me. The loop is just under 4 miles.

Anyway this trail was fun and not very technical, but a helluva good
workout! Here's stats on the trail:
http://tinyurl.com/35ljpj


--
MuniAddict

"On Earth it would be...12 noon" (Twilight zone episode, "To serve
man.")

My Videos: http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ttt8699

My favorite FG clip: http://tinyurl.com/28847b
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Terry,

Been gone from the forums for over a week and I saw this.

Last I read, in the paper, though it was about 6 months ago. That
there is only one mountain lion in the Santa Monicas. I read that it
and it sounded,to me, like it was unlikely, but I swear that's what it
said. If that's true, then the odds of being attacked are dismal. I
don't remember if it was a male or a female.

In researching the trail, how old were the reports or warnings of
mountain lions? Try a backwards search on the net with "Santa Monica
Mountains" "mountain lion". Try also DailyNews.com and search the site
itself. I think that's where I read the story.

Have a good ride.


--
teachndad

Rod Wylie 'MountainUnicyclingLA.com'
(http://www.mountainunicyclingla.com)
'UnicycleTips.com' (http://UnicycleTips.com)
'UnicycleRoundupLA.com/' (http://unicycleroundupla.com/)
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