The Mt. Pinos McGill Trail is a 9 mile downhill singletrack ride above 8000 feet that takes you through the trees on a winding fast trail. Since you can get moving pretty fast, many people choose to wear a full face helmet and even pads but I wouldn't call it a requirement if you are just going to take your time going down the trail. The trail starts off a little rocky but gets smoother out as you go along. There are a couple of fun technical areas where you can go off some jumps and even go over a fallen tree that was converted to a jump. Once you pass through the campgrounds you will get to the best part of the trail where it's fast and smooth with whoops that you can get some air off of. Then the trail will level out and go up a little up before getting to the fastest part of the trail. This is where you can get some real speed and the rest of the trail is pretty fast down to the bottom.

Mt. Pinos\McGill Trail Reviewed, Filmed and Rated by Jim Bernstein Review Date: 1/25/2013 Trail Ratings  Fun Factor:  Technical:

Mt. Pinos\McGill Trail - Frazier Park Review

Since there is not too much downhill mountain biking in Southern California, Mt. Pinos is a must if you really need to get your downhill fix. It may not have all the jumps and other stunts you see on many downhill YouTube videos but it's definitely worth doing if you want some downhill go fast fun. Some people ride up the paved road and then down and if you are into a 9 mile uphill ride at 8000 feet then that's all you. Others choose to ride up the trail itself which is equally crazy. You will need to watch out for people riding and hiking up the trail but you won't run across anyone too often. One important thing to keep in mind is that during hunting season which starts in October I believe you will encounter people walking around with rifles and many of them don't like bikers so you may want to get your riding in before that. If you choose to go after hunting season then you may encounter snow on the trail which can be fun or not too fun depending on how you look at it. There is nothing too crazy on this ride and if you have a decent full suspension mountain bike you will be fine and don't need to have a full on downhill bike to do this trail.

Mt. Pinos\McGill Trail Pictures

Directions to Mt. Pinos\McGill Trail

To get to the Mt. Pinos trailhead take the 5 freeway north from L.A. and take exit 205 for Frazier Mountain Park Rd. At the exit turn left on Frazier Mountain Park Rd and continue onto Cuddy Valley Rd. From there you will drive up the paved road to the top where the ranger station is and park there. The start of the trail is at the very end of the paved road. If you want to go up even higher there is another trail you can take off to the left that will take you to the very top where you can check out the views before riding back down. You will notice at the bottom of the road that there is a dirt parking lot on the right as you drive up and that is where you will come out. So if you plan on doing the shuttle thing that is where you want to park one of the cars.

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