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Mountain Bike Report 4-16-2021

Eastern Sierra Mountain Biking

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4-16-2021 – Hello and I hope your ready for some mountain biking here in the Eastern Sierra. Spring is the perfect time to get up here for some cool mountain weather days below the 8000 foot level.

There are a bunch of trails and service roads open to ride right now with just a few people out at this time of the year.

Nights are still getting into the 30s to low 40s from Mammoth to Bishop so you still need to layer up if your out for an early morning ride.

The best time to ride in the high country is late morning to mid day, the snow might be melting early but it’s still April and the cold nights and cool days remain.  

The melt out is happening fast this year and you can now ride trails and service roads all the way up to the 8000 feet level from Bishop up to June Lake. There are still some patches of snow you will encounter from 7500 – 8000 foot levels.

From Toms Place to Bishop, Spring is a great time to ride with highs mostly upper 60s to mid 70s with a few low to mid 80s before mid May hits.  

In the Mammoth Lakes area there is access to all the trails and roads out of the Shady Rest area and the roads and trails that make up the Knolls Loop.

The Sherwin road is melted out along with all the little trails you can find out in that area are open and dry.

The Mammoth Lakes Basin and it’s bike paths are still under snow as is the entire Mammoth Mountain Bike Park. I would expect the road and path clearing to begin in the Lakes Basin at any time now.

The bike park is scheduled to open on May 28th with trails from at least chair 4 down to the little Eagle Lodge and Canyon Lodge up and running. I would not be surprised if they have all of uptown and downtown also open by the opener. 

As of now the snow line is at around 8000 feet with that all trails and dirt roads below that ready to ride. (Watch for snow patch’s above 7500 feet.)

Down by Toms Place the Lower Rock Creek Canyon Trail (RCCT) is in great shape with lots’ riders doing laps already. If you’re going to ride RCCT please note there are now both downhill and uphill riders along with hikers on that trail.

The Bishop area has great weather for mountain biking right now. Andysland is in prime shape, but beware the dust is getting thick. The Wilkerson loop is still mostly firm dirt with all of the local high desert shrubs very green.

The Mill Creek and the Lower Gorge areas are also now greened up and not to hot. All the roads and trail link rides out of Silver Light are now melted out and ready to go. 

For you hard cord mountain bikers that like to climb, Silver Canyon is wide open and the road is in good shape at this time.  

Might be time to make a dual sports activities trip to the Eastern Sierra. Get some skiing and boarding in for a few hours and then break out the mountain bikes to finish off the afternoon, or maybe just bring the bikes and trying something all new, spring mountain biking in the Eastern Sierra.

I plan on doing videos of all my favorite mountain bike rides this year, we start the filming process this weekend. There should be some great footage coming out by mid May and all thru the Summer and Fall.

Starting next week I will also have some killer images of the trails and areas that are now open, keeping checking back as I expand our content here at mammothsnowman.com

Known Mountain Bike Rides Now Open in the Eastern Sierra

Inyo Forest near Mammoth Lakes

Big Smokey Loop

Little Smokey Loop

Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain Loop from Shady Rest

The Knolls Loop

Shady Rest Park Area

Sherwin Creek Road and Side Trails

Lower Mammoth Creek Road to the Junction of 395

Mammoth Rock Trail (watch for snow patches higher up)

Toms Place

Lower Rock Creek Canyon

Crowley Dam and Gorge Trails / Forest Roads

Bishop

Andysland

Silver Canyon

Wilkerson Loop

Silver Light Loops

Mill Creek

Steve Taylor

Over the last 30+ years, Snowman has spent countless hours studying and learning about mammoth mountain weather and snow conditions first hand. Snowman started blogging this information back in 1990 on the old Mammoth BBS system, then the RSN Forums and then on to MammothSnowman.com in 2004 with his Video & Photo Blog reports.