Review Date
April 2, 2005

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: cegrover ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Chutes is in good shape - nice ride today after taking too long off due to rain. Someone did some nice repair work toward the bottom - thanks!!

Notes:

1) Lower trail between Irvine Park and Santiago Oaks is under water after a while, but you can take an established shortcut to the main trail at the point where it gets wet.

2) Normally dry creekbed at the end of Chutes is actually wet, but a small stream - easy crossing.

3) Normally dry creekbed just before getting back to pavement at Irvine Park is also wet, but an easy crossing.

Enjoy!

Review Date
November 14, 2004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: cegrover ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Chutes Nov 14 2004 - Okay, I posted before - my wife and I went back and found Chutes this time. Haven't done it before, so I'm not sure how the rain changed things. It's an awesome trail! 3 Bs remains a good workout and we walked more than I remembered last time - that area definitely has some new rain-induced ruts.

I believe we hit the easier routes on a lot of chutes - maybe that's evidence that the harder routes are worse from the rain or just evidence of our riding level.

We traded bikes not quite halfway down, so I took the hardtail and did fine on the bottom portion of Chutes up until the sandy wash where I planted my front wheel in sand after the tiny drop and went over the bars!

This was also my first ride with clipless pedals, so I was a little hesitant to also make it my first trip on Chutes. I think the fact that they are Mallet C pedals made the trip possible (we both have them)! I was clipped out for all of Chutes.

Enjoy!

Ride distance: 6-ish miles

Elevation change: Dunno

Singletrack=50% Dirt Road=50%

Me: 98 DBR V-Link 3.2 w/SRAM 9.0 shift/rr der
Wife: 01 Raleigh M80 w/SRAM Rocket shifters

Recommended Route:
This is a really great ride - we parked at Irvine park. It's a good workout on 3 Bs, fun downhill below Robber's, then a workout back to the ridgeline. The ridge itself is a nice, fun trail with some minor climbing, then Chutes is fun all the way down!

Review Date
October 16, 2004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: cegrover ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Okay, this is not really a chutes review because we took a wrong turn. By wife and I are beginner weekend warriors (going every week for about 2 1.5 months now) and were going to do Wier Canyon loop after parking at Santiago Oaks, then decided to go ahead and try Chutes. Bad news is we didn't have our book with us, so, after taking the right at the trail sign (we did the hard way, not the top of Robber's - and yes, we walked it some!) and riding along the fun ridge, we decided to take a right toward the dam instead of one of the lefts. We now know right means Waterfall and left means Chutes. So...we ended up walking 90% of waterfall.

Tomorrow, we'll go back and try chutes! At our level, we don't see how anyone gets down Waterfall and would love to watch some time.

We talked to some riders who we now realize were coming off Chutes (came out of the wash near Irvine Park). They were calling it Zips, but everything I've read indicates that was Chutes. Does anyone else out there refer to a trail in that area as Zips, or was that Chutes?

We also took the first trail to the right after taking the right before Robbers. This has some really fun areas (trail ended in an 8' drop or choice of going throuhg a cactus-heavy, narrow s/t that seemed to dead-end). As indicated in other reviews (here and socalmtb.com), you pretty much have to hike out of this area. We ended up back on the Anaheim/Oak Trail between the two gates and that's when we went on to the ridge and waterfall.

Tech rating of five is for Waterfall!

Aerobic rating is for the ride we actually did, which includes the Three Biotches (overrate - not so bad) and the drop/climb bypass to Robber's.

Overall rating is for our ride and the obviously excellent variety of trails in the area.

Recommended Route:
If you're not an advanced rider, don't take waterfall (although it is cool even while hiking down!). Actual Chutes review will follow soon...

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Wier Canyon Loop (from the dead-end parking spots in the neighborhood and via the cul-de-sac) seemed really nice, but short. Peters Canyon has some steep climbs and downhills, but they're really short and this park gets repetitive. Horse Shoe Loop around Irvine Park has some fun areas, but is pretty easy.

Review Date
April 26, 2004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: ruderob ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
An excellent ride with a variety of technical challenges to make it interesting. The three B's provide an excellent conditioning component while the chutes are sure to offer up a nice shot of adrenaline for all. The singletrack makes for an entertaining DH and cactus borders help you keep focus. Overall a very entertaing ride and I look forward to doing it again soon.

Recommended Route:
Up and Down the Three B's and follow the trail to the "chutes." Drop in the first or second group of chutes and enjoy the single track DH to the park entrance.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Aliso Viejo (Lion Country Safari)and Widing Ranch.

Review Date
June 7, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Please Select