Review Date
August 13, 2005

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: Thomer10 ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
The Merrills are in pretty good shape right now, (08/05) Upper san merrill is much better than lower san merrill.....I would suggest that you have a few rides under your belt before you try these trails. There are a few loose spots and atleast two turns on the way down that can really ruin your day if you go over the side. I would ride this during the week, the weekends are hiker heavy.

Recommended Route:
If you can climb single track, start at Lake Ave and work your way up. When you come to the first split stay straight ahead, about 50 feet ahead you'll see a turn to the left, take this. This part is kind of tough with the railway ties, but you can go around them... this is where the real climbing begins.....this section is about 3.5 miles to the top..... If you would rather climb a fireroad start at the top of Chaney Trails in Altadena, it's paved for about 3 miles then becomes dirt...you will come to a Y, at the Y you can go left to Mt. Lowe, straight to Inspiration Point, or right witch is the trail head to sam merrill... Good luck and have fun

Review Date
May 14, 2005

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: Pain Freak ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Not to bad - Looks like the Merrils did fairly well through all the rain.But there are a lot of lose spots on the way up.I ended up hiking half of these as it just wasn't worth the effort to try and keep traction.Even with a good tire I think it would be really difficult.A hiker I met at the old hotel told me there was a feature in the LA Times outdoor section that told about this trail this past week and that attracted scores more of people along with the warmer weather,it was a regular freeway there.We continued on to Inspiration Point and then took the singletrack back down.This area has only improved.Really,really, nice.Lots of rocks,obstacles and drops to keep your attention keen.A couple new slides and collapses,but nothing serious.We followed up by continuing down Sunset which is about the best I've ever seen it.LOTS of lose rocks and a few new drops along with now harder to make switchbacks.Trail is top notch right now and the pedestrian traffic was non exsistant here today.We got some good speed through this section and then had to cut it short and skip El Prieto as we were running out of time.Sure is nice to see the trail like this.Chances are though the rangers might consider it a little to technical and might grade some of it.I hope not,but there are a few collapses that need repair.Bugs were becoming a nuisance