Lower Rock Creek
Between Tom's Place and Bishop (Hwy 395) · near Bishop / Tom's Place · Eastern Sierra
Mountain Biking
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- ~8-mile descent in three sections · Shuttle via Lower Rock Creek Road
- Elevation
- Drops ~2,000ft from Tom's Place (7,100ft) toward the Owens Valley · Sections get progressively harder
- Best season
- Spring and fall are ideal · Summer ridable but hot at the bottom · Winter often clear when Mammoth is snowed in
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Mountain Biking detail
- Nickname
- The Eastern Sierra's Classic Descent
- Ride types
- all-mountain · flow
- Signature trails
- Section 1 (upper) · Section 3 (lower)
- Ebike
- No
- Ebike note
- Check current Inyo National Forest e-bike designations; traditionally a standard-bike trail.
- Intl tip
- Tom's Place Resort at the top is a classic Eastern Sierra roadhouse — pie and burgers after laps. Combine with Bishop's climbing (in the climbing guide), the Owens Valley paragliding, or Mammoth's bike park for the ultimate 395 multi-sport trip. Keough's Hot Springs south of Bishop is the soak.
The guide
Lower Rock Creek is the Eastern Sierra's classic descent — roughly eight miles dropping 2,000 feet from Tom's Place toward the …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lower Rock Creek — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.504, -118.687