Palm Canyon Epic
Hwy 74 (Pinyon) down to Palm Springs · near Palm Springs · California Desert
Mountain Biking
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- ~27-28 mi point-to-point, roughly 85% singletrack
- Elevation
- High point ~4,300 ft down to ~350 ft - one of SoCal's biggest sustained descents (~5,000+ ft of drop)
- Best season
- October-May (Nov-Mar ideal); summers hit 110F+ with NO water on the trail
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Mountain Biking detail
- Nickname
- The Desert's Big Descent
- Ride types
- all-mountain · xc
- Signature trails
- Hahn / Buena Vista Trail · Dunn Road · Cathedral Canyon / lower Palm Canyon
- Ebike
- No
- Ebike note
- The route crosses BLM, USFS and Agua Caliente tribal land with differing class rules - do not assume e-bikes are legal end-to-end; verify segment by segment.
- Intl tip
- Come in winter (Nov-Mar) and treat it as a full-day desert expedition: mandatory shuttle, 3L+ of water, sun protection, and tools for goathead flats. Stage a car in the valley or book a paid shuttle from a Palm Desert shop. Ride only the signed MTB route across tribal land - the Indian Canyons fee area is closed to bikes.
The guide
The Palm Canyon Epic is the desert's one truly world-class mountain-bike ride - a point-to-point shuttle descent that starts in…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Palm Canyon Epic — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.651, -116.483