Sand Canyon
Swall Meadows / Rock Creek high country · near Swall Meadows / Bishop · Eastern Sierra
Mountain Biking
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- ~9.1 mi one-way
- Elevation
- 7,675-10,131 ft; ~3,500 ft descent when shuttled
- Best season
- Mid-July-late September (snow lingers above 9,000 ft)
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Mountain Biking detail
- Nickname
- The Backcountry Descent
- Ride types
- xc · all-mountain
- Signature trails
- The Upper Descent · The High Camp
- Ebike
- Yes
- Ebike note
- Class 1 e-MTB legal here - it is a designated multi-use OHV road, not Wilderness singletrack.
- Intl tip
- Stage from Swall Meadows between Bishop and Mammoth. Go fully self-sufficient - no water, no services, no cell signal on the descent.
The guide
Sand Canyon is one of the Eastern Sierra's great backcountry descents - a nine-mile jeep road that runs from a high, lonely cam…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sand Canyon — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.5149, -118.6383