Name: Glendale Sports Complex - Cherry Canyon Loop
Rating: 4.4

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Family Friendly Good for hiking with the family. There are sections of fire roads as well.

The gates to the sports complex close at 10pm. If you prefer night riding past that time, park north of this area on Descanso or any of the other adjacent neighborhoods.

Overview

An ~8.5-mile mix of singletrack and fire roads. Great for post work or a morning quickie. These loops all connect to a fairly central hub which makes for great repeats if you're trying to put in additional time/mileage.

Need to Know

Water points would be at the start at the sports complex. On the trail, there is a rest area called "Ultimate Destination", which is a small offshoot to your left at mile 3.1.

Description

Park in the main lot for the Glendale Sports Complex or ride up from Verdugo. Parking gates close at 10pm.

The start of the Sports Complex Loop begins near the entrance to the lot to the left of the maintenance garage. It loops east then south on the Catalina Verdugo Trail towards Ridge Motorway fire road.

Take this fire road to the Cherry Canyon singletrack network. This route connects the main singletrack descents together with fire road climbs. Begin on Cerro Negro Trail connecting to Canyon Trail and Cherry Canyon Motorway. At the end of the Cherry Canyon Motorway, you'll be at the central hub.

Continue north on the Alpha Motorway as it turns into the Conservancy Trail, eventually connecting with Edison Road. Head onto Liz's Loop Trail which returns you to the Cherry Canyon Motorway.

Plug the route into your Garmin or use the MTB Project mobile app and ride away. Most of the singletrack sections are hardpack with sand. The last singletrack section goes through a shady area so the ground is usually nice and tacky.

Contacts

Local Club: Over The Bars

Land Manager: City of La Canada Flintridge, CA

Shared By:

Martini Linn with improvements by Austin Hoang

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.4 from 34 votes

#1

in San Rafael Hills

#574

Overall

4.4 from 34 votes

5 Star		53%
4 Star		35%
3 Star		9%
2 Star		3%
1 Star		0%

Recommended Route Rankings

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Photos

Oct 12, 2016 near La Caña…, CA

Aug 4, 2014 near La Caña…, CA

Oct 12, 2016 near La Caña…, CA

Aug 4, 2014 near La Caña…, CA

Jul 24, 2022 near La Caña…, CA

Rest bench on Cherry Canyon with great view.

Oct 12, 2016 near La Caña…, CA

4 Comments

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Unknown

Update Conditions See History

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Check-Ins

Feb 21, 2026

chris p

Damp but no mud. Lots of ruts from storm runoff 6.5mi — 2h 16m

Apr 21, 2023

A V

Mar 27, 2023

Gwen Greco

Super fun ride though for a solid morning start. Parts of the Cherry Canyon portion are very rutty.

Feb 12, 2022

Elz Abongo

Nov 21, 2021

Brian Dilger

Enjoyable ride up the Catalina Trail, along the Ridge Motorway and back down the Catalina Verdugo Trail. 16.8mi

Jun 4, 2021

Frank Basile

Feb 21, 2021

Jose Cordova

Feb 10, 2021

Hayk Israelyan

Feb 7, 2021

Alex Gilroy

Did the loop twice, good climb, wish the dh section was longer. A number of hikers on the trail so just watch out. 5.8mi — 1h 45m

Sep 22, 2020

Matt Hogan

Aug 18, 2020

Bryan A

Aug 9, 2020

Layla Vallejo

Aug 7, 2020

Sergio Rodriguez

Nice Trail 5mi — 8h 00m

Jul 20, 2020

Chad Runnels

8.8mi — 6h 13m

Jun 25, 2020

Timo Leahy

Nice little trail network in the middle of urban sprawl. Trail was dusty for night riding.

May 11, 2020

Marco Rincon

Trail Still Closed

Mar 7, 2020

Glenn Chu

9.6mi — 1h 37m

Feb 28, 2020

William Mendoza

fun trail 2mi — 12h 00m

Sep 11, 2019

Russell A

Jun 30, 2019

Davis Chitlik

Mar 9, 2019

Will Henry

Mar 5, 2019

Jon Taylor

Feb 22, 2019

Jonathan Speak

Dec 26, 2018

Xingchao Ba

Nov 25, 2018

Eric Seilo

Big climb! Not a lot of down. Lots of people walking dogs and kids. Cerro trail is a fun loop. Getting there sucks. 5.6mi

Nov 25, 2018

Greg Amerson

Nov 18, 2018

James Chapman

Oct 24, 2018

A R

Sep 9, 2018

Vince Sanchez

Lots of climbing 8.8mi

Sep 3, 2018

JK A

Fun trail for cyclocross bikes, although cerro negro section has some rutted rocky areas that are challenging 5mi

Jun 24, 2018

Private User

May 27, 2018

Edvin Tomasian

May 26, 2018

Edvin Tomasian

May 6, 2018

Josh Romm

1,931 elevation change 8.2mi

Mar 25, 2018

Josh Romm

Ate it on Liz’s loop but still pr’d 8.8mi

Mar 19, 2018

Juan Garcia

Mar 18, 2018

Josh Romm

8.8mi

Feb 11, 2018

Alex Hatem

Trail is a little rutted in the shady bits

Feb 10, 2018

Travis P.

Feb 4, 2018

Josh Romm

Catalina to cerro negra to canyon to conservancy to Forrest hill to Liz loop back down ridgeway and Catalina 8.8mi

Jan 29, 2018

Raymond Dryburgh

Jan 27, 2018

Josh Romm

Catalina to cerro negra to canyon to conservancy to Liz’s loop 10mi

Jan 20, 2018

Josh Romm

Catalina to ridge way to sugar loaf to Cerro negro to ridgeway to Catalina 6.9mi

Jan 13, 2018

Josh Romm

Catalina to ridge way 5.5mi

Dec 23, 2017

Sarmen Mahmoodi

Dec 3, 2017

L Kon

Dec 2, 2017

Sarmen Mahmoodi

Nov 28, 2017

Chris Svensson

Nov 19, 2017

Cameron Mann

Nov 11, 2017

Juan Hernández

Nov 5, 2017

Alex Hatem

Sep 24, 2017

Angelo Deogracias

7.5mi

Sep 19, 2017

Nick Wright

Clear and dry. 8mi — 1h 00m

Aug 14, 2017

Chepe Mimi

Jul 11, 2017

JAVIER Lopez

Apr 15, 2017

Danny Limon

Superb! 8.7mi

Mar 25, 2017

Josh Donahue

Brutal 6mi

Oct 18, 2016

George Boyd

9mi

Oct 16, 2016

Mike Collard

Oct 15, 2016

Private User

Sep 17, 2016

Emjay Ginno Carcereny

Good trail.. dry brush.. some big rocks 9mi

Aug 20, 2016

Martini Linn

Fun easy ride up to connect to Cherry Canyon Trails, nice trail for quick workout ride. 3.8mi — 1h 43m

Aug 7, 2016

brian taylor

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Glendale Sports Complex - Cherry Canyon Loop

“Connecting the Glendale Sports Complex Loop and all major Cherry Canyon singletrack into one ride. ”

8.8

14.2

75%

1,849' 564 m

1,271' 387 m

1,381' 421 m

1,380' 421 m

6%

20%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Leashed

E-Bikes Allowed

Family Friendly Good for hiking with the family. There are sections of fire roads as well.

Overview

Need to Know

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#1

#574

#1

#81

#574

Photos

4 Comments

Comment Type:

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Gabrielino Trail: JPL to the USFS Dam

Millard Canyon Loop

Sunset Ridge / El Prieto Loop from Millard Campground

Stough Canyon

Haines Canyon Motorway - Blue Bug (Old Mt. Lukens Trail)

Winter Creek Loop

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