Saugus Special (Shorter Short)

Distance: 26 miles and 1700 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)

The two short routes are similar to each other. They don’t do San Francisquito or Bourquet canyon like the long and the medium, but they do an easier canyon. Both start out by heading over to Placerita Canyon and climb that (the main peak on the profile). This is nowhere near as difficult a climb as the climbs done by the long and medium. After going over the canyon, the two routes circle around on Sand Canyon and head back into Santa Clarita along Soledad Canyon. Here the two shorts split. While the longer short does an out and back ride up a portion of San Francisquito, this shorter route simply continues on  to do a final loop around the Santa Clarita area (the same loop the longer short does after it’s extra miles). As you can see, the main climb of the day is in Placerita Canyon, but there are a few short hills elsewhere along the route. By skipping the extra miles of the longer short route, this shorter short also cuts off a little climbing as well. There is no lunch listed on the route sheet, but there are many locations near the end of the route.

Click here to download a PDF of the route.

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