TRAIL HISTORY: (From the Cleveland National Forest Website) If you expect that the Holy Jim Canyon is named for a pious, early preacher in the Santa Ana Mountains, you would be very wrong!  Jim Smith was a beekeeper who settled in the north fork of Trabuco Canyon in the 1870s.  It was said that: "Jim Smith was a talker...no ordinary talker... a man given to blasphemous eloquence.  When he started cussing... he could peel paint off a stove pipe."  When government surveyors first mapped the canyon, they chose to name it "Holy Jim" rather than "Cussin' Jim," since the word "cussing" was considered neither polite nor appropriate for a government publication.

Here is the Map and Elevation Profile for this ride.

GPS Files: TOPO!, GDB, GPX, KML

RIDE REPORT:

The only time (so far) that I have ridden the Holy Jim Trail was part of an up Trabuco – Main Divide – down Holy Jim Loop.   Check out the web page on that ride here.  My description  of this ride is from the downhill perspective, but I make some observations on what I think it would be like going up.

Some of the typical views from Main Divide looking down at the canyons

Starting out from Main Divide the trail starts with a technical drop in section that can be quite tricky.  Going up I imagine it will be a hike-a-bike for most riders.   After the technical drop in you a have to do a very short bit of climbing while under a canopy of hardwood trees.  Shortly after the climbing section you are out from under the trees. 

    The trail is quite skinny and requires some good bike handling skills, especially in areas where the trail cuts across loose shale “fields”.  The trail is somewhat steep and about halfway down you encounter a series of numerous  switchbacks that are both tight and a little steep.  While I cleared them on the way down, a few of them would certainly give me some problems on the way.  This trail is often called a “cousin” to the San Juan Trail so I could not help but make some comparisons to that trail.  The upper portion of the trail is certainly similar to San Juan but I would have to say that Holy Jim is a tighter/skinnier trail than it's “cousin”.  I would have say that the tightness of the switchbacks on Holy Jim would make them more difficult to clear than San Juan.  However the San Juan switchbacks often suffers from rutting caused by "skidiots" which makes it a toss up in my mind.  You will just have to ride both of these wonderful trails and decide for yourself!

After the switchbacks the trail drops down into the canyon floor and the trail takes on a completely different feel as you are back under the canopy of trees and lush greens provided by Trabuco Creek.  You will have to cross the creek about three or four times with at least two of them being portages. Shortly after the creek crossings you will pass by a gate and you will be back on a fireroad with a few cottages on either side.  Continue on down the fireroad for about ½ a mile back to the trailhead parking area.

This is a 9-mile ride if you go up and then come back down the way you came.  However I think this trails is best combined with some of the other excellent trails in the area for some great loops and epic rides.   From the top of Holy Jim you can hang a right over to West Horsethief and the Tracbuco Trail.  Or you can a hang a left and go up to Santiago Peak and Harding Truck Trail, Maple Springs, Silverado Motorway,  and Black Star Canyon.  Basically there is as much fun/pain as you can take available to you from here.

The bottom of the Upper Holy Jim brings you out about 300 yards further down Main Divide. You will need to hang a right to get to the Holy Jim Trail. These picures are of the orginal line that has been rerouted.