IF YOU THINK the Little Rock on Cedar Dust is big enough, check out this hummer.

You come across it all alone in an open second growth woods. It's northern side is almost completely buried except for the exposed table-like top, but a big portion of the south side is exposed.

Riders approach coming from the direction of the Little Rock and the Ridge Trail, and are offered a choice of either riding around, or going off the rock. Go left, and you go around. Go right, and you gotta face the Big Rock.

The first step is to punch up onto the rock, which is not that big a deal on either side. But of course, this is just the beginning. Once there, you got three lines off:

• The line to the rider's extreme right is a six foot huck onto the fairly straight and gentle (but narrow) trail to the right
• The line to the rider's right comes down off the apex on a sickeningly tilted, slab-like section of rock (see above), crossing from right to left, and then plunges very steeply to the trail to the left. This is the most extreme rolling line.
• The line to the rider's left, which is the easiest and most compact, begins with a hop up on a sidewalk-like section of rock on the left shoulder of the Big Rock, and then plunges very steeply across a problematic jumble of roots and rock knobs (see below) to the trail to the left

We've seen hardened North Shore riders in B.C. come straight from Semour and freeze on the lip of this face. There is something about the steepness, the rockiness and the really ugly root clump positioned unavoidably part way down, that causes the brain to scream, "don't do it, man! Jeez, what are you thinking?"

Actually, it's not a bad as it looks. If you have your weight back sufficiently, your front wheel WILL roll over the root clump, no problem. Do have your weight back, though. This is not a place you want to get body slammed.

The Big Rock can only be ridden in one direction, from the north heading south toward the Polka Dot Trail. As far as we know, no one has ever climbed it.

Postscript -- in July 2005, a WHIMPs/IMBA work party significantly altered the face of the rock, so that both the right and the left line can be rolled. In the pics below, you'll also note that the tree was cut down and dirt was piled high enough to bury the prominent root ball.

Remember, GalbraithMt.com recommends studying all stunts like this before riding them the first time. Better yet, watch someone who knows what they're doing ride it.

See GalbraithMt.com Cedar Dust Trail Guide for more info on Cedar Dust. Click here for video clip. Click here for more GalbraithMt.com technical notes.

The following are sequence shots of the stunt. Click on the thumbnail images to view a larger version...