5 posts tagged “mountainbike”
It had been several days since the rain, and the biting cold was just starting to abate, so I took advantage of the late afternoon hours to ride up on the usual loop to Tilden Park above Berkeley.
Of course, this is California, so "biting cold" means something like 45F. But today was great; short-sleeves and all!
Took Claremont Ave to the top of the hill, then Grizzly Peak Rd up to the steam trains, then the trail up to the top of Vollmer Peak. Claremont's steep and each trip up brings numerous close shaves by passing cars, but it's the fastest way up to Vollmer. (For the first time today I saw a roadie going up it, even. They usually opt for the more sane Tunnel Rd.)
Up on Vollmer at about 1900', it was a great view. There were low misty clouds to the east, and Mount Diablo was poking up through. The near-full moon was rising.
Downhill from there along Seaview Trail! All that pavement climbing and this is the payoff. The trail was dry and fast, though there were quite a number of hikers out and that kept speeds down. Said hi to everyone; they all said hi back.
Reached the stone circle (actually concrete--remnants of an old observatory or something?) and looked out to the west. The sun was just about to set and San Francisco Bay and the Berkeley shore shone blue in the fading light. The low tide had actually exposed a sand bar in the Bay between Berkeley marina and Emeryville marina. One of my sailing buddies had told me about that, but I'd never seen it. I guess one of the sailing clubs actually goes out there and has breakfast on the thing sometimes!
I had no light, so didn't tarry. Down through the corkscrew, through the forest, and on along the ridge. I zigged down Big Springs Trail, and zagged back Quarry Trail down to the Quarry picnic area.
From there, a short paved stretch got me to Inspiration Point for another view northeast, and then down Curran Trail turning right on Meadows Canyon trail.
This was my departure from the ridge down into the park canyon-proper, and the temps got lower as I dropped down between the ridges.
Sometimes after heavy rains, this trail can turn into a total mudbog. Today the bog was only slightly tacky dirt, so it was no biggy. The trail twists along the hillside down into the canyon alternating between oak and grass. The closer to the parking lot I got, the more the trail was pockmarked by hikers and horses, but its still in decent shape. It's luxury compared to some of the cattle-ridden trails in Wildcat Canyon.
Passed a lot more friendly hikers out there...but I was the only bike I saw on the trail.
A steep-but-short climb out Canon Dr to Summit Reservior, then down Spruce to the University, and through downtown to home!
Sometimes it can be difficult to get my normal biking friends, all of whom have "real jobs", to meet up for biking now and again, thus the craigslist post earlier.
Well, Saturday I met Jeni at her place and we bundled the bikes onto the Saturn and headed for China Camp for a day of singletrack! Wooo! I've been to this place many times, and it's always great riding, but I'd never been to the museum and portion of the state park that is the town of China Camp-proper.
A quick drive over the Richmond Bridge brought us to the park, and we unloaded the bikes in the free parking just outside the park entrance.
I strapped the GPS to my backpack so I could later get a ground track and profile, and we hit the trail!
First we rode up Shoreline Trail past the campground entrance and turned right to climb up Bay View Trail. This trail climbs past oaks switching back several times before rising into pine-territory. From time to time, you catch a glimpse of the view between the trees looking north and east across San Pablo Bay.
Bay View Trail climbs until it meets Echo Trail. We turned on Echo and kept climbing, the goal being the Nike Missile Site along the Bayhills Drive. In between is some steep paved road that's quite a workout to climb.
But the view from the top is worth it! You can stand on old Nike launch slab and get near-360-degree views of the north bay area...quite fantastic!
Following Bayhills down, we made a left on the Ridge Fire Trail, and then a bad right onto an unmapped unnamed path that it turns out went downhill a long way to nowhere. Yay. Climbing again to get out!
Back on the Ridge Trail, I was being way timid about the downhill after the endo incident a couple weeks ago. I was so far back past my seat, I was probably in 10x as much danger of washing out than I was of endoing--hopefully I'll be back up and correctly fearful in not too long!
Finally caught our proper right turn back onto the Bay View trail once again. This snakes through the forest along the face of the mountain (which is sometimes sheer), again punctuated by views over the bay. The trail rejoins the Ridge Fire Trail, and then, after a short hop on the Miwok Fire Trail, we turned right onto Oak Ridge Trail.
This was all easy fun curving slight downhill out until we reached a nice south-facing vista point with views of the Richmond Bridge, The Bay Bridge, and even the top of one of the towers of The Golden Gate. All the north bay islands were visible, as well.
We switchbacked down the Oak Ridge Trail to Shoreline Trail, and then out to the end of the park where the town of China Camp is. Of course, first we had to check out Rat Rock, which barely qualifies as an island, but certainly has the most piratey name of them all.
The town has a tiny diner, a small museum, and a pier, as well as a bunch of preserved buildings and items from when this was a big Chinese shrimp company in the 1930s. Turns out there were a lot of shrimperies (I just made that word up) in the Bay Area back there, mostly on Hunter's Point.
Inside the museum were featured boats and equipment used in the shrimp operation, and photographs from its heyday. Well worth the price of admission, we agreed. In fact, at $0, I suppose the value was near-infinite.
We were trying to roll out by 1:30, so we gunned it back along the oak-line Shoreline Trail, which runs the length of the park, but closer to the base of the mountain. I stopped to show Jeni one of my favorite geocaches (Willard!) but aside from that, we got back easily to the car, a total ride of 23.7 km.
Back in Berkeley, we had a slice at The Cheeseboard, an excellent pizza joint I'd been meaning to eat at for the past seven years. And now finally got my chance! Yum!
I know you are going to think all I do is blog about biking, but that's simply not true. It's just what I've been doing a lot of recently, that's all.
And I was jonesin' for a ride on the dirt since the last one didn't quite pan out, so I set my sights on the Mount Diablo Region. Looking at the maps, there are a number of parks and open-space preserves out there near Walnut Creek BART, and I planned out a route that would take me through three of these parks over the course of several hours.
First stop, however, was the bike shop, where I picked up a Shimano/SRAM chain tool, as promised earlier. This I added to my kit, which this time was near full-strength. I had a first-aid kit, tire repair stuff, tools for everything on my bike, and an extra bottle of water. Additionally, I threw in a couple PBJs, my homemade food of choice for riding.
Excessive? Nah--I didn't fancy pushing my broken bike 15 km when a simple tool could have saved me.
Got on BART and journeyed to Walnut Creek without incident. The weather was excellent, with 50% scattered puffy cumulous clouds and the sun shining through from time to time. Upon arrival, I pulled out map #1 which would help me navigate to the start of the park.
Yeah, I love maps, so I had four of them for this trip.
The park begins with a small historical park called Howe Homestead Park, which has been preserved as a homestead from the 1930s. Old farm equipment was on display around the farmhouse, and there was a large active community garden on the grounds, as well.
I didn't see signs for no bikes, and the map seemed to say this was multiuse Kovar Trail, so I took off up it. Riding past the garden, the trail narrows to singletrack and starts heading up into Shell Ridge Open Space Preserve.
The singletrack ran behind a number of homes, did two easy switchbacks and one sharp switchback before cresting the short grassy Joaquin Ridge. From there, it cruised along a sandy downhill to intersect the Briones-to-Diablo Trail. No, wait, it was the Fossil Ridge Trail. The map was giving me all kinds of trouble for some reason.
I was already loving the rock outcrops that were exposed around these parts, and the best was yet to come!
It didn't take long to realize why the trail was called Fossil Ridge: there were tons of shell fossils embedded in the rock all over! Wonderful old seabed, right here in my backyard! I stopped and took more photos. Sometimes I would only ride three meters before stopping again. I would have been the worst bike buddy ever this day.
Fossil Ridge Trail hits a parking area (with water), and then turns back north and dives into Indian Valley (which is more of a creek ravine.) Indian Valley pond was dry at the bottom, though oak-shaded picnic tables nearby would still offer a fine picnic area.
There were a lot of some kind of critter running around. Looked like a squirrel, but there were a helluva lot of them. Coming out of Indian Valley, I saw a number standing on their hind legs scoping me out before running into underground burrows. Prairie Dogs?? Do we have those around here? Turns out we do! Lucky day for our birds of prey.
The next intersection put me on Briones-to-Mount Diablo Trail, and I turned to the east. It climbed slowly but steadily, with the grassy Shell Ridge towering to my left, and the Indian Creek ravine full of leafy oak below to my right.
At the next intersection, I turned north to cut through Ginder Gap, a saddle in the middle of Shell Ridge. It's interesting to note that most of the oaks grow on north-facing slopes, while south-facing slopes are usually grassy. So the minute I passed through Ginder Gap, the tree cover increased tremendously.
I misread the map again at this point, and turned left on Costanoan Trail for a short side trip before returning and making my intended left onto Sulfur Creek Trail. This trail descends steeply into Sulfur Creek ravine and Sulfur Creek Pond, which sports a sign that says "No Swimming, No Fishing, No Dogs, No Drinking". And with a name like Sulfur Creek, you'd probably do well to obey.
Not that it mattered now, since the pond was just a bed of dry cracked mud.
The trail climbed again following the creekbed, with huge numbers of Prairie Dogs inhabiting the slope opposite the creek. They'd run out, see me go by, and run back in again.
I pedalled up through the oaks, and eventually Sulfur Creek Trail rejoined the eastern arm of Costanoan Trail via Flat Top Trail. I finally got my first view of Mount Diablo since getting off BART! Costonoan Trail wound down toward it through the grass and tree-covered hills, and I followed it down to the bottom.
There were some chalk marks on the trail around here, including one that said "1 M". Must be a race, I thought, and sure enough packs of high-school runners were soon in evidence. Some sort of big meet it seemed like, since the picnic area down at Borges Ranch was completely taken-over. So much for eating lunch there!
Borges Ranch is another historical site kept in early 1900s condition. There is a small farmhouse, a barn, and a blacksmith shop, with a lot of rusted farm equipment nearby. It's neatly tucked in a small canyon in the hills.
Which meant more climbing for me. I followed a pack of running girls up Borges Trail until it once again intersected Briones-to-Mount Diablo Trail, and I turned east. My goal here was to reach Diablo Foothills Regional Park, and since the trail was through a flat meadow here, I got there in short order.
Crossing the gate and leaving the runners behind, I rolled through open space with a number of ups and downs, riding past another dry pond on the right, until I crested a small saddle, and entered Mount Diablo State Park.
At this point, I was really feeling like I'd gotten away from the city. I couldn't see any structures from this vantage, I'd been riding for an hour or so. A brace of oaks kept me company to the left as the wind whistled through the rusty gate and barbed wire that marked the state park boundary. I pushed it open with a creak and wheeled my bike though, riding down into my third park of the day.
It was immediately apparent that cattle used this land, since the trail was pitted and gouged like nobody's business. But that was forgotten as I spied a ridge of strange rocks off to my right, and ventured up there to check it out.
Yup, there were cows here, all right. And cow-mines as well. They gathered around a nearby pond and mooed at me while I examined the rock ridge.
The ridge was obviously thrown up by a fault and then exposed by weathering, but I had no idea what kind of rock it was. I'm going to guess limestone. It was wonderfully etched and dissolved by the elements. The wind was coming through here quite smartly, and I crouched in the shelter of the wall to keep from getting too chilled while I ate my first PBJ.
Snacking complete, I was unsurprised to continue climbing along the trail. After all, I was heading up Diablo's southwest flank, so there was bound to be more climbing than not.
I turned left and continued climbing up Wall Point Road and crossed over Pine Ridge dropping into an unnamed oak-filled ravine over a dry creek. Then continued climbing to the east. It was really really steep. I could handle the climb technically, but there was so much of it, it was really wearing me down. Look at the profile of the ride starting about 13 km, and you'll see it.
Passed another cyclist (who was walking up the hill) and a ranger on a quad going the other direction. I thought the ranger was going to cite the cyclist for not having a helmet, but I guess it's not a regulation here.
At the top of the stretch, I met the ranger again, and chatted with him about what trail I was on. Turns out I wanted to make a left way back there. But now that I was up at the top, I would ride a little farther. I was high enough in elevation that pines were starting to grow, and also at this point, you could look back to the west and see the Castle Rock Area.
I also asked him about a tunnel I'd seen on the topo map but he hadn't heard of it. He was enthusiastic about all the mining in the area, so he said he'd check it out, and told me of a number of other mineshafts north of Diablo.
So I followed the trail east for a flat stretch, with a sharp drop off to the right and rock outcrops all over, until it started looking like it was going to do some mad climbing. I then turned around and headed back down to the proper intersection, now going right onto a connector trail to BBQ Terrace Road/Stage Road. The connector was moderately steep downhill over smooth rock outcrops and sand, curving to the right as it ran through the trees.
My GPS said I was closing on the tunnel, and I easily found the small cove where it was hiding. But it was collapsed, I'm sorry to say, either naturally or deliberately.
And now it was 5pm! Yikes! Time to head back!
Stage Road is a great easy downhill along the bottom of Pine Canyon. It cuts over the dry creekbed, and then you reach Pine Pond, highly grown over with tall reeds, but the first place I'd seen with any appreciable water in it.
Dropping past the earthen dam, the trail twists through the trees, and crosses the now-wet creek several times, each good for a splash. In the shade of Pine Ridge and gnarled oaks twisting overhead, the atmosphere was a little spooky!
So when I saw something sizable sprinting on all fours across the trail in front of me, I hauled on the brakes and pulled up short to see what was before me. It is mountain lion country, after all.
But this was too small. And it had a bob-tail. A bobcat! Maybe the third one I've ever seen in my life. He crouched at the bast of a tree near the edge of the brambles ready for a quick escape. I talked soothingly as I pulled out my point-and-shoot camera and attempted to get it to perform under these conditions. The cat's eyes reflected back at me.
I got back on my bike and left before he did--a great rare encounter!
Giving him space, I passed back into Diablo Foothills park and stopped at yet another dark and spooky picnic area for my last PBJ, giving me energy for the trip back to BART.
Looking through the trees to my right, the Castle Rock area was quite a grand sight! Titanic weathered outcrops towered far above near Castle Rock itself, a pinnacle topping out at 296 meters elevation.
The weathering on the stone was excellent, and it had formed caves and cavities in some places. Maybe if the area weren't so seismically active, we'd have more legitimate dissolution caves around here. Some of the holes in the rock formed perches high above the trail. I wondered how many pounds of pot had been smoked up there over the years.
It was time to get back on the main trail home. I turned left on Shell Ridge Loop Trail, climbed left on an unnamed connector trail, and then rejoined Briones-to-Diablo Trail at the Shell Ridge boundary where I'd left the runners. As I broke out over the top of the climb, I was greeted by the bright orange glow of the setting sun, a sharp welcome contrast to the gloomy dark oak forest along Pine Creek.
With lots of downhill before me, the trail went by quickly and before I knew it, I was back at the singletrack, to Howe Homestead, and back home!
I was on a mission today. Remember that whole thing from yesterday where I wanted to go to Skyline Wilderness Park but went to SF instead?
Well, today was my big chance.
I got all geared up, threw the bike in the trunk of the car, and took off for Napa. Traffic was clear, and it didn't take long to get up there, arriving about 2:00 in the afternoon.
I'd heard it was a couple bucks more to park in the lot, so instead I parked the car on the roadside on nearby aptly-named Penny Ln., reassembled the bike, and rode 0.1 km to the gate. It was $4 to get in.
After a brief chat with the nice man in the gatehouse to get a map and information, I took off down the main dirt and gravel road, Lake Marie Road, headed for higher ground.
I passed a group of young kids pushing their BMX and mountain bikes up the hill, parents in tow. Looked like quite an expedition. I guess those uphills really do get easier with practice--I'm not an entirely old man yet!
Suddenly off to the right, I saw a mineshaft sunk into the hill! If you know me, you know what a fan of these things I am, so you won't be surprised to hear that I immediately threw my bike down at the side of the trail and decided to commence a full exploration of the tunnel. This was completed in short order, as the tunnel was only about 3 meters long.
The kids loved it, though. They were all shouting, "A cave! A cave!" Ah, youth.
I got back on and continued the climb as the trail turned southward
Sweating up a storm, I stopped at a place called Fig Tree. I did not see a fig tree anywhere, but that was apparently the name of this picnic area with a little bench and outhouse. The outhouse was guarded by a lizard and a fleet (well, at least two) of wasps.
The trail forked here, and I turned more sharply uphill toward where I knew was singletrack. This was a total climb-and-a-half, since I think I was going the opposite direction that most mountain bikers go. But I managed to get up there only getting off my bike once (although I would be hoofing it many times over the course of the day.)
Once it reached elevation, the trail turned southeast again and made an effort of following the hill's contour. Bursting out of the oaks at the top of the hill, suddenly I was very much reminded of Bidwell Park in Chico, much the same was the terrain and foliage. And the sun beat similarly down upon me.
Not for long! The trail plunged into a long grove of oak, and I found myself looking at the towering stone chimney of a ruined house from long ago. Bits of the foundation were visible there, too, overgrown and covered with moss. I wonder what the history of this place is?
From there, the trail narrowed, and plunged into a long grove of oak, with easy narrow twists and turns. Lots of fun! Presently, Lake Marie became visible through the trees on the left, 20 meters down the hill, but the trail continued along past it.
Crossing the feeder creek, I made note of a few turnoffs I wanted to investigate later, and then kept heading uphill, looking for the end of the park. It wasn't particularly steep or technical, so it didn't take long to get to the fence.
But there was a gate on it! Apparently beyond the fence lies Sonora Ridge Trail, which I'd never heard of. Looked bike-friendly (I later verified that it was), so I went on through. This led me on a very pleasant 2 km loop, across two bridges over the creek, and back to the starting point near the end of the park trail. This is the perfect loop to do once you get up there. As long as you don't mind the familiar (at least to Chico folk) stinging sensation of starthistle poking at your legs, anyway.
Having had done some exploration on the south side of the creek, it was time to head to the north side. I pedaled up Cahparral Trail with views down onto Lake Marie. This trail quickly steepened and cut two harsh switchbacks which were impossible for me to navigate uphill. Even downhill would have been tough, and a crash would have sent you sprawling down a steep starthistle-infested slope. I walked it past, and kept going.
Dropping back to lake level, I crossed the earthen dam and met up with the man-of-the-family I'd seen on the trail earlier. They had come up to fish, but apparently only one of the bikes made it up. (They took the rest back down to their cars.)
"Do they stock the lake?" I asked.
He watched as one of the girls grabbed some bait from the tacklebox and ran eagerly back to the shore.
"I don't know," he said with a smile.
Turning around, I crossed the dam again, and ran west on Marie Creek Trail. This was a mostly good fast trail with some obstacles (big rocks and wood) and steep drops and steps. I had lowered my seat earlier because this allows you to actually lower your butt behind the seat while the bike is going very steeply downhill. It's important to do that so that the center of gravity doesn't get too far forward and you do exactly what I'm about to tell you I did.
The trail dropped off some rocks, losing about 1 meter of elevation in the span of 1 meter. 45-degree slope. As I approached, I analyzed the best slope, and took it, not looking far enough ahead to the bottom... where a nice stone ridge awaited my front wheel. The front wheel planted, and my center of gravity was not far enough back to prevent the bike from pitching forward and dumping me over the handlebars onto the trail. This is what is known as an "endo". It's not something you really ever want to do. Lots of potential for scrapes and bruises, as well as broken wrists, fingers, arms, noses, and teeth.
Down I went. Fortunately the trail where I landed was dirt. And maybe all the pushups I've been doing paid off, because my chin never hit the ground, and my sunglasses which were folded into the neck of my shirt were not crushed. My wrists and arms survived intact.
In fact, the only damage was a deep bruise to my left palm (still hurts now, but it should be 90% tomorrow and 100% the next day), and a small scrape and blood blister on my right middle finger knuckle. The bike has some scrapes on it, too.
Deciding I was ok, I went to move the bike, but the back wheel was locked up, and the brake was jammed closed. Curses. Luckily, all that had happened was the wreck had jarred the back wheel out of place at the hub by about 1-2 mm, and that was pressing the brake pads up against the tire rubber. I flipped the bike over, reset the wheel, and everything seemed good to go.
So I went, but a little more gingerly and scaredy-cat than before. The palm bruise made it a little uncomfortable to grip the handlebars, too.
But anyway! The trail paralleled a mossy stone wall that ran through the oaks, which I found fascinating. Greg has told me stories about these "mystery walls" around the Bay Area that predate western inhabitants, and I wondered if this was one of them. But there's no way to really tell. It was probably associated in some way with the ruins of the house, spotted earlier.
Cutting through the stone wall was the other end of Rim Rock Trail. I'd seen the far end of it by Chapparal Trail, but it was too steep to climb, and hardly utilized. Lots of switchbacks. So I thought I'd try it from this way. It was easier, to be sure, but in the end, I decided, it was still too steep. It would be a great hike, though--I suspect the views from the top of Sugarloaf Peak (497 meters) would be spectacular!
Instead, I followed a sign to Fig Tree which put me back to the picnic area I'd stopped at earlier in the day. I ate a PBJ, swapped out water bottles, and watched equestrians go by as I ate.
Rested, I turned back to follow Manzanita Trail on the north side of the creek. Some climbing put me back up a hill where, having lost momentum, I was forced to push the bike past a couple more switchbacks by hand. The terrain was very unforgiving with lots of rock outcroppings and big rocks embedded in the trail. I definitely was subjecting my tires, rims, and pedals to significant impact abuse on this. And it was technically very very challenging for me to ride and I was dabbing all over the place. Guess I need more practice! This trail makes all of China Camp look tame!
When I did stop, I could take in some of the views of the surrounding territory, which were good from this dry trail, aptly overground with low manzanita scrub.
As the trail rounded a hill, it turned into another oak grove, and began switching back to lose some elevation. The switchbacks were tight and steep and I was in no mood to be challenged by them. (I'd already lept over the handlebars on a switchback on Marie Creek Trail before the endo, and I figured that was enough off-bike excitement for a day.)
The last switchback was wide enough for me to negotiate, satisfyingly.
It was all downhill from there, past the disc golf course, past the archery range, and back to the park entrance. I ate my other sandwich, got another water bottle fill for the drive home, and hit the road.
For a quick bit of pleasure reading to tide you over until the next time I decide to write, here is a mountain bike ride report from Briones Regional Park two days ago. You can also view a map and profile of the ride.
The weather was showing a menacing storm cloud hovering off the coast, and general overcast, so this might have been one of the last chances of the season for a good dry ride. The overcast was keeping it cool, too, which was good since I figured there'd be the usual UP and DOWN of your standard Far East Bay park.
Started from the Lafayette BART station and headed up Happy Valley Road to Panorama Road. A short but good warmup, this, climbing about 60 meters.
Panorama climbs hard, and then keeps climbing hard as you turn off on Mariposa Trail on the dirt. I passed the westbound Mariposa turnoff, and opted for straight northbound. Lots of dry tall yellow grass on both sides, with groves of oak here and there. Fantastic gorge views toward Layafette ridge to the right, and the trail even narrowed to an obvious ridge at one point.
More serious climbing on Mariposa until it intersected Russell Peak Trail, which continues up to Russell Peak, elevation 413 m (maybe 250 m up from the start of Panorama Road.) And then it eventually turned into Briones Crest Trail.
Up until now, I'd been generally unhappy with the ups and downs. It's far from my favorite type of riding. But I was pleased to find that things generally improved once up past Russell Peak.
(Maybe next time I'll try coming in from Lafayette Ridge Trail, instead, even though the last climb on that up to Briones Crest looks daunting.)
There are a few cattle gates on this route. One of them, a beefy one just south of the Seaborg/Briones Crest intersection, has a broken hinge.
And there are a few cows, too. I stopped for a pick-me-up powerbar after the intro climb was over and had a chat with three cows that were sitting under a nearby tree chewing their cud, my partners in preprocessed culinary delights. They were non-responsive.
Back on and feeling renewed, the ups and downs seemed a little less crazy than before.
Clipping along toward the Crescent Ridge turnoff, I spotted a baby snake in the road ahead, repeating patterns on its back and sides! I swerved and brought my snake-leg high, avoiding him smartly. But of course I had to turn around to look. :)
(A week before, we'd had a run-in with a 1 m rattler in Ventana Wilderness between Redwood and Sykes Camps, so I was a little nervous!)
But this time, it was just a gopher snake. Probably. I didn't ask for a venom sample.
Overcast skies kept me cool as I arrived at the Briones Crest/Table Top Trail interchange. I had originally planned to stick to Briones Crest, but I'm a sucker for a view, and Table Top was looking like it had a view.
Good decision! I cranked up there, and enjoyed a nice relatively-flat ride along this great grass-lined trail, with views of Mount Diablo, Concord airport, the Benicia Bridge, and the Mothball Fleet. The delta dominated the distant horizon.
Curving back west, I rejoined the Briones Crest Trail and after a small dip, crested at Briones Peak (elevation 552 m.)
From there, it was all downhill to the Maricich Lagoons. The trail bent and twisted easily down the grassy hill. I passed a jogger and his pup, the first person I'd seen in the park (save a hiker and her two dogs I'd seen just exiting the park on Panorama Road.)
I got to the bottom of the hill and for once didn't get my map out, thus making the only wrong turn of the day. (By the time I sorted it out, I didn't feel like going back just to see the water fountain at the north end of the park.) As such, I didn't see the Maricich Lagoons, but turned northwest to stay on the Briones Crest Trail, instead of transitioning to the Old Briones Road Trail like I'd originally intended.
But I did see the more-impressive Sindicich Lagoons instead! These were beautiful reed-lined ponds, complete with ducks lazily paddling back and forth, wakes cutting silently over the dark surface of the water.
Up a mild hill to the (other) Lagoon Trail turnoff, I was greeted with more sweeping vistas, this time more northward. On a clearer day, it might have been even more magnificent, but today I was glad to not have a 1pm sun beating down on my back.
At this point, I decided to depart Briones Crest Trail, and headed down Abrigo Valley Trail to check out the group camps that were down there. This trail was steep and loose, and included the steepest and loosest terrain I saw, both in the same 20 m stretch of trail! It looked like maybe a grader had been out there recently.
(In retrospect, I would have stayed on Briones Crest, and then turned south on Santos Trail to get down to the same point, presuming Santos Trail is better... and then I would have had more of a chance to enjoy those Briones Crest views.)
In short order, I was down at the bottom of Abrigo Valley, and came to the Wee-Ta-Chi Camp nestled in a grove of oak. Filled up my water bottle, and continued down the valley, curving gradually to the left. Crossed the Abrigo Valley creek, but it was bone-dry.
This is a great little valley, with oak groves and grassy meadows. The gradual downhill makes it a joy to coast through.
The next group camp was Maud Whalen Camp, where I unfilled some of my water. (It looked like the bathrooms at Wee-Ta-Chi were locked, but not so at Maud Whalen.) This camp has a covered firecircle with capacity for probably 30-40 people.
Continuing down the valley, it's a quick downhill 1.5 km to Oak Grove and Newt Hollow picnic areas near the main entrance.
Here I met the second person of my trip, a jogger who was just starting her run. She asked me how to get to the view, and I gave her the reverse of my route. I wish I knew more, but it's only the first time I've been here!
With names like Oak Grove and Newt Hollow, which would you eat lunch at? Of course, Newt Hollow. There was a big grassy area with a flat concrete pad 2 m in diameter in its center... I presume this is newt country? There were no newts to be found this day, however.
I sat down and ate my peanut butter sandwich lunch, which had been comically flattened in-bag by the heavy-duty bungee-lashing I'd applied. Oh well.
No one was in the parking booth as I rode by, and headed up to Seaborg Trail, destination: Archery Range. (I love the name of this trail, by the way.)
Since I'd been thinking about getting back into archery, I wanted to check out what the Bay Area had to offer, which is actually what led me to this park in the first place. So I pedaled the short distance up Seaborg (!!) to Crescent Ridge Trail, and then to the range.
There was already one gentleman there from the Briones Archery Club, named Carl. He gave me the complete scoop on everything that had to do with Bay Area and Northern California archery, which was most excellent.
The atmosphere on the archery range is much much different than on the shooting range. The range itself is nestled in a small oak-lined canyon under Crescent Ridge. I like it.
From there, it was back to Seaborg, where I intended to have a look at the less-developed Homestead Valley Camp. But instead I was distracted suddenly by an giant herd of goats coming out of the camp road!
I stopped my bike and got off, having no idea if you could actually spook goats, or what. They didn't seem scared, but were definitely gravitating toward me. Must have been the tasty-looking brake cables.
Fortunately, before any taste-testing could occur, the two goat-dogs intervened and herded them away to the west. The shepard (goat-herd?) said hi, and told me I could keep on riding--I guess goats aren't easily spooked after all.
I was so impressed by the skills of the dogs, and by the fact that a few lonely raindrops were starting to fall out of the darkening sky, that I forgot about the Homestead Camp, and just kept heading up the canyon past the broadleaf trees growing out of the seasonal creek next to the road.
Seaborg is an easy trail until the last bit, where it basically shoots straight up the hill. Ugh. Very powdery trail, too, but not so much you can't pedal up.
It might be steep, but that part's mercifully short. And I was back on Briones Crest Trail again, this time heading home. One final climb up Russell Peak (because once a day just isn't enough, I guess!) and then it was down the crest back to Panorama Road. The light rain was just enough that I was starting to flip mudflecks into my face (haven't been able find my sunglasses since the Ventana trip) but the firetrail was still solid.
Panorama Road and Happy Valley Road were damp (downhill muddy tires wet asphalt woo), but it was easy from there back to BART and home!
Overall, this is a mighty fine park, I think. There's a lot of opportunity for a lot of big loops. I'm even willing to forgive the up-downiness, and that's saying a lot.
I'd rate the ride as moderate exercise, low technical difficulty. 23.6 km.
