Santa Cruz mountains in January

[worntreads]

Hey all I'm looking to do 5 to 7 days this January in cali. I'm thinking around Santa Cruz.

Sc seems like a lot of making it up as I go along. Anyone got routes?

[Jilleo]

Are you looking for a multi-day tour, or just day rides?

A couple of years ago I did a variation of a coastal tour designed by Rick Hunter, about 300 miles from the Santa Cruz Mountains to SLO through the Santa Cruz and Ventana Mountains onto Highway 1. It's a beautiful route but probably only ~30% dirt and not much trail. All the legal trail rides I can think of would be short day rides, but you could link a bunch together for a fun weekend.

This is an idea I came up with once for a big, majority dirt, trail-linkup, 111-mile loop. A chunk of Santa Cruz riding could easily be added. I'll get around to trying it someday. http://www.strava.com/routes/38052

[Krampus Snail]

Great route, Jilleo. Now that I know about it, I have to try it, over several days, as a bikepacking trip. I'll reroute the section at the end that goes down Table Mountain, though. It's nominally uphill only for bikes, and I wouldn't enjoy the downhill anyway. It'll be easy enough to ride over to Grizzly Flat and down that way.

[Jilleo]

Oh your right. I thought I had the route going down Grizzly Flat. I've only climbed Table Mountain as well, never descended, and agree it would be a jerky downhill ride. Plus, I am a rule abider to a fault. Recently I have been using Strava's heat maps to try to "discover" new trails and dirt roads in this region. There are a surprising number of completely blank spots on the map where nobody rides (probably private lands), and a not-so-surprising high incidence of trail poaching that skews the data.

I'm working on putting together a few more loops for winter training rides. I could link a few of these route ideas together for a comprehensive bikepacking tour of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Perhaps I'll post it here when I'm done. I'll do my best to avoid illegal trails.

[Krampus Snail]

I'd like to think of a two or three day trip with a lot of dirt, that includes San Pedro Mountain Road (aka Planet of the Apes). I did Planet of the Apes the last time I did a road tour down the coast from Oregon, and loved it. Maybe go to Skyline via Windy Hill as you did, drop down through Purisima Creek, then head north toward Montara (there's a path along the ocean for part of it) and ride the old Highway 1, then return south via San Pedro Mountain, the old old Highway 1. Or supposedly there's a way to ride through to the coast just north of Pacifica through Sweeney Ridge?

[sam.pederson]

I have lots of routes, done a lot of bikepacking in the SC mountains.

If you want dirt, and singletrack, you'll definitely want to bend the rules.

Looking for a travel partner, let me know. I can help plan it.

A good start would be ALL the stuff on top of skyline blvd. That's mostly legal, and great singletrack.

Other suggestions: The old haul road and thereabouts.

Word of warning, not all of the campgrounds are open during the winter. Only Butano, Big Basin, and some of the county parks.

I've done 65 miles, 10,000 feet in a day, with mostly dirt and plenty of sick singletrack. I like to ride from the San Jose side back to Santa Cruz, where I live.

[THE LONG RANGER]

The trail system on Sweeny Ridge will take you from around Rockaway Beach, to the University (was just on this, a coupla days ago), which beats the highway, although I don't think bikes are allowed on it. I do think you just use  Sharp Park Road for that route, if my memory serves - it's been ~ 7 years on that one!

[Jilleo]

I'm working on a partial dirt loop around the Santa Cruz Mountains that I'm hoping to entice a couple of friends to join me for a tour sometime in the spring. Any feedback would be appreciated. My objective is to keep it 100% legal, include a few fun (legal) trails, but not have it end up too convoluted.

A friend and I are planning to head to Pacifica this weekend to scout out Rancho Corral de Tierra and possible links to Montara Mountain. I've never ridden there, so it will be a fun exploration ride. The next part of the project will be to scout for better roads/trails near Uvas Reservoir

The idea would be to ride a clockwise direction and probably credit-card tour with hotels. It is tough to find spots to camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I'm building the route here: http://www.strava.com/routes/1108734

It's a work in progress. Suggestions welcomed.

[Krampus Snail]

That's awesome. You even included that little cut-through from Little Basin up to Empire Grade! But how about after you do the loop through Demo and go out Buzzard's Lagoon, you then take a left on Highland instead of a right on Eureka Canyon, go up to Summit, and cut through Summit all the way to Mount Madonna? Totally 100% legal, and it adds more dirt and subtracts more pave.

I also notice you didn't add the totally 100% crazy option:   after you head east and cross 101 in Morgan Hill,  cut through Harvey Bear and up to the Hunting Hollow entrance to Henry Coe, and then do a few loops there. Yeah. Because the rest of the trip is too easy.

I think it's probably easier to stealth camp than to find hotels.

[Jilleo]

Thanks for weighing in. Good idea about including Summit Road. I rode that way last spring while trying to find a route to Loma Prieta, and got the sense that the locals weren't all that cyclist friendly (I saw a no-bikes sign posted on somebody's private gate.) The best linkup is that Ormsby cut-off, but I heard that road is gated. But that's worth scouting out as well.

I showed the route to another friend, and he mentioned we should include Coe on our tour. Coe is technically part of the Diablo Range, so it doesn't fit in my "Santa Cruz Mountains" tour. But yes, Coe does have the bonus of lots of singletrack and wild camping options. I admit I'm not the biggest fan of Coe. I view it as a menagerie of hike-a-bike, steep loose downhill, sun-exposed hike-a-bike, poison oak tunnel, hike-a-bike fire road, tarantulas, rattle snakes, no water, very thirsty, crazy downhill, etc. Fun for a three-hour ride, but pretty brutal for any distance farther than 15 miles. It's hot nearly year-round, except for the two months in the winter when it's frigid. And yet I gave serious consideration to a Hard Coere 100 attempt with a friend in early October. Then I was injured and unable to ride, and it turned out to be 95 degrees that weekend anyway. Yeah, no thanks.

I'm hoping to "fast" tour the 500K in four or so days, probably pre-planning indoor stays in Morgan Hill, Santa Cruz, and Pacifica or San Bruno. I'm trying to sell it as a luxury, get-away-from-breakup-to-sunny-California comfort tour for two friends in Alaska who aren't opposed to long days in the saddle. So not exactly bikepacking. Credit card bikepacking. Is that a thing?

I might be willing to bend on 100% legal for some good sneaks. That Empire Grade to Little Basin cut-through was one I wasn't sure about. I've ridden probably about 60 to 70 percent of this route, and hope to scout the rest this winter, as search out the the best options in places like Skeggs and Santa Cruz. I got the idea from this thread. It seemed like a fun project.

Thanks again.

[Krampus Snail]

I haven't ridden Summit all the way through, but I've heard (from roadies riding dirt) that it's good. It's on my list of rides to do. Possibly on a road bike.

It's my belief that the fire road cut-through from Little Basin to Empire Grade is legal. There's a trail nearby which is illegal, but when I was on the fire road a couple of months ago, I saw no No Bikes signs at either end. I think it's legal.

Credit card bikepacking. Sure. Why not?

[sam.pederson]

Most everything around is illegal. Traditionally mountain biking around Santa Cruz has been considered a pest of an activity. Only recently have things begun to change, with the opening of the Emma Mccrary trail through Pogonip. This is all thanks to the heroic efforts of local advocates MBOSC, see www.mbosc.org.

As far as illegal trails, the question for most locals is whether it is a bust or not. For example, everyone rides UCSC, probably the most popular spot to ride in the SC mountains. But it's not legal (well, fire roads are, but who wants to ride those). But just about everyone rides there.

Fall creek, on the other hand, is close by, fantastic singletrack, and very illegal. Ride it during the day and you'll not only get lectured by hikers, but you may be in for a ticket. So don't do it. Same for big basin. Stick to the fire roads there, because singletrack is a no go.

Other spots may be private property. This can be dicey. In my experience the properties owned by logging companies are the ones you'll usually be OK on (as long as they aren't hauling out logs while you're there). The guys working for these companies don't really give a crap about bike riders. They are out there to do a job, which does not include enforcement. Ranches on the other hand -- stay off those. They are private.

Different spots vary. The area up by little basin is nearly a no mans land. Nobody around to lecture or cite you and certainly plausible deniability can work in your favor.

Here's a writeup of a recent adventure my friend did on cross bike that went through that area:

http://brokenandcoastal.com/eagle-rock-big-basin-jay-camp/

[Krampus Snail]

The fire road from Little Basin to Empire Grade appears to be a dirt road that is legal not only to bike on, but to drive on. When I rode it a few months ago, the lower gate (from Little Basin Road) was open, and the upper gate was unlocked. If the 'cross bikers had gone just a little further along Empire Grade, they could have skipped the part about lifting their bikes over the barbed wire, and just opened the gate and gone through. Then they would have gone down the fire road just a little bit, and come to an intersection where the left fork goes to Little Basin and the right fork goes to Eagle Rock.

[ec_duz_it]

Nice route Jill.  This looks promising.  Claude Frat is working on a loop of similar size in Marin on the other side of the GG bridge that could connect with this one for a super huge 600 mile figure-8 loop!  Both routes have a good amount of pavement, but the singletracks would probably make the stretches of pavement worth it. 

[Jilleo]

Thanks Erin. Pavement is unavoidable for long-distance rides in this region, but I really enjoy the road riding in the Santa Cruz Mountains. So many narrow, scenic, steep and winding roads with low traffic to choose from. I tried to keep my route to mostly secondary roads and fire roads, and included a few of may favorite trails within reach (Like the Braille Trail in Demo, and Whittemore Gulch in Purisima, plus Skeggs). I can't really get behind poaching, although I'm not one who would lecture others for riding illegal trails. I also think it's lame that there are so many restrictions on what are truly uncrowded areas, and I'm aware that Santa Cruz has an entire culture of insider trail knowledge. Still, I think there's a lot of fun to be had without getting yelled at by hikers.

Conceptualizing the an aesthetic local touring route is a fantastic excuse to explore new trail systems in the name of scouting. I'm really looking forward to exploring Pacifica this weekend.

I'd love to check out that Marin loop when it's finished. I'm hoping to finally explore the Los Padres route this coming year as well. What's the earliest in the year you think it's mostly rideable? Are you planning on holding another group ride this coming spring?

[ec_duz_it]

I am sure Claude will post his route when it is ready.  I think he is still working on it. From what I have seen, it has a very similar ratio of pavement to dirt to your route.  One area that was not included in your route that comes to mind is Henry Coe SP.  They even have bikepacking trails called out on their website:  http://coepark.net/pineridgeassociation/activities/mountain-biking/bikepacking   Just a thought...

To answer your question, the start date for TDLP 2015 will be April 10th, 2015.  This date is pretty early historically speaking, but assuming we have another drought this winter/ spring, this date should work again.  And that is peak time for flowers in Carizzo Plain (if we ever get enough precipitation for the flower seeds to germinate!). There will be some minor modifications to the route, but nothing too major. I will have the revised route information on the website by Thanksgiving. 

[Jilleo]

I detailed above some of the reasons why I didn't include Coe in my route. The reasons boil down to ... I don't really want to subject my friends — who I'm trying to coax to visit me in California under the guise of a friendly bike tour — to Coe. It's a great adventure spot for this region — remote, rugged, all steep, and allows wild camping. But it's notably different from most of the riding in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I think my friends and I could average 8-10 miles per hour on my current route. Through Coe, maybe 5 mph. Maybe.

Coe trails probably have quite a few similarities to the TDLP route, I'm guessing. Like I said, Coe is great, in the right mindset. But I view my route as a fun and scenic tour, and Coe is more of a tough adventure.

[sam.pederson]

Jill, that's a pretty cool route you got going.

One suggestion is that area around monte bello - I'd go up monte bello road and through the preserve, rather than taking stevens canyon. Stevens canyon is paved, but Monte Bello turns into dirt and there's some great singletrack up there, all legal.

Saratoga gap is a nice stretch of singeltrack too, pretty close to there. If you decide to camp, rather than CC tour, Castle rock state park is a great option. You aren't allowed to ride castle rock, except for the service road that takes you down into the camp. But it's a nice campground and nearly always empty(ish), unless they have a big group event like boy scouts. Pro tip: The gun range next to the entrance to the service road has vending machines, where you can get gatorade, granola bars and junk food (which I don't normally eat, but after climbing 5,000 feet last time, a snickers was awesome). You don't need to go directly to the ranger station, you can ride right to camp and pay your fees at a drop box, which will save you a few miles of road riding.

Also, just so you know, a good chunk of the old haul road is 100% legal. As is part of the tarwater trail loop, which is one of the most beautiful and unknown little trails around here.

People have been doing adventure rides up in those hills before there were mountain bikes.

For some fun stories, check out Ray Hosler's blog (and I highly recommend his magazine "Adventure Rides in the Santa Cruz Mountains". He and Jobst Brandt were wandering these trails on steel road bikes:

http://home.comcast.net/~rayhosler/bayareabikerides/

[sam.pederson]

I detailed above some of the reasons why I didn't include Coe in my route.

I think of Coe as something different entirely. Awesome, and brutal, but completely different terrain. There's very little overlap on the types of trees you see there vs the SC mountains.

It's also big enough that you could do 7 days up there on bikes without leaving the park.

I do like Erin's idea of linking the two though. Would be quite the adventure.

[sam.pederson]

Here is another suggestion: Down near Butano. Your route goes up Gazos Creek Road (paved).

I would suggest to instead go through Butano State Park (take Olemo road to Butano Ridge) and this would be dirt. It's a fire road, and totally legal. A very strange landscape up there, you'll have lots of wide open views of the Chalks (white mountains that used to be seafloor). Highly recommended.