Santa Cruz mountains in January

[Jilleo]

Good point. Thanks. Usually when my friends and I make the long drive out to Demo, we ride a couple of loops and climb the Sulphur Springs fire road. Never loaded, but it is considerably shorter than the ride-around on Highland and Buzzard Lagoon. It takes half the time or less if you include the time you take riding out Hihn's Mill Road. When I'm fresh I can clear the whole thing, but once we did three trips down (only time I tried Braille, Tractor, and Sawpit together) and by the third climb I had to push the final half. Climbing is about the only thing I'm sort of good at on a mountain bike. I pretty much tolerate the scary downhills so I can enjoy the scenic climbs. I do enjoy riding the Braille Trail, although I don't take advantage of any of the features. C Line forever.

If anyone has ridden the John Nicholas trail I'd love to hear a report. Better uphill or down? I'm putting together a ride for this Saturday and would like to check out these newly open trails.

[Krampus Snail]

Here's the report on John Nicholas, which I went to today:

All you advanced riders and advanced intermediates, nothing there for you! Boring! Nothing to see, move along! You wouldn't like the trail at all. You could do it on a road bike, ugh.

Advanced riders gone? Good. OK, now I'm just talking to people who don't want those technical features, right? Great. This trail is a gem. It's fantastic. You'll love it. I did it uphill, but it would also be good downhill.

You start off at the end of Sanborn Road. To get up to the dam, you have to ride up a rather tedious and steep dirt road. You may get off to go through the gate, and then you might say, well, I'll just walk this little steep section so it's easier to get started riding again. But it keeps on being steep, so just get on the bike and ride.

Soon you get to the dam, and to what is normally a lake but is currently a puddle. You're finished with the ugly fireroad and you've gotten to the good stuff. Go right and begin climbing through the woods. Now you're on the brand new trail, which I think is technically a doubletrack-- it's as wide as a Bobcat. The trail is sinuous, but instead of sharp switchbacks it has smoother curves. You cross three new bridges, noticing the beautiful stonework Tomikaze mentioned.

The trail climbs and climbs, swooping through the woods. It's steep, but not ridiculously steep. You come to a canyon corner with a gorgeous little stone arch bridge/support. At this time of year, watch out for salamanders strolling along the trail; I saw dozens, and sadly I think I squashed one poor fellow by mistake.

Near the top there are the easiest switchbacks in the world-- even I can do them. There's a section with spectacular views on the valley, and another section with spectacular views of a canyon.

Finally you T into the Skyline Trail, which is actually a fireroad. I went left because I needed to get to Skyline Road and head home. You could go right, go left to continue for some miles on Skyline Trail, or turn around and descend.

After a little bit, Skyline Trail comes to a parking lot off Skyline Road. I headed down Skyline Road, then Black Road. Halfway down I came to the other part of John Nicholas Trail, the fire road from Black Road back to the little lake. Long long ago, this fire road was open to bikes, and I have no idea why it was ever closed. It's a fire road through the woods, it's fairly flat, and it takes you to another fire road. Anyway, it's open now. You can take it to return to the lake, drop down the steep fire road, and return to the start.

The whole new section of John Nicholas is beautiful. It's smooth,  it has more curves than Marilyn Monroe, it has beautiful stonework, it goes up up up but not so steeply that you have to walk. You could ride it on a road bike, and at some point I probably will. Bravo, Santa Clara County Parks.

 

[Jilleo]

Great report! Thank you. My friend and I are going to head that way on Saturday. We'll probably connect up all the trails along Skyline starting with Black Mountain down around Russian Ridge, then south to John Nicholas, exiting on Sanborn Road. It all sounds right up our alley. Thanks again.

[Krampus Snail]

You could even get more extreme with that route, by heading down John Martins, out the other part of John Martins to Black Road, down Black Road (paved) to Lexington Reservoir, and then you could climb up one of those tough climbs and ride dirt all the way to and through Almaden Quicksilver.

[Jilleo]

So I attended a meeting of the Silicon Valley Mountain Bikers last night. (http://www.romp.org) Great group! After trying out those newly opened trails in Sanborn, I realized that I need to take a more active advocacy role in my home region. I committed to joining a campaign to urge San Mateo County to open trails in the San Francisco Watershed District to public use.

I also learned that MPOSD is working on a trail to Mount Umunhum and pretty close to obtaining the rights-of-way to legalize access to not only the peak, but up and over the Loma Prieta area to Summit Road — so you could plausibly ride dirt all the way from San Jose to Santa Cruz (through Sierra Azul, over Mount Um, down Loma Prieta and Soquel Demo to Aptos.) Exciting projects.

[tomikaze]

Nice description, krampus. Same way I felt about it. Very visually rewarding.

[MattL]

Jill,

From experience, Summit Rd is sketchy.  I tried to do that a couple years ago, got to the PRIVATE ROAD sign and bailed left down something very steep into Uvas County Park.  See also http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=601453

I definitely recommend the climb up Redwood Retreat to Mt Madonna.  It is steep, buried in the redwoods, and beautiful.

I also love that your giant loop finishes up in Stevens Canyon headed home.  I live in Sunnyvale, and wrapping up by coming down that trail, then Foothill Blvd, would be pretty awesome.

[Krampus Snail]

Other people I know claim that Summit is legal all the way through, and the Private Road sign should be ignored-- the road is private, but there's an easement.

[Jilleo]

I rode the dirt part of Summit Road once, this past May. Climbed up via Loma Prieta and exited down Mount Madonna. I also was sketched out by unfriendly vibes and a "no bikes" sign, but I researched it afterward and Summit is 100 percent open. The issue was taken to court and ruled in favor of public use, and while the signs are still up, they have no legal bearing. Other nearby roads in that region, including the Ormsby Cutoff, are closed to public use but potentially could be opened if the issue were taken to court. A few others are inarguably private. Either way I didn't enjoy the vibe and am not in a hurry to go back.

There are a number of land parcels in that region that are currently owned by the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District but not open to public use. The MPOSD is working on building new trails and securing easements via their current projects plan, and reportedly the Mount Um area and new trails could open as soon as 2017. It's still a long way out, but encouraging nonetheless.

I recently planned a three-day loop with campground camping in Aptos and Big Basin, but my friend and I opted for a more relaxed overnighter in the Big Sur region. I'm hoping to find time for this Santa Cruz trip before the end of the year. 

[ScottyJ]

For an overview of the best of Coe, I recommend checking out the Hard Coere 100. I've ridden ~45 miles of it and even that was a brutal route, with a few fun things thrown in: http://www.strava.com/activities/90175912

@jilleeo has summed up the Hard Coe'r perfectly I rode about 60- 65 miles of that route and it was absolutely brutal with just enough incredibly fun, remote, singletrack to make it appealing.

[niknak]

I rode from my place in San Jose up Redwood Retreat > Mt. Madonna dirt > along Summit > down Mt. Bache > along Summit > down OSCH for the first time last week. Despite the no biking signs the ride was a blast. The locals along the "Private Road" section just ignored me as they drove past.



If I were in better shape, I could see continuing on Summit Road north and connecting with John Nicholas Trail and the trail that parallels 35 to Castle Rock and then descending Hwy 9 back to civilization.

[ec_duz_it]

I am visiting family in Santa Cruz next weekend (they are near the beach off Cliff drive) and I am thinking about doing these two loops.  Or perhaps even combining these two loops into one big ride, but probably not since I do need to spend some time with family after all. 

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8158978

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8158957

These loops share a good amount of Jill's mega loop. 

If any of you have any input on making these better, let me know.  The more singletrack, the better since I am training for the Dixie 200.   I know theses GPX routes are a bit sloppy.  I could not find all GPX files for DeLaVeaga Park, but this map should work nicely for navigating that area: 

http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/home/showdocument?id=12053

[r.stephens]

I committed to joining a campaign to urge San Mateo County to open trails in the San Francisco Watershed District to public use.

If you mean the watershed on the west side of the Crystal Springs and San Andreas reservoirs, that would be great. I live in Pacifica and every time I'm up on that ridge from my side and come to that locked gate, I wish I could continue. I have ridden those fire roads with a guide (you can sign up on the SF water website). We came in from hwy 92 and went to the other side of that gate in Pacifica, and though it's not exactly exciting (all wide fire road) it would at least be a good way to connect to the 92/skyline area.
The main reason they won't open that land to public use is fire risk. A fire on that ridge would quickly contaminate the reservoirs with ash, totally choking off the Harry Tracy treatment plant that normally supplies up to 144 million gallons a day to the area.
But having said that, I'm totally down for trying to help get it opened up! Let me know how to participate.

[wet__burrito]

Hey Y'all

Trying to ride dirt over a two day span from SF to SC.

Been reading all of your posts and even checked out some of those strava routes which were very helpful. If anyone has better ideas please let me know!

B

[ScottyJ]

There are a lot of great routes, I recommend Gazos Creek road and the connector from Little basin up to Empire Grade.

[Krampus Snail]

The last time I rode the connector from Little Basin to Empire Grade, the gate was locked at the Empire Grade end. That's OK for you strong dudes, but I have trouble lifting my bike over a barbed wire fence- it's a heavy steel bike and I' m not strong enough to lift it. I ended up taking off the bikepacking bags, removing the front wheel and sliding the bike UNDER the gate. So, be aware there's a gate.

[wet__burrito]

This is what i have so far.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15906961

What you think?

B

[lnarachi]

I like the route !
Has anyone ridden the Kings Creek Truck Trail ?
I ride by that on a road bike with carbon wheels and tubulars, so I am not going to try it on that bike.
I am putting together a bikepacking rig and would love to ride these routes.
I live in Boulder Creek, and am encouraging my wife to join me on some short bikepacking overnighters just to see if she would like it.

[bikeny]

Hi Everyone! Some great info here, thanks! I'm going to be in SF over the summer for work, and thinking about bringing my bike along and doing a 2-3 day loop. I've looked through the other posted routes and started to put a route together. I'd be leaving right from the city, which is where I started this route from. Wondering if it would be better to hop on BART for a bit to get out of the city quicker? Also trying to figure out a way north again with some dirt from where my route ends. Comments appreciated! Thanks, Mark.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18492392

[ec_duz_it]

For south of SF, I would stick to Jilleo's loop that she posted here awhile back. I have done the segments near Santa Cruz, and its quite fun.  For north of the bridge, here is a loop my friend put together who used to live in Marin.  I have never done the whole loop, but I have done a lot of segments of it.  It has a lot of pavement, but a lot of fun singletrack riding as well.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18691103