{"id":1364,"date":"2016-12-03T07:40:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T15:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1364"},"modified":"2018-09-11T11:49:45","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T19:49:45","slug":"black-mountain-sytt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1364","title":{"rendered":"Black Mountain & SYTT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I managed to get back out to the Santa Ysabel Truck and the Black Mountain <\/a>near Ramona.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-01\"<\/a>
\n(Along the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail)<\/p>\n

The weather guessers were call in for a storm to hit the area in the afternoon, so I packed up the rain gear before heading out.\u00a0\u00a0 Typically I do about a 29 mile loop that includes Santa Ysabel Truck Trail, Black Mountain, \u00a0Pamo Valley and a bit dirt road and pavement interconnects.\u00a0\u00a0 Today I was going to be doing an out-and-back variant of the ride.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-02\"<\/a>
\n(A section of the area spared from the 2007 wildfires)<\/p>\n

I parked at the east end of the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail near the bridge on Black Canyon Road and headed out west.\u00a0\u00a0 The climbing is very mild but considering how much of a slacker I had been as of late I\u00a0could tell there was some rust\u00a0in the legs.\u00a0 The last time I had here was when I did this as a section of the Coast-to-Crest trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-04\"<\/a>
\n(Pamo Valley from the lower parts of the Black Mountain Truck Trail)<\/p>\n

Once I hooked up with the Black Mountain Truck Truck, I turned uphill and started the sizable climb.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-05\"<\/a>
\n(Climbing Climbing Climbing, Pamo Valley getting smaller)<\/p>\n

I was not sure if I was going to go all the way to the top or not.\u00a0\u00a0 I planned on turning around if the legs cried uncle or if I got caught in a sustained pummeling of rain.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-08\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The weather was starting to deteriorate around me as I continued climbing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I could see it raining in the distance\u00a0on\u00a0either side of me\u00a0but\u00a0my little patch of the world was dry.\u00a0\u00a0About 3\/4ths of the way\u00a0up\u00a0my legs were getting to wank but I was\u00a0able to\u00a0keep\u00a0going.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was also getting\u00a0colder and the wind was kicking up.\u00a0\u00a0I was too hot with the wind breaker on\u00a0and my\u00a0chest was a\u00a0bit cold without it and just the short sleeve jersey.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0always\u00a0keep a bandana in my pack\u00a0and it came in pretty handy in this case.\u00a0 I unfolded it about halfway\u00a0\u00a0and stuff inside my jersey as an additional layer in the front.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now most of Black Mountain has been covered in scrub in the past put the top of the mountain has some pine trees.\u00a0 These pines were originally planted as part of the ongoing Penny Pines program <\/a>that started in California in 1941.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of those pines were burned in the 2007 wildfire but a patch of the them at the very top were spared.<\/p>\n

\"blackmountainsytt-26nov16-11\"<\/a>
\n(View from the summit with Lake Sutherland in the background)<\/p>\n

It was a bit chilly up on the summit and the wind was whipping pretty good.\u00a0 I typically enjoying hanging out up here and enjoying lunch but the wind made it pretty uncomfortable so after snapping some shots I made my way over to spot back along the trail that offered some shelter from the wind to have my lunch.\u00a0\u00a0 While taking those pictures, it came pretty clear to me that my luck with the rain was going to run out soon.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I hurried up with the snacks and then headed back down the mountain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was quick work back down to the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is some climbing to be done on the way back along that truck trail and my legs were pretty shot at this point.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With about 15 minutes left in the ride a steady\u00a0light rain started.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My windbreaker\/raincoat was doing its job quite nicely and I spun my way back to truck.\u00a0\u00a0 About 30 seconds after I was all packed up and sitting in my truck the \u201cbottom fell out\u201d and a pounding rain last for most of my drive back into Ramona.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I felt pretty lucky to have snuck in a ride before the storm and was happy to get back out this little corner of the county.\u00a0\u00a0 A great day to be out on a bike!<\/p>\n

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