{"id":2086,"date":"2019-09-08T22:43:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T06:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2019-09-15T04:59:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T12:59:23","slug":"cuyamaca-abdsp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=2086","title":{"rendered":"Cuyamaca – ABDSP"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was time for a dawn patrol ride in the Cuyamaca Mountains<\/a> and Anza Borego Desert State Park.\u00a0\u00a0 I was at the trailhead bright and early.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Too early was my first thought as it was quite brisk (mid-50’s) and I was dressed for the heat to come.<\/p>\n

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I started out at the San Diego River Staging area.\u00a0 The early morning temps\u00a0 made for a zippy start to\u00a0help keep the blood flowing.<\/p>\n

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Still some flower out and about in the fields.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I made my way up the west side single track and then cut over to the at the visitor center and picked up the Green Valley fire road.<\/p>\n

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Mule Deer, the Ross Perot of the deer family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I saw turkeys and some deer along way.\u00a0\u00a0 When I got to the bottom of Soapstone grade fire road, I took the Upper Green Valley single track.\u00a0\u00a0 About half way up the climb you leave the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and enter the Anza Borrego Desert state park.\u00a0\u00a0 Now it looks nothing like a desert up here.<\/p>\n

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Along the La Cima trail heading east<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Normally,\u00a0I hookup with the La Cima Trail and head west toward Lake Cuyamaca and the California Riding and Hiking Trail<\/a> (CRHT).\u00a0 Today I turned east on the La Cima trail where I went for just over a mile up and over a ridge to the La Cima Trailhead.\u00a0\u00a0 This was a nice bit of trail.\u00a0\u00a0 At the La Cima trailhead I picked up the Sunrise trail and continued east.<\/p>\n

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Views along the Sunrise trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What a nice bit of trail.\u00a0 There were one spot where you could look down into the Anza Borrego Desert and see the Salton Sea.<\/p>\n

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The Salton Sea is out there in the haze.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I took the Sunrise trail out to its end at the entrance to the Lucky 5 ranch and the northern terminus of Deer Park Road (private property).\u00a0\u00a0 This was my first time on this bit of trail and I must say I liked it.\u00a0\u00a0I have heard that there is a trail planned that would stay on the south side of sunrise highway and connect the Sunrise trail\u00a0all the way over to top of Noble Canyon<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 I am all about new trails and I would gladly welcome such a trail.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Interestingly enough there is already a trail that connects those two points together.\u00a0 The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is that trail.\u00a0 There are access points to the PCT at the the entrance to the Lucky 5 ranch as well as at the top of Noble Canyon.\u00a0 Unfortunately bikes are\u00a0off limits on the PCT.\u00a0\u00a0 Now this particularly section is not off limits to bikes because it is in wilderness.\u00a0 No it is strictly off limits to bikes because the PCT has a blanket ban on bikes mostly because the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) feels bike should not be on “their” trail.\u00a0 (I’m grossly\u00a0generalizing their position that from their perspective makes sense)<\/em><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 To me\u00a0it seems to be a nearly a no brainer\u00a0that allowing bikes on the PCT\u00a0section that is on the north side of the Sunrise Highway from Lucky 5 to Noble would\u00a0alleviate the need to build a trail between those two points on the south side of Sunrise Highway.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This makes me wonder, would the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) rather see additional environmental impacts created in this area to create a redundant trail just so they could continue to keep bikes off of the PCT?\u00a0 Is their need to maintain\u00a0a certain trail experience greater than their land stewardship goals?\u00a0\u00a0 Would the organizations that support the PCTA simultaneously oppose the creation of the new trail on the south side of the trail due to environmental impacts while also opposing the sharing of the section PCT on the north side of Sunrise highway?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Well after my deep thoughts I started working my way back the California Riding and Hiking trail.\u00a0 It was well into mid-morning at this point and things had warmed up to near perfect cycling temps.\u00a0 Along the way I came upon the fellow above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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After a bit of snake and camera juggling, I was back on my way and rejoined the CRHT which took me to Soapstone and Stonewall fire roads followed by the Coldsprings trail and the then back to the staging area via the westside single<\/p>\n

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Good times on the trails!<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Goodies in the Mail<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Video Tinker Time in Alpine<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Goodies in the Mail<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Hurkey Creek \u2013 Post Fire<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>