Trails – Page 22 – The Ramblings of MTBBill

Hodges, Black Mountain Sycamore

I have hit up several different places over the last week.

I started the week off with meeting some new and old friends for a spin through Sycamore Canyon and then some. There will be some updates on my site in the coming weeks for this area. Biggest takeaway for now is to stay east of the watershed running down the middle of the canyon as the Marines are patrolling their land that is on the west side of the seasonal creek. Instead of parking at the dirt lot near Mast and Medina, park at “Hole in the Fence”. Google Map 9100-9140 Birchcrest Blvd, Santee, CA 92071 and park near there. This is a neighborhood so remember to be a good visitor in their hood. Be quiet and don’t thump your system. Trail starts through the hole in the fence at the end of Birchcrest. Exploration is good for the soul!

I have been refreshing my knowledge of the Black Mountain area in preparation for a webpage update and there were a couple of back corner trails that I had not been on in a long time. So an after work ride was in order here. I kinda had lost an appreciation for how much climbing you can get in out here. Often times when I’m researching an area I put together a route that allows me to cover the most trails and trails I have not been on it a while. This latest research route I did was 14 miles and included 2,900 feet of climbing. No wonder muscles and joints were wanking the next day!

I came across the fellow while out on the trail. Literally! I came across him. When I realized that this big fellow was a snake I was way to close to stop and not prepared to bunny hop over him. Boy was he pissed!

Nichol had been out of town for a while so Saturday we took a welcome back cruise on familiar ground out at Lake Hodges. It was unseasonably warm but as far as I’m concerned there is no time like the present to start getting acclimated to the hot weather. Ahhh, the kind of problems we have to deal with in San Diego.

Updated Los Penasquitos Page

It has been long overdue, but I have finally updated my Los Penasquitos page to reflect the current configuration of trails in the area.

Yes, it does include the Tunnels area. More from a trail inventory perspective than a go ride it endorsement. Although, if those trails were legal I would highly endorse them. But it is not legal to ride those single tracks to I won’t endorse riding those really awesome trails.

I also included the miles of mostly shaded single track along Penasquitos Creek. These are trails that provide a quality outdoor experience that are also off-limits to bikes. While the best stuff out at Penasquitos is off limits to bikes, there is still plenty of miles of dirt to get yourself in a good workout here. You can read more about it on the updated page.

New trail goodness at Black Mountain

I spent a couple of afternoons this past week getting reacquainted with Black Mountain in near Rancho Bernardo. The Lilac Canyon trail has recently been rerouted and it is way much for the better.

The trail still starts from the Miner’s Ridge Loop trailhead but now instead of steeply descending down to Carmel Valley Road it down contours along the north slope of Black Mountain around to the glider port.

Shortly before the trail reaches the glider port a single track forks off to the north and pass under Carmel Valley Road. This is another nice section of singletrack that works its way around to the north side of the Black Mountain Ranch Park (baseball fields). This provides a direct connection to the Santa Luz/Larsardi Creek Loop. This is a really nice trail connection that I’m stoked about. I’ll be updating my site soon with new data on the trail.

I had kinda lost my appreciation for just how much climbing there is at Black Mountain. The first ride out here I did about 17 miles and 2,500 miles and on the second ride I did 16.75 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing.

It seems mighty early for the rattlers to be out and about already but this fellow above was the third rattler I have seen this year. I came around a turn and I was at that distance where I had to decide wither to bunny hop the snake or throw out the anchor. I chose to throw out the anchor and ended up pulling off a totally awesome nose wheelie stop that I’m positive I could not pull off again if I tried.

The Miner’s Ridge Loop is in fantastic shape right now with the rain we had the previous week. If you have not been out here in a while you should go check it out while the greenery of spring is in full effect.

Feels Like Spring At Penasquitos!

With all of the destruction that has happened in the Penasquitos Canyon area over the last decade due to land development coupled with the various land management agencies waking up with from decades of management slumber the whole area is kind of a land management circus show. The only groups that are making out in this deal are the developers and the folks making a living off protecting Fairy Shrimp (I’m still looking for a good recipe BTW)

My Los Penasquitos Canyon page has been absurdly out of date ever since the development started. I have decided to finally update the page so I have been riding out here as of late to refresh my GPS data and try to figure out the best legal way to ride out in this area that is not completely mudane and boring. It is fairly tough as the mountain bikers have very little in the way of legal quality trails. It seems the only things that are not endangered out here are no biking signs. (Just for the record that trail in the picture above is not single track, it is more like a baby stroller trail, ATV trail, etc…) You can get in some good riding with a quality outdoor experience but you are going to have illegally share with the hikers and the equestrians and blow by closed signs.

The Camino Ruiz trail is the nearly lone exception to legal boredom of highway wide fire roads in the canyon offered to mountain bikers. This is a nice chunk of single track.

Ok, ranting aside, the warm weather streak we have been having in February has both plants and critters getting confused. Flower are blooming and the everything is nice and green.

Chasing the sun greenery

It is pretty early for the snakes to be coming out already. This is a rather healthy looking whip snake.

It was in evening time so he was mighty sluggish and very easy to handle. He seemed more than happy to leech some heat off of me before getting anxious to head off.

Last weekend at the San Clemente Singletracks I saw my first rattlesnake of the season but he was uncooperative for the camera. I saw my second rattler of the year at Penasquitos Canyon this week and this fella was more amiable to getting his picture taken. The guys are going to be sucking when the weather shifts back to typical temperatures soon.

Daley Ranch After Work Rides

So Nichol has been looking way too comfortable riding around Lake Hodges as of late so it was time bring on something a little more challenging for the after work rides.

Nichol meet Daley Ranch. Just for the record the top section of the East Ridge Trail was the only time she hike-a-biked any section of the first ride out here. I have a feeling it is just a matter of time before I’m chasing her up the hills.

We were chasing daylight on our first outing so we did Creek Crossing to Sage to the Jack Meadow Loop. After the loop we took the East Ridge trail back to the Creek Crossing trail and back the trailhead. It was only 9 miles and change but was more elevation change than the 18 mile loop we last did at Lake Hodges.

Our second after-work ride at Daley this week started out the same but at the top of the Jack Meadow Loop we took the Hidden Springs trail (aka “The Wall”) up onto the western ridge where we rode the Engelman Oak and the Cougar Ridge trails (fire roads) over the Crest trail. The trail is holding pretty well considering that we have been way short on rain for a long time. After the Crest trail we took the ranch access road back to the trail. This was only a mile longer than the previous outing but added about 500 feet of additional climbing. This is a good time of year to be riding out here with mild temps and greenery all around.

Chasing the Sun at Lake Hodges

I have been hitting up Lake Hodges as the after-work ride as of late. It is right on the way home at it only take a handful minutes to be out on the trail after getting off the freeway.

Here is Nichol working a log ride.

Critters seen along the trail.

Views from the trail behind and above the boat launch.

A mechanical on the Tuesday ride turned me into a reluctant single speeder. Of course it happened right after the apex of the ride.

So I have not dusted my night-time riding gear in quite sometime. As an after-work ride in January chasing the sun is always part of the equation. The sunsets have been pretty awesome as of late so “losing” the race with the sun is its own reward.

Greenery at SCST

I spent an afternoon this weekend showing Nichol around the San Clemente Singletracks (aka San Onfre State Park aka “The Weed Patch). The trails are in great conditions and the winter greenery is in full effect.

It is really awesome that the state park legalized the majority of the user-built trail network out here but I always find the “Cultural” names they gave the trails funny. (And nearly unpronounceable to boot). The Pacific Ocean is off in the distance here along with the Oregon and Ho Chi-Min trails.

Climbing “Stitches” which I think the park calls “Yuma’ukawichum Pompe”. No matter what you call it, it is a nice bit of trail.

Cruising “No-Tools”. This trail got its name because no tools were used in its original construction. Folks just rode the route enough that a trail bedded in. Off in the distance in Santiago Peak and the San Ana Mountains that are home many a trail such as. Trabuco and Holy Jim, the San Juan Trail and West Horse Thief just name a few.

Nichol working a turn on “Holeshot”. It is really hard to ride all of the trails in a single visit as you would have to double up on a few loops to reach all the trails . I estimate you would do nearly 30 miles with a healthy dose of elevation change.

We only a did fraction of the trail system, but certainly earned post-ride beers and a stop by one of my favorite burger stops in the area, aptly named Burger Stop. We are definitely going to get back here a few times over the winter just to enjoy all of the greenery on these excellent trails.

Winter in San Diego

My how time flies. It been a while since my last post. I would like to say that I have been too busy riding my bike to post, but that is simply not the case. Between work, family, the holidays and a handful of the other things getting to the keyboard has just not been happening.

However I have been getting out and about and doing some research and just seeing stuff. Valley of the Moon out near Jacumba is really cool and I am planning to spend some more time out there.

I have also been riding some trails that I’m obliged to not publish.

The recent rains have certainly greened this up around the county. Above is Raptor Ridge just east of Lake Hodges.

Some more of the greenery.

Cruising the Del Dios Trail

One of the latest chasing the sun after-work rides

We did not leave any daylight unused on this ride.

BLT, Redtail Roost and Noble Canyon

Saturday Nichol and I went up to Big Laguna Meadow to get in some biking and a night of camping.

It was quite a pretty day with some fall colors up in the trees and exceptionally nice temps. After setting up camp we did a cruise around meadow.

We were up bright and early the next morning to meet a gang-o-folks down at the lower Noble Canyon Trailhead for some playing around for the better part of the day. We left some vehicles at the bottom and then drove up to the Redtail Roost trailhead off of Sunrise Highway. There were at total of 10 of us in the gaggle. Redtail roost is a fun trail that goes along a wooded ridgeline for a ways before descending down into the Laguna Meadow area. Encountering a dude all decked out in camouflage early along the trail was good reminder that it is hunting season up here. I was also glad I passed on wearing my buckskin jersey and Viking helmet on this ride.

After descending Redtail Roost we climbed up Aqua Dulce to the top of the Los Gatos trail where we then descended down to the meadow. But not without playing a few features here and there. Here is Michael playing on a skinny.

Dave getting in some log action as well. Once down on the meadow we went up the east side of the meadow a ways and the did a side loop that included a portion of the connector trail that goes between the meadow and the Pacific Crest Trail. Once back at the meadow we went around and up the west side of the meadow and caught the connector over to Penny Pines and the upper Noble Canyon trailhead. It was here that David’s frame broke where the downtube meets the bottom bracket. So he broke off from the group for a very dodgy ride back to Redtail Roost along Sunrise Highway.

It was Noble Canyon time now and there was plenty of good stuff as always between the top and the bottom. Here is Jenny rolling through the woods up near the top.

James playing on a jump about halfway down or so.

James rolling into the “Stairway to Hell”

Kevin meets Stairway to Hell. I was kind of jealous of his superlight rig earlier in the ride, you know like on the climbs. I was pretty stoke with my rig through these parts. After spending most the summer riding a XC hardtail rent-a-wreck my long-legged stretched out full suspension couch felt awesome through this stuff. Woot Woot!

James working through some chunk. By the time we hit the bottom trailhead most folks’ mileage device had us doing between 24 and 25 miles with a little under 2,800 feet of climbing in. While the rest of the crew headed out, I went back up to he meadow and we broke camp down at a leisurely pace and then headed out for tasty BBQ and Beer at Alpine Beer Company. Another good weekend on a bike.

Sunshine Ride in Sasebo

Over the last month that I have been working over here there has been about four individual days that it has not rained for some portion of the day. The soil composition in this area is typically clay based which holds up to the rain well but becomes treacherously slick. The cantilever rim brakes coupled with the 1.75 tires on my rent-a-wreck hard-tail makes riding of this stuff with an moisture on them at all downright sporty.

It rained early Saturday and had been sunny ever since so I decided to test the waters on one of the prominent mountains in the area, Akasaki. The trail has seen some maintenance earlier in the year so the tread was in good condition and the trail was well brushed. I could tell during the climb that traction could be a problem on the descent as plenty of finesse was required on the climb to keep from breaking the rear wheel loose. The views from top were exceptional.

The descent of this trail was however still pretty slick and made for a squirrely descent, particularly in the turns. Notice in the photo above there is some four fingered braking going on. If I would have known my work project was going to be extended by nearly a month, I would have brought my bike over. On the plus side this rental is completely unforgiving so it forces you to handle the bike precisely.

After way too much fun on the “easy” descent, I passed on this trail under the guise of discretion is the better part of valor. I opted to spend the rest of the ride scoping out trailheads and crossings off the back roads of the area for future exploration when the trails are drier.

This sign unfortunately does not say “Hiro-San’s Texas Style BBQ 100 meters ahead”. There are lots of wild boar in this area and I believe the signs either says beware of boars or indicates a typical boar crossing. Ummmm Bacon!

Shirahama Beach was the apex point of this ride. A snack and a little bit of chilling was in order before it was time to start a good bit of climbing on the return leg.

I have come across about half a dozen of these land crabs here in Japan. I was a good half a mile from the ocean and at least 100 feet plus in elevation. These are the basically the same kinds of crabs you see around the rocks in most stateside beaches but these guys have adapted to thrive away from the shorelines here. Mr. Crabs here was pissed.

A view of Kujyukushima from Tenkaiho Park. I have ridden on all of these peaks at one time or another with the exception of the volcano looking peak to the left, Mt Atago. It is still on the list.

This is literally the lawn mowing crew at this park. The grounds keepers stake out the goats and once they eat down their circle they move the stakes. Pretty cool.

Got Grass Will Mow! (Will through in fertilizing your lawn for free)

By the time I made my way “home” I had covered 22 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. A yummy Nippon microbrew was definitely earned.

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