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Quail Hollow Park, 15 November 1999
See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/no-gear/message/4
for my description of Quail Hollow Park and of last year's
walk up into the park. This past Sunday (11/14), I joined a group of about 16 volunteers to do some serious maintenance (mostly water bar cleanouts, and adding a few new water bars to lessen the erosion) at Soquel Demonstration State Forest, in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Aptos. (We got to drive in from the Quarry off of Olive Springs Road, normally off limits to everyone except the quarry workers.) Most Mondays, I do dial-in work from home, and this Monday (11/15) I was celebrating my 29th birthday ... again ... (as in: next year I'll be 0x30, so I was actually celebrating the 18th anniversary of my 29th birthday, but who's counting?). Anyway, I got a package in the mail Monday afternoon -- a bright new head-mounted light, a birthday present from my sister-in-law. I finally got a chance to get away from the keyboard at about 4:00. Tight timing, since it gets completely dark by 5:40 around here this time of year, and I've never really done any night riding before. However, there is that new head-light. The timing dictated that I drive the two miles over (and up) to the park, instead of riding. Got there and was rolling by 4:20 or so. (Didn't even bring any water because it was so cool, and because I didn't think I'd be riding for more than about an hour.) This ride starts by crossing some sand, from the road/turnout up to the Sunset Trail, then traversing on a level trail for about a quarter to a third of a mile. Since this area is fairly sandy, it gets really good drainage, so the light rain we got on Sunday left no mud at all, and actually improved the ride in several spots, especially this initial sandy section. A cool afternoon, I think the high was below 65F; just right for a nice mellow workout. After the flattish sandy traverse, the trail turns sharply and then starts climbing, up along the forested north side of the ridge. Along here it's a nice mixture of redwoods, madrones, and oaks. The grade is varied enough to allow some slow-pedaling rest times between the steeper spots where you sorta have to keep spinning faster in order to nudge the front wheel over the small obstacles. The trail comes out to the very edge of the ridge, and there's a wooden bench to sit on, with great views over the Quail Hollow Ranch house area, then I climbed some more, dropping relative to the ridgeline, so I was on the north side again. I spied a couple of full-bearded guys in Farmer John denims, looking (from a distance) like folks from deep in some Ozark canyon -- like stereotypical hillbillies. Except once they got closer, I couldn't help noticing the pierced lips & nose rings. Hmmm... hardcore post-punk pierced hillbillies? I guess it *is* the nineties... for another month and a half, anyway. I smiled and mentioned the gorgeous day, and one of them said "Ride on, rider!" Another turn, another little steep climb, and then I got back up to the ridge again (there's another bench here). Now I was high enough to have a view over the next set of hills, and could see south all the way across the Monterey Bay to the hills southeast of Monterey. Usually they're just distant bluish mountains, but this time it was so clear that I could see colors on them -- the classic California tan dry grasslands with dark green bands of oak woods. After that ridge section comes the hardest part of the climb -- about a hundred yards of steeper section that's very rocky and very rutted. (I'm hoping to work out the logistics with the County Parks folks, to organize some trail work along there some time next spring -- two or three more drains/water bars would make an enormous improvement here.) I always stop at the bottom of it, to catch my breath and admire the view over the forested ridges, up the San Lorenzo Valley toward Boulder Creek. Nice despite the fact that the old County Dump takes up a large part of the foreground. Well, I rode part and walked part of this section, but climbed the top half without dabbing, and then turned onto the flatter topmost part, where it goes over to the nice viewpoint at the end of the trail. Sat and looked south over the ranch, the valley, the sand quarries and the bay for a bit, but sunset was starting to look pretty close. The few puffy cumulous clouds in the sky were starting to turn very orange. The ride down is just a whole lot of fun. I skipped the Dwarf Redwood out-and-back section this time, and just headed down toward the ranch house. About half way down, I met another guy who could have been one of the Farmer John guys, except thirty-plus years older. Not having shaven in the meantime. Real nice guy, I had slowed enough to give him the right of way, but he stepped aside and motioned for me to go on, so I thanked him and rolled on down. Passed the Farmer Johns sitting on the lower bench. Hit the starting sandy section and the dampness from the previous day's rain allowed me to ride that part much faster than usual. Way fun. Went past/above the spot where I had parked, to do the middle loop (down by the ranch house). This is a nice, twisty trail that goes through some pines, whose needles help stabilize the sandy trail tread. Then it comes out onto some of the ranch's pasture land, which can get boggy in the middle of a wet winter, but is real nice most of the year, most years. The trail goes through some bushy areas, then a wooded area where I saw a bobcat last year, then descends to the ranch house next to a wide row of very tall Eucalyptus (100 to 130 feet ?), planted around the time they built the ranch house. Spotted a family of four deer down here (a doe, a buck, and two fawns); they heard me and then bounded off -- right up the trail I was headed for. (I skipped the relatively boring lowermost loop.) I climbed that trail (Indian Ridge?), then headed back toward the car. This part is all mixed forest -- pine, manzanita, madrone, live oak, poison oak, etc. Some singletrack, some doubletrack, some dirt-road width. Back to the car by 5:20, not having needed the head light as it turned out. Maybe next time. For sure, next time I oughta ride there instead of driving there. Total distance I rode was probably only about 6 or 7 miles, but, well, I think they're really high-quality miles :-).
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