4 November 2006

Boulder Creek, Big Basin and Skyline

It had rained from Wednesday evening through Friday morning, and it was cloudy in the morning, so the streets were still a little wet. The club ride was to start from Boulder Creek, so I headed up Hwy 9, giving myself 70 minutes, though it took me 53 minutes. About 15 people showed for the ride. Before starting, there were warnings that the roads would be wet, and that Lodge road, which I had never ridden before, was narrow and potholed in places.


Lodge Rd We headed out of Boulder Creek on Park. After a mile or so, we hopped over to Hwy 236. After Jamison Creek Rd, I was riding with two other guys, going at a pretty hard pace. We finally stopped at the start of Lodge Rd, and I took a picture. While we were stopped, a car came up Hwy 236 and turned onto Lodge. I wonder if it went on the one-lane, duff covered part of the road, though I would guess it probably turned off before that.

After two more guys arrived, we continued on Lodge at a more relaxed pace. The first part of Lodge reminded me of the steep part of China Grade, only not so steep. The middle part of Lodge was very narrow. It reminded me a lot of Pipeline Rd in Henry Cowell. Finally, it opened up into a wide, newly repaved road before ending back on Hwy 236, just before the Big Basin Park Headquarters. The reception on my GPS was blocked by the trees and mountains, so the map won't show this part of the route very well.


Trees at Big Basin Park HQ Since it was early in the ride, I didn't get anything. Some of the other guys got coffee, since it was slightly chilly. I took a picture of the trees from next to the store. We hung around long enough to see everyone else on the ride to arrive.

The route called for heading up Escape Rd, but, due to the wet road conditions, the group of five that I was riding with decided to head straight up Hwy 236 instead. At the intersection with Hwy 9, the longer ride option headed up to Skyline, while the shorter option headed straight down to Boulder Creek. We all headed up to Skyline. I got a hot dog and a coke at the stand. After regrouping and a little break, we headed south on Skyline, going by Castle Rock, Black Rd and Gist Rd, all the way to Bear Creek Rd.


Monterey Bay from Bear Creek and Skyline At the intersection of Skyline and Bear Creek, I stopped and took a picture of the fog over the bay. Two of the guys, who had ridden to the start, decided to head left to Summit, then down Mtn Charlie and Glen Canyon. I headed right with the other two back to Boulder Creek. Since Bear Creek Rd was fairly dry, I went on ahead of the other two on the descent, and rode alone for the rest of the ride.

From Boulder Creek, I headed out on Hwy 236 to Jamison Creek, which I hadn't climbed in about a month. At a point a little more than a mile from the top of Jamison Creek, a dark brown Miata with vanity plates was stopped on the right side of the road, facing traffic, with its emergency blinkers on. There was nobody in the car. I noticed a bottle of water in the holder behind the stick. I didn't see anybody around, so I hope whatever that was turned out okay.

I reached the top in under 32 minutes, which wasn't too bad. I was also using my 30/23 gear, rather than my lowest gear of 30/25 that I'd usually use on this climb. So now I can be confident that I'd be able to climb Jamison Creek without too much difficulty if I got a compact double with a 34/27 low gear on my next bike.

I continued home on Empire Grade. Since the parts with lots of tree cover were still a little wet, I was a bit more cautious than usual on the descents.