6 June 2009

Big Basin

It was partly sunny and not as warm as I had hoped. I headed up Hwy 9 to Boulder Creek. There was a dead skunk that stunk up Hwy 9 on the way to Felton. I took the Glen Arbor detour, since I had plenty of time. I signed in at Boulder Creek. It was the standard Big Basin route.

The route went up Park and Hwy 236. A slide had taken out a chunk of the right lane at one spot on Hwy 236, and there was a stop light regulating traffic through the remaining one lane. Then it was up Lodge Rd to the Big Basin Park Headquarters. From there, it was up Escape and around numerous gates closing the road, then Hwy 236 and up Hwy 9.

At Saratoga Gap, there were Santa Cruz mountain bikes being demonstrated. Unfortunately, there was no hot dog stand. After a break, it was up Skyline and down Bear Creek back to Boulder Creek.

From there, I headed back out Hwy 236 solo. I started up Jamison Creek at 1:43. The 1.33 sign still had the skunk tail and the investigate 9/11 sticker on it. It also had a Specialized sticker on it. I got to the top at 2:09 and headed back home on Empire Grade.

At the Bonny Doon airstrip, there was a sign saying there was an event, and there were a bunch of cars parked there. I didn't look to see what it was.