Pacheco Pass
This might not be the best season for us...
Between the endless "perfectly timed" storms that seem to hit the weekends spot on, and waves of viruses still flourishing
throughout the clinics, and trying to finish up my book, this might not be a busy mountain biking season.
We now should be in peak shape but instead are just getting our climbing legs back into gear.
It feels like we've just been dabbling around for months. Is this the beginning of the end. Is our enthusiasm waning?
We've had surfing phases and scuba diving phases in the past which are now mostly memories, so could mountain
biking be following the same route. Been there done that?
I shudder to think, but time will tell.
Since we mainly like exploring new places we've never been to before, and are running out of places in the Bay
Area, we're going to have to start heading further out. Pacheco Pass is a park we've long heard rumors about in
various capacities, and heard there was some mountain biking there, and so drove way out to the far south-eastern
fringes of the Bay Area to give it a go. Knowing nothing ahead of time the plan was simply to show up, and
then wing it from there.
Photos
Click to expand
What a balmy, pleasant day. Pacheco Park entrance off Dinosaur Point Road.
Hey, check this out... pulling out the camera, shooting, and then putting it back while riding. This is
on the dirt road into the park. Something I may
have to try a little more. Looking down at my handlebars... pretty funky!
Okay, enough clowning around. Now down to business. Here's the start of Spikes Peak Road, from the main parking area.
This was the kind of ride and kind of place, and one of those days, where I wanted to stop and take a shot every 50 feet.
The second one is looking back at the park headquarters, which is mostly just a parking lot and a few bulletin boards.
This is the last time we saw anyone else the entire time we were there.
Beautiful white late afternoon light.
These guys trampled the area during the extensive rainstorms, according to a note at the entrance, so the sign fell down,
and we didn't know the which route to take to Spikes Peak, which is where we were headed. So we took the left
fork because it wasn't as steep-- so we figured it would be easier.
Now anyone with more than two or three rides under their belt would know first hand
that this is terrible logic, but we were just having a little fun today, so it made sense at the time! Of course, the right
turn is the true way to Spikes Peak, and the left turn, well, you'll see...
Uh, you know, aren't we supposed to be going uphill to Spikes Peak??
Further and further down we go, deep into the canyon.
It certainly would not have comforted us to know that here, we had actually dropped 300 vertical feet from
the trailhead into the dense, verdant canyon, and now had a 700 foot climb in under a mile to the summit of spikes peak.
Back where the cows were it had been only 400 feet or so, over a fairly comfortable couple of miles.
Ha ha, no problem, we're big boys now, we can take it. Uh, okay, maybe not. Grades out of the canyon were very, very steep,
and we found ourselves pushing quite a bit of the way.
Dammit, why didn't we take the right turn? Are we almost to the top yet?
Nope. This was a very brief respite. The remainder of the Canyon Loop Trail
(technically the South Boundary Loop trail at this point), heads straight up the slopes to Spikes Peak up ahead.
All I can say is, there weren't many (actually, there weren't any) tire tracks along this route.
But on real trails you have to hike once in awhile. Pansy trails like Mount Tam you can ride the whole way.
This was a real trail.
Approaching the Summit of Spikes Peak you can see the windmill farms, then San Luis Reservoir, and the the San Joaquin
valley beyond to the east.
Atop Spikes Peak at last. Kenny was suggesting I shoot a broad panorama, unfortunately my memory card gave out here.
So I couldn't take pictures after this one unless I erased something. Anyway, from these shots, you get the idea: south
toward Diamond Lake, and west looking down upon Whiskey Flat.
The rest of the ride was a quick and scenic coast down Spikes Peak Road,
where we could spend more time enjoying the views over the windmill farm and Whiskey Creek,
back to the fork where the cows were and then to the start. Even though we did the
loop backwards, it still worked out okay, because Kenny's rear brake wasn't working right, and I think the counterclockwise
route worked better for photography. So, it's all good, as is always true of mountain biking.
We stopped at Casa de Fruta for a bite to eat after the ride. There we had a Sideways
moment. I had seen it a couple of months ago, and Kenny like last week.
The retro 70s cafe, hotels, and wine tasting shop (which was closed, but anyway)--
between the scenery in the ride and the other little shops, it was just like the movie.
So if you want to feel like you are in the movie, do the ride, then stop at Case de Fruta afterward.
We couldn't find any bar, so Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen are up to you.
(b. May 1, 2005)
Back to Henry Coe & Vicinity.
Back home.
Hey, check this out... pulling out the camera, shooting, and then putting it back while riding. This is
on the dirt road into the park. Something I may
have to try a little more. Looking down at my handlebars... pretty funky!
Okay, enough clowning around. Now down to business. Here's the start of Spikes Peak Road, from the main parking area.
This was the kind of ride and kind of place, and one of those days, where I wanted to stop and take a shot every 50 feet.
The second one is looking back at the park headquarters, which is mostly just a parking lot and a few bulletin boards.
This is the last time we saw anyone else the entire time we were there.
Beautiful white late afternoon light.
These guys trampled the area during the extensive rainstorms, according to a note at the entrance, so the sign fell down,
and we didn't know the which route to take to Spikes Peak, which is where we were headed. So we took the left
fork because it wasn't as steep-- so we figured it would be easier.
Now anyone with more than two or three rides under their belt would know first hand
that this is terrible logic, but we were just having a little fun today, so it made sense at the time! Of course, the right
turn is the true way to Spikes Peak, and the left turn, well, you'll see...
Uh, you know, aren't we supposed to be going uphill to Spikes Peak??
Further and further down we go, deep into the canyon.
It certainly would not have comforted us to know that here, we had actually dropped 300 vertical feet from
the trailhead into the dense, verdant canyon, and now had a 700 foot climb in under a mile to the summit of spikes peak.
Back where the cows were it had been only 400 feet or so, over a fairly comfortable couple of miles.
Ha ha, no problem, we're big boys now, we can take it. Uh, okay, maybe not. Grades out of the canyon were very, very steep,
and we found ourselves pushing quite a bit of the way.
Dammit, why didn't we take the right turn? Are we almost to the top yet?
Nope. This was a very brief respite. The remainder of the Canyon Loop Trail
(technically the South Boundary Loop trail at this point), heads straight up the slopes to Spikes Peak up ahead.
All I can say is, there weren't many (actually, there weren't any) tire tracks along this route.
But on real trails you have to hike once in awhile. Pansy trails like Mount Tam you can ride the whole way.
This was a real trail.
Approaching the Summit of Spikes Peak you can see the windmill farms, then San Luis Reservoir, and the the San Joaquin
valley beyond to the east.
Atop Spikes Peak at last. Kenny was suggesting I shoot a broad panorama, unfortunately my memory card gave out here.
So I couldn't take pictures after this one unless I erased something. Anyway, from these shots, you get the idea: south
toward Diamond Lake, and west looking down upon Whiskey Flat.