Between March Madness and St Patrick’s day I believe I was the only person to show up for the 3rd Sunday Ride at ECDM. Granted I was ten minutes late so it is possible that some folks left before I got there.It was a brisk morning up on skyline with temperatures around 50 degrees, rapidly rising. My objective for the day was to ride up Resolution and ride a whole lot more. The obvious approach is from a descent down Tafoni as the Leaf trails, Giant Salamander and Virginia Mill are still seasonally closed. Fortunately many other seasonal closures are currently opn including Fremont Older’s Toyon, and Long Ridge’s Peters Creek.
http://www.openspace.org/preserves/trail_conditions.asp
I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride down Tafoni. After a mile or so of fire road the trail turns into single track, and then you get to drop more single track on the ECDM trail before heading up Resolution.
Riding up Resolution always presents a reasonable technical challenge, and currently I think the big roots are easier in the uphill direction. At the top of Resolution I stopped and spoke with Supervising Ranger Brandon. As usual, the Ranger was in his truck, insulated from nature and the preserve’s users. We had a good positive conversation, and I thought about how to politely suggest rangers spend more time out of their trucks. Perhaps I will take this up with my board member.
And then I was off on my trek down Manzanita, crosscut and crossover. Fun. I rode up Gordon Mill far enough to drop Voodoo / Steam Donkey and then rode up Springboard so that I could go down Blue Blossom. Springboard is still a long challenging climb, but the last half mile or so is pretty reasonable and goes through an amazing redwood zone.
Blue Blossom is growing and maturing. Some of the sharp corners are straightening out, and over the winter some new lines have appeared to thrill even experienced riders. This was my favorite trail of the day for sure. I am impressed how well the trail has held up. It is a tribute to sustainable trail design.
I rode back to Gordon Mill and rode up to Crossover, and then headed up Timberview up to skyline and back to Skeggs along Serra Morena. Timberview has become my preferred way out. This Fire road is less disturbed than Gordon Mill, goes up through some great trees, and in parts has a wonderful creek running nearby. And if like me you are tired of climbing both sections of Serra Morena, Timberview takes you out to Skyline in the middle of the two.
