Thanks for the fun story and pictures. They are serving as a nice inspiration on January 1.
On Wednesday, December 31, 2025 at 3:54:50 PM UTC-5 West Coast Jeff wrote: > So it's November ‘22 and California has been dry as the desert since > spring but I've got a bicycle and a sleeping bag and three days to do > whatever I want. A block from my door in San Jose is a paved trail that > parallels Coyote Creek, an ephemeral stream that has been dry, cracked, and > empty since I moved to California a year earlier. The trail follows the > creek upstream 20 miles, running nearly due south through the linear Coyote > Valley. I start in city but soon I am in gold hills, dotted with dark green > oaks. Here, the Diablo Range east of the Bay Area rises nearly straight up > from the valley floor along the Calaveras Fault, one strand of the San > Andreas Fault system, which defines the topography of the Bay Area. In > Morgan Hill the trail ends and I ride roads for a few miles before climbing > a smoothly paved, two lane road, spiraling upward 2,000 feet, approaching > hills capped with ponderosas. I fill water at the entrance and buy a map. > > [image: DSC_3938.JPG] > [image: DSC_3587.JPG] > > Then: a couple miles of dirt road before losing most of that elevation > gain on a dusty, south-facing, switchbacked trail cut through a crop of > manzanita, the lower portions of the trail in grass and oak and slopes so > steep that if I went off the narrow trail I'd surely careen and topple all > the way to Coyote Creek below, now winding its way through these hills. > Down to the creek and cross at China Hole, probably a terrifying rapid at > high water but now just a pit filled with round cobbles and edged with > boulders bigger than me. I knock my bike across the rocks to a side canyon, > the Narrows, which will take me straight through this next hill to a camp > spot at Los Cruzeros. The trail through the Narrows was never built, just > kicked in by people and cows walking through. It navigates the rock spires, > chutes, pools, and bars of the canyon by clambering up and over boulders, > cliffs, crossing the stream back and forth, at this time of year there's no > running water, just frozen pools among the rocks. It is not rideable. I > have to carry my heavily loaded bike most of that mile. This gorgeous > canyon is likely only accessible and passable when the creeks are dry. > > > [image: DSC_4062.JPG] > > [image: DSC_4030.JPG] > > [image: DSC_4047.JPG] > > [image: DSC_4040.JPG] > > [image: DSC_4029.JPG] > > > I throw a thin emergency bivy around my sleeping bag, hoping for a few > extra degrees, having noting the frozen pools in the Narrows. Cold but dry, > this was one of the first times I've gotten to embrace one of those things > that make California bearable: no tent, just sleeping out, like that old > Roscoe Holcomb song. <https://youtu.be/V-6Yior80Xw?si=a1qheTsvrVVpA1qs> > > > [image: DSC_3918.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3689.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3629.JPG] > > > In the morning it takes a few minutes of hammering with rocks to break > through the ice grown on a pool in the creek bed. Cattle water. Not ideal, > but for now it's all I've got. Leaving my camping gear at Los Cruzeros I > start pushing my bike up a dirt road to spend the day riding a big loop. > Here is the thing about Henry Coe: the roads don't do switchbacks. They are > built going straight up and straight down the hills. Many of them are > walk-your-bike steep, both up and down. The fun riding is on roads along > ridges or on the many trails zig-zagging up and down the sides of those > ridges. While climbing from camp I quickly veer off the road onto a gentler > trail to a spring where I can replace my cattle water with algae water. > > > [image: DSC_3868.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3956.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3919.JPG] > > > Topping out in sun as the oak woods gave way to meadow, I remount the > bike, hands and grips wet with sweat, and pedal over dusty, rolling road > for miles on the snaking ridgeline. Breezing along in slanting sun on those > high roads to Kelly Lake. Wind, cattail, ducks. Change a flat and eat > lunch. Back up onto ridge roads until I peel off to descend single track > down to my camp spot. The trail, riddled with deadfall, forces me to walk > many portions. > > > [image: DSC_3965.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3960.JPG] > > [image: DSC_3990.JPG] > > Next day I dry the dew off my bag and bivy in late morning sun, back track > through the Narrows, climb the slope of manzanita, pirouette down the > winding pavement from the hill tops to the valley floor and pedal the 20 > miles home to San Jose. > > > > - > > > Some April a few years later I returned to the park in the full swell of > spring, streams surging, bright green grass and trees. I loaded my OM-1 > with film but screwed it up and have no photos of the second trip. I did a > longer route, camped and woke in dew, crossed streams up to my thighs, and > for a mile or so walked and rode my Atlantis upstream in the ankle deep, > cold, spraying water of Coyote Creek, boots strung across my top bar. I > rode many more trails than the previous trip, flying along, fully loaded, > on rocky single track through dry sand and grassland, through moist and > shady groves, poison oak skimming my knees and bars. > > When I checked in at the entrance during my second trip, the park ranger > saw my loaded Atlantis and tried to warn me that it would not be adequate > to ride the roads and trails in the park. I told him it was the same bike > I'd ridden ~100 miles in the park on a previous trip, so he reluctantly let > me proceed. He told me that if I hadn't had prior experience riding these > trails on a rigid bike then he would have denied me access. Feel free to > head to the park with your Rivendell and prove this same ranger wrong. > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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