This morning Joanne said, "I'm in the mood for something different." You know how it is -- the prospect of riding the same old route with the same old cars buzzing by. . . . .some days it just doesn't sound appealing. Some days it's time to explore new territory and just have FUN! So we loaded up the cross bikes, two water bottles apiece, and drove up to Henry Cowell State Park. After getting yelled at by the park ranger when we were trying to find Pipeline Road, we were redirected and off we went. Pipeline Road starts off nice enough, like those paved, flat trails my parents ride all over the midwest. It should have been a sign when the walkers kept looking at us like we were crazy. The little kickers start and then it basically just keeps going up. And up. We took off onto a dirt side road, explored the campground and the observation tower, and had a great time noodling around. The redwoods surrounded us and the sunlight streamed through the canopy. Felt great to get a little Vitamin D after weeks of fog in Aptos! We descended back down into the park and crossed the parking lot into Roaring Camp. We've ridden the train up there a few times and noticed trails all through there. But where to start? We went into the General Store, at the suggestion of the Town Marshall, who (suprisingly) didn't yell at us, and the lady in the General Store said "I don't know. I don't ride a bike." Sparkling customer service. Off we headed through the picnic area, and climbed a lovely fire road to the top of Bear Mountain, and wandered all around on single track, listening for the train whistle to tell us if we were getting too far afield. After two hours of riding around, we headed back to the van. I don't know how far it is, or how many feet we climbed, or how difficult or easy it would be on a ranking system. All I know is that it was the perfect antidote for the usual Sunday ride. Take your mountain bike, take your cross bike, and go have FUN!
