Long Ridge

C-c-c-old Gap Ride

December 16, 2007

By looking at it, you'd think we were getting ready for snow. Man, it felt like it. More importantly, the trails were nice and tacking. Lots of traction everywhere for everyone. The rock garden and starstep roots at the Gap were so much fun.

After the stairstep fun and the Gap, Long Ridge was just as nice. As nice is the view is on Turtle Rock, it was waaaaaay too cold to stand up and enjoy it, so we took our munch break down on the fireroad where the wind was not attacking you. We continued after the break out in the open Long Ridge fireroad and lots more cold wind.

The fireroad was nice and tacky, and we were really happy to see the Long Ridge/Peter's Creek singletrack open (most likely for the last time this season). We rode down Peter's Creek, up the connector fireroad, down the steep part of Long Ridge, then back up Peter's Creek.

After the return from the Long Ridge fireroad from Peter's Creek, we were pretty beat. Bill was even nice enough to remind us that was 43 degrees out at 2:30pm. Brrr, but worth it being out.

Ahhh... home!

March 31, 2004

For the start of the 2004 season, I spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area (it's amazing how much time you get when you go through layoffs), not only looking for work, but also to ride. We used to live up here for five years before moving south, and I really miss the riding up here. Long Ridge and Arastadero are two of my favorite rides in the South Bay/Peninsula area. Thanks to Selena for letting me use her digital camera and lots of AA batteries for this trip. :-)

The Long Ridge Open Space Preserve is part of the Santa Cruz mountains, and it's one of the nicest singletrack trails I've ever been on. I used to ride it all the time, and I finally got around to taking some photos on this ride. This ride was done solo, so the pictures of me riding were taken by some "volunteer" photographers.

The first part of the trail you hit is the gate. You'll know you're in the right area after you checked out the board. Also, the first part of the trail is a ridge line singletrack, and it looks really sketchy at
first. You can either go up the rocks to the left, or on the very narrow smooth part on the right. It's hard to not get distracted by the views.



The singletrack continues downhill, past the ridge trail on the right, and onto the Peters Creek Trail. The first part of the Peters Creek Trail, you'll take a sharp right onto a small bridge, then a sharp left off of it (you'll see my photographers in the second picture). The trail continues through a forested area until you get into the open meadow.



From Crash's viewpoint (the little tiger on my handlebars), you can see the open meadow singletrack. I stopped here on this trip because looking up at the hills there is the constant cry of a hawk. The meadow portion of the trail here is short before going right back into the forest.



Back in the forest, the trail starts a gradual climb. It stays pretty shaded, and there's even a creek you hear before you see in the springtime. After the gradual climb, you'll be forced to make a right (please don't go into the private property), and you'll see a lake to your left. I have seen turtles and mallards in this lake, so it's a very nice spot to take a break and watch some wildlife.



After relaxing, it's time to climb again. This time, the trail is nice forested singletrack with four switchbacks. I can usually make it up at least a couple of them before I get too tired. At the end of the climb, you reach a gate, and past the gate you're in the wide open with killer views.



Once you get out of the gate, you definitely have to stop to soak in the view. Watch out though.. other creatures may be watching you (here is a fuzzy shot of a deer that decided to split after it was done people-watching).



After soaking up the view, i continued up on Long Ridge Raod, which is a rolling fireroad. You can either enjoy the view, or get a bit of speed on the fireroad. One time on this road I've saw a small group of wild turkeys run across the fire road..



At the end of the fireroad, Stegner's bench is a great place to take lunch or just hang out. I always stop here for at least a few minutes to just enjoy the view. There aren't many places you can do that, and I always take advantage of them. From this point, you go back into the forest (the other trails are closed off) and down the sweet singletrack.

This is a great downhill singletrack that sends back through the forested areas You have to be careful for four reasons: three really nasty switchbacks, and after the third switchback, there is usually a ranger standing there with a radar gun on weekends giving people tickets. It's really hard to go slower than 15 miles per hour on this part of the trail, so this isn't very fair.

After the singletrack ends (and hopefully with no ranger there), you'll hit a big wide open area. At this point, I take a sharp right rather than going straight. If you go straight, it's pretty much the same forested singletrack except you'll end with a long steep downhill. Going to the right, you reach a long gradual downhill fireroad until you hit the next sign, where you take a left. This puts you back on the Peters Creek Trail for a half mile until you go back uphill to your car.

Route taken: Long Ridge Trail to Peters Creek up to Long Ridge Road. Final part is down Long Ridge trail and back up for a total of 5.1 miles.