Monte Bello

First ride in Monte Bello in years

July 16, 2006

We started at the top of the road (yes, we shuttled), and climbed from their to black mountain. We had a good turnout of Ray, Daryl, Janet, and myself. As you can see, Black Mountain is just beautiful.

Black Mountain not only has beautiful views, but really cool rock formations. As beautiful as it is, the downhill was calling us. Nice, smooth singletrack on the ridgeline was just amazing.

We continued along this smooth ribbon of singletrack that seemed to last forever. Eventually it opened up to a wide fireroad. At the start of the fireroad, Daryl helped some stuck MTBers who had a broken chain. Before we had a chance to take off, we saw some rangers get a head start.

When we got past the rangers (it took a while after a few of us were reprimanded), we hit some interesting creek crossings. The dry creek crossing provided a bit of entertainment. The uphill side looked really loose, but we all thought Daryl would make it.

As it turns out, Daryl didn't make it. Neither did Janet (who tried beforehand). Since it wouldn't be fair to Daryl and Janet, there are also pictures of myself and Ray screwing up in the creek. :-)

Route Taken: Black Mountain to Stevens Canyon.