Sycamore Canyon
Bad ride last night. First, drove to the wrong trailhead. Then took a wrong turn and instead of finding Guadalasca, I ended up where Wood Canyon Rd. crosses the Hidden Pond trail. I checked the signs, and found that to the south, bikes were prohibited, but to the north they were allowed. So, rather than head down Wood Canyon to Guadalasca, I decided to change the plan and head north up Hidden Pond. A short, challenging climb gave way to great rolling singletrack, then descended into switchbacks that got progressively rougher, and finally unrideable.
Below the switchbacks I started pedaling again, and spotted a hiker ahead who had obviously heard me coming and stepped off the trail. He was shirtless, and standing with his hands on his hips. I nodded, and started to roll past him. Then it registered.
He wasn't wearing his shorts. Rather, he was daintily holding his shorts in front of him and looking a little embarassed.
Talk about the opposite of sharing the trail well. But at this point I was tired, and frustrated, and he seemed more like a "glories of nature" guy than an "expose myself to the hikers" guy, (and he was obviously unarmed) so I asked him if the fire road was ahead. He said it was, and I rolled on.
I did in fact find my way back to the fire road, where the signs were clear: no bikes on the Hidden Pond trail. Oh well.
On the way back to the car, a gnat got stuck in my eye, which is uncomfortable always, but especially with contacts. And now (Tuesday morning) my sunglasses are missing. I'm worried that I may have dropped them on the trail somewhere. I'd go back to look for them, but it's a several-mile hike/bike with no guarantee of success. If they don't turn up in a day or two, I'm just going to replace them.
And this ride confirmed my perception that unless I can find some singletrack that bypasses the paved fire road into the canyon, Sycamore Canyon will be a trail system only for those days when I have a lot of time. I'm just not willing to spend 15 min. rolling in from the trailhead before I find anything interesting, and then spending 25 climbing back out at the end of my ride. Not a big deal when I'm going to spend a few hours in the canyon, but totally not worth it for a 90-minute spin.
The one thing that went smoothly was I found the Los Robles Trail trailhead on Potrero, which I plan on using to link Space Mountain with Sycamore Canyon in a couple of weeks. Good to know it's both where I thought it was, and very easy to find. That ride is looking better and better.