Mid-Week Rides: Finding Mt Charlie

20 March 2012

Marc writes:

Chris said “Let’s ride Tuesday” and Joe responded with “I’ve got to be home by 2:30”. A short mid-week ride sounded good to me. Little did I know that the “home by 2:30” part fell by the wayside somewhere along the line. Oh well, 2/3 of a mid-week ride is still better than none.

The group met at Hobbee’s on Stevens Creek for breakfast. Well, Bill, Chris, and Joe did. I arrived as they were eating as all I wanted was some coffee before the ride. We left the restaurant and headed south in search of some of the the narrow, lane-and-a-half (at best) roads that are plentiful in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Mt Charlie was the first to tackle this ride and can now be removed from our Bucket List. We took Bear Creek Rd to Summit and picked up Mt Charlie at its top, off of 35 just east of 17. We stopped near the top for a few pictures before taking it to the bottom where it joins Glenwood Dr. Glenwood drive took usinto Scott’s Valley where we picked up Mt Herman to get to highway 9 and Boulder Creek.

We took a short break in Boulder Creek where Chris mentioned doing China Grade from top to bottom. Sounded good to me. How about Lodge Road, too? Chris had forgotten about Lodge Rd so I led the way from Boulder Creek to and through our second narrow, lane-and-a-half (at best) road with a requisit stop for pictures along the way. There was also a stop in Big Basin for more picture taking inside the burnt out tree.

As mentioned above, the next lane-and-a-halfer was China Grade. It may have been the first time I’ve ridden that road from top to bottom. I’m usually going in the other direction. At the bottom of the grade we hopped back on 236 to backtrack into Boulder Creek. This time we stopped for coffee before heading in a generally northern direction.

At the outskirts of Boulder Creek we took a right on Bear Creek Rd to head for the lane-and-a-half section of Skyline between Bear Creek and Black Road. That was the last narrow section for me as I continued on skyline to 92 and home.

Chris adds:

Marco departed the group on Skyline (CA#35) at it’s juncture with Page Mill Rd and Alpine Road. The three of us checked the ‘ridge park’ adjacent this intersection and followed Alpine Road to its terminus with the La Honda-Pescadero Road. We turned up the road toward Pescadero but only for a possible mile. This was done to avail ourselves to the amenities at San McDonald Park. Pictures taken we back traced to La Honda and set a course up CA#84 for Skylonda Corners, home of the famous Alice’s Restaurant. There were but a few riders about and we all enjoyed a soft drink, it’d cooled-down some from the 72º enjoyed in downtown Boulder Creek, but was still all of 68º.

We departed for Swett Rd with a right turn at the ‘T’ for Tunitas Creek and downhill till Lobitos Creek, and CA Hwy#1 just a few miles south of Half Moon Bay where a V-Strom was found begging for petrol. Once fed we wended our way up Hwy #92 where Bill peeled-off for home and Steiner and Weld headed north for IS# 280 where we separated. Great ride, great company, all bills were paid timely, and no tickets, tip-overs or the like. Great weather and a great ride. Weld knocked down 191 miles, house-to house.