This was a solo ride of the classic Hunting Hollow » Middle Ridge route on a beautiful Spring day. The ride began at 8:15 am and the Anza/Jackson climb is first. One of the challenging spots on that climb was the "Craggy Swtichback". I had a success rate of ~50%. Recently it was smoothed-out and bermed. No challenge now. Here is how it looks in its present state:
What It Was Like Out There ™
Domino Pond Trail
I got to China Hole a half-hour before noon. It was crowded:
That was one large group of ~30.
Climbing up out of China Hole, descending hikers were a regular occurrence. At Manzanita Point I found a newly installed drinking water tank. Maintenance Ranger Eric G was there. He said that he had installed two yesterday and manually filled with water from the HQ supply; one at Manzanita Point (intersection of Manzanita Point Road/China Hole Trail/Madrone Soda Spring Trail) (upper photo) and the other at the intersection of Manzanita Point Road, Poverty Flat Road, and Springs Trail (lower photo):
Suspecting that the water would taste like plastic, I went to Headquarters for water. It was bustling. The great weather had drawn out many people. The
Tierra Bella bike ride was going on and here is the HQ rest station:
Ha, on my way up from China Hole, hikers kept asking me if I was part of that "bike race".
Next I rode over to the start of the Middle Ridge Trail. Along the way, on Hobbs Road, I encountered a couple horse riders. Unusual. Hmmmmm, I wondered where they were coming from??? Once I was on Middle Ridge, I could see obvious evidence that those equestrians had poached Middle Ridge!
Descending Middle Ridge, hikers were again a regular occurrence. As I neared the bottom, I had to stop. Coming up was that pack of 30 from China Hole. It was steep and they were moving slow. Man, they had plenty more steep hiking to go just to get to the Fish Trail cut-over to Manzanita Point Road. The stranglers in that group would be hurting by the time they got back to camp.
I took the Creekside Trail over to China Hole. Crossing the creek, I slipped off a grass tuft and both feet got fully immersed in the water. Ugh, wet feet for the rest of the day.
At a casual pace, I rode to the top of Domino Pond Trail so I could do the Domino Pond / Cattle Duster / Grapevine / Anza downhill. One change from the standard route was to go on Cullin Trail to check-out the recent trailwork. Well that was a step too far....I was pretty tired and sore, walking up the first steep quarter-mile in soaked shoes when some spider-webs hit my face. Why am I getting spider-webs in my eyes? I realized I'd lost my (clear) sun-glasses. Dang!
No doubt I was too grumpy to make an objective review of the trailwork but to me it seemed like too much of it was just a bumpy McLeod scrape. Well there were some nicely finished sections too (which allowed me to make a few spots I’d never cleaned before).
I was back at Hunting Hollow at 7pm. Chatted a bit with Paul L. He’d started the day with Second Saturday Trailwork then rendezvous with backpacking Roy and Chris K to hike through lower Kelly Cabin Canyon.
Start at Hunting Hollow » Gilroy Hot Springs Road » Coyote Creek entrance » Coit Road » Anza Trail » Jackson Trail » Elderberry Spring Trail » Rock Tower Trail » Domino Pond Trail » Cattle Duster Trail » Coit Springs Trail » Cross Canyon Trail » Coit Road » Mahoney Meadows Road » Cowgirls Trail » Mahoney Meadows Road » China Hole Trail » China Hole » China Hole Trail » Manzanita Point » Manzanita Point Road » Park HQ for water. Manzanita Point Road » Flat Frog Trail » Hobbs Road » Middle Ridge Trail » Poverty Flats Road » Creekside Trail » China Hole » China Hole Trail » Mahoney Meadows Road » Coit Road » Wasno Road » Domino Pond Trail » Cattle Duster Trail » Coit Springs Trail » Grapevine Trail » Anza Trail » Cullen Trail » Grizzly Gulch Trail » Coit Road » Coyote Creek gate » Gilroy Hot Springs Road » Hunting Hollow parking. 40.95 / 7:06 / 10:44 / 6,971'
Gilroy:
Cordoza Ridge:
