Ride Report Santa Cruz - Wilder Ranch & Demo Forest

With all the hot weather we had last week I was trying to find some place cool to ride. Hey, NorCal is usually cool this time of year....yeah, Santa Cruz sounds good. I've only heard of the Demo Forest but knew there was much more to SC than just the DF. Checked out MBoSC site and tried to make their Sat. group ride so I wouldn't have to plan a route. Unfortunately, the ride must have cancelled because nobody showed up, guess I should have signed up for the mailing list. No problem, rode back to the ranger's office and picked up a map. We tried to hit as many single track as possible. The route was up Wilder Ridge fire road, then up Twin Oaks to Enchanted Loop (2x's) and down Baldwin. Somehow we got lost on Eucalyptus Loop but found some friendly riders who pointed us in the right direction. Good thing to cause they told us to do Enchanted Loop in a clockwise direction. Wilder is mostly XC, nothing gnarly in there. Just smooth buff single track.

This happened a lot, "Wait, hold on, lemme look at the map"


Spokes heading into Twin Oaks


Enchanted Loop - Loamy with lot's of Redwoods. You can really get going on this trail.


Spokes was all smiles at the bottom of Enchanted Trail


Some wild berries on Twin Oaks


Baldwin Loop was just a single track that went straight down the ridge. Not much too it, you're up in the redwoods then you descend down towards the beach.


Both trails are the same, the pano went all the way around..


At the bottom of Baldwin, you pass by someone's property, through a tunnel and bam, there's the beach!


It's a 3 mi ride back along the bluffs to the car. Stunning views





Surfers out having fun


Ended the ride with some BBQ in Felton. We went to check out the Steam Engine trains and they also had a Civil War Enactment for Memorial Day weekend.

 

haven't been to wilder in a few years. It's a nice enjoyable xc trail in the redwoods. thanks for the pics!

 

Day 2 - Demo Forest

So, the long anticipated Demo Forest. Dino gave me some info on the trails and what I could find was, I had to ride Braille. Ok, started planning the ride till I found out there was a shuttle service.

Dave Smith runs this service, I gave him a call and he hooked me up for the next day, w00t w00t!
https://www.facebook.com/ShuttleSmithAdventures?ref=ts

I highly recommend using the shuttle as the drive up is LONG. Plus, you still have to climb to get to the trails. Our plan was to ride Hihn's Mill Rd to Sulphur Springs - Ridge then Braille. I'm glad we didn't. Santa Cruz was going to be in the 70's so I figured, eh, I don't have to carry that much water (this proved to be mistake #1). We met the shuttle at Epicenter Cycling in Aptos and while waiting for the shuttle, I picked up a map at the shop (so glad I did). On the drive up, the locals were giving me tips on what trails to ride. Got out on my gloves, uhhh, how come I have 2 right gloves (mistake #2). We climbed up Aptos Fire Road off Buzzard Lagoon to Ridge Trail. Ridge itself is actually a lot of fun. Beautiful tree lined singletrack under the canopy in the shade. I had a blast riding this trail. Braille was FUN, though short, it had a little of everything. Stunts, steeps, rocks, roots, all singletrack. At the bottom, we had to climb out via Hihn to Sulphur then Ridge Trail again. The climb wasn't bad and I was thinking, hey this is easy. However, it started getting hot, real hot. There was no breeze and the sun was beating down on us. Sulphur got steeper and steeper. I noticed my water supply was getting low and I started conserving my sips. By the time I got to the top, I was screaming no joy. You know, you're so hot from the inside and my water was hot too. I was dreaming of ice cold rootbeer floats on the way up. We took a short break at the top and headed back down towards Aptos. It was a 15 mile decent through tall Redwoods. Just beautiful. All the hikers and bikers we came across in SC were really nice.

Start of the trail up Aptos Fireroad. OMG, what, NO Horses, I'm in heaven!!


Boring fire road climb up Aptos


At this sign, you hang a right to enter the Demo Forest


Onto Ridge Trail!


This part of Braille got pretty steep. Spokes was a trooper on her Superlight with barely any knobs on her tires and she hasn't been riding much this year.






Looking up on Braille, you can see little logs placed as ramps for small jumps.


Little logs to jump off






Spokes, What did you think of Braille?


I forgot what trail this was on


By the time we got to the bottom, I was worked. Overheated, out of water, flat out tired. I think we did 25mi with quite a bit of climbing. The reward was seeing Chris Isaak perform while we packed away our gear and headed over to Aptos BBQ for some post ride refreshments.

 

Nice ride report!
i rode Wilder about a year ago with one of the locals there, we hit a few cool trails that might not be on the map We enjoyed Aptos BBQ so much we ate there two nights in a row. Dave smith is quite a character, I rode with him up in Lake Tahoe a good 10 years ago.

 

SC is neat place. Trails so close to town and the beach that it makes for a nice place to visit.

As far as Mistake #2. I've done that! Did you turn one glove inside out so you can wear it on your left?

And Chris Isaak? What's up with that.

Beautiful pics, thanks for posting. Hope you and Slowspokes are well.

 

That was a strawberry, it would quickly be snapped up and gone. It was awfully big to be a wild one, but berry, what berry? I think I could have nabbed it and not hit the PO, I sure would have tried.

 

:clap: :clap: :clap:

(That's all for now. We can discuss your return trip next time our paths cross)

 

Dave's a hoot, his passion for biking is infectious!

Thanks Carl! I thought about turning the glove inside out but ended up storing it in my pack instead. Now I got blisters #-o Chris Isaak was playing the Aptos Blues Festival which was right next to the shuttle pickup. We're doing good, hope all is well with you too.

Wilder SP could be called PO SP. I've never used Tecnu before but I did purchase a bottle right after the ride. The berry looked like a raspberry. Thoughts of getting a PO infection in my throat stopped me from reaching for it. :lol:

 

Beautiful pictures Andy! I'm so bummed I missed you guys. Can't believe you were right here and I had to work - the entire weekend. I rode with Dean and Scott the weekend before you arrived, I thought Enchantment loop was stunning, love those Redwoods! Good to see you guys even if it's just in photos. I hope we can ride these trails and some of the new ones we discovered next time you are up this way.

 

The A ticket at Wilder Ranch is to climb all the way to the top and cross the paved Empire Grade Road and ride the very cool Campus Trails. Enchanted Loop in Wilder is worth the whole trip. We rode it clockwise which I understand is not the regular way but I think it worked well.

 

Thanks for the RR Andy. I rode those trails a few weeks ago with Sideshow Bob (Ross), and those are still some of my favorite trails in Cali!!!