Two Rock Exploratory adventure for a bunch of older riders
Went from 3100 elevation to 5807 in montrose co. and then been riding the area extensively. Also a day ride at Crested butte 8909. 5 days now and over 50 miles. Legs are sore and last ride out was more challenging to maintain form. But its been great so far.
Lungs havent been a problem. First ride was the hardest due to 2 days and 20hrs driving out here.
Anyone else put in some big rides lately?
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Full of Optimism
A month ago we did an all day ride on the Nor Cal coast that should have been only 5 hours tops. Here is my report:
On June 2nd, five of us (age 26 to age 72!) set out to ride a well researched (on paper) route from Hwy 20 (approx. mile marker 28) to the Two Rock fire tower (4 miles w/ 600+' elevation gain) We then proceed down the ridge into the Big River basin. Our final destination was the Woodlands SP in a respectable amount of time.
The day was perfect as we started our ride at 9AM. Special thanks goes out to Myke Berna for our shuttle ride to the trail head 28 miles east on Hwy 20. Art Milke organized the ride with riders: Nick Taylor, Mike Belise, Jason Lord and myself. Previously, several of us started researching routes via Garmin BaseCamp and Google Earth Pro over the last four years. (I created a track for our use which was backed up on a Garmin 62STC hand held GPS device. Nick used an Avenza map app program as well. This proved to be an excellent program!)
Two routes were chosen with Art's (Ridge) Route as the primary way to proceed. Art's original route was a dotted line below Two Rock and there was some hesitation on my part to it's existence. Therefore, a back up route (Fire Road route) was established just in case. Garmin BaseCamp had it as a road from top to bottom. It was never needed.
Two Rock adventure
Full Route initially proposed with the subsequent bailout:
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See: Bailout to Chamberlain Creek Camp 20 at mile marker 19 (4PM). Woodlands waypoint road (?) was at 22.4 miles.
Two Rock tower was virtually cloudless with grand views to the ocean and beyond ("is that Mt Fuji in the distance?").
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From the fire tower, we headed down to Art's Ridge route. Here we got our bearings for the way down. This intersection represented the road down to Camp 20 (route used by Two Rock Riders in past) and Art's Ridge route.
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While readying ourselves for the descent, Art came across a rare northern California Mariposa Lily. These were growing along the hillside.
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Art's route was fast and exhilarating all the way to within a 1/4 mile of the bottom (Pigpen Gulch) where we had to thrash through a ton of overgrowth on a decommissioned logging road. The poison oak flourished beautifully much to Mike and my disdain. Stepping carefully, we eventually came out near what is called "Upper Ranch Opening" off Pigpen Gulch. See well disguised trail opening:
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Proceeding with confidence, the road proved to be a welcomed respite to the previous botanical hindrances. We discovered an old ranch long ago abandoned most likely due to the fact it was built in the Big River flood plain. This was an absolutely beautiful setting!
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Once again, our confidence was high and our route still tracking well on the GPS. We continued on as temps began to rise into the low 80's.
What road lay ahead was where the wheels really came off. Proceeding on the GPS tracks, we came across our eventual Waterloo. An hour and a half was spent slogging through and over downed tan oaks (hack and squirt victims) with dense brush beautifully inundated with poison oak. Mike and I were now troopers without any further moaning or whining. Periodically, we would pop out onto a clear section only to be thrust back into heavily downed oaks. Once we had to ford Big River to a false road across from it. Finally, we came out onto a logging road where we took several dead end newer logging roads. While climbing one of these roads, I came across a pick up truck backing down to the river.
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We ask the driver (a Conservation fund worker filling storage tanks) how to get to the Woodlands and he had no clue to its existence. Not a good sign! It became clear with most of us out of water that a decision needed to be made. At 19 miles into this adventure we decided to bail, with three riders taking an offer to be ferried out. Nick and I still had enough water and decided to ride on and proceeded out on the Camp 20 road. It was an additional 11.5 miles to Chamberlain Creek's camp 20 arriving just before 6PM. While riding out, we thought we may have found the turn off to the Woodlands at 22.4 miles.
We were never officially lost, as our route was spot on all the time. No indications led us to believe there were any decommissioned road sections. Now, we know better!
