[Skyline35]

Last Sunday I rode at the SFPUC San Francisco Peninsula Watershed. Here are pictures from both last Sunday and another time there in mid-April of this year. It's just 10 miles of fireroad so you get to see what it is like without having to pedal 10 boring miles.

The early part of the ride goes through this forest:

As you come out of the forest, Crystal Springs Reservoir is visible to the west (springtime):

(Click on thumbnails for full size image. )


And here it is in the fall:

Close up of the dam:

Close up of the 280/92 interchange:

Further up the road to the east is the Pilarcitos Reservoir:

After a few more miles, you can see Pacifica (springtime):

This shot is from Sunday as the fog is just burning off:

Zooming in a little, you can see the whitecaps of the waves along the shore:

Panorama of Montara Mountain and Pacifica:

At the north end of the road it is very windy; you are overlooking the San Andreas Reservoir and the San Francisco Airport:

And a panorama from this spot:

Heading back, here is the no-man's land between SFO and Pacifica (hard to believe this is less than 10 miles from downtown San Francisco):

And another view on the road back, SFO to the left:

The SFPUC San Francisco Peninsula Watershed can only be accessed through their scheduled docent-lead group rides. You register for the rides at their website. The instructions are wrong but you muddle through eventually. Here is their website:

https://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/4/MSC_ID/68/MTO_ID/121/C_ID/1600

It's very beautiful and a change from the usual mountain bike ride. Something I'll do once in a while...

///Charlie

 

[Portola Vince]

Nice

You sure had a beautiful day for exploring. I've wanted to ride that area for years.

 

[Biking Viking]

Gorgeous. I always wanted to ride that when I lived in the Bay Area, but never had the chance. Closest I got was top of that State Park that borders the Pacifica trail area and also when bombing down 92 from 35 on my road bike.

Thanks for taking us along on a virtual ride. Great fun to see all that familiar landscape from a different angle. To friggin' bad they can't open that to the public.

 

[rpet]

Too bad the SFPUC / Water Dept needs their own private resort. Yes - I have personally witnessed SF officials on these same fireroads in a train of SUVs packed with their families.

The political history of the "opening" of this area to docent-led rides is rather funny (I mean depressing).

-rob in Brooklyn

 

[Rumpfy]

I have dual monitors at work...thanks for the new wallpaper!

 

[HarryCallahan]

Thanks for posting those!

I looked at them last night with my wife, and she said "We could ride our bikes there? Those are the first photos you've shown me that looked like a place I'd like riding. Cool. I'll have to book some reservations.

The politics of getting that open as far as it is were indeed silly, but it's progress. At least it is not all houses, like some other formerly beautiful areas I know of.

 

[zorg]

I looked at them last night with my wife, and she said "We could ride our bikes there? Those are the first photos you've shown me that looked like a place I'd like riding. Cool. I'll have to book some reservations.

The politics of getting that open as far as it is were indeed silly, but it's progress. At least it is not all houses, like some other formerly beautiful areas I know of.

And thanks to the veto of AB672, biking access to reservoirs around the bay area will remain dicey at best.

 

[carcasshucker]

those are some beautiful pics !! what a clear day-thanks for the view
how was the traffic out that day??
last time i took some kiddies out on that ride we barely avoided being run down by about fifteen horses-havent been out there in a while

 

[BigLarry]

Beautiful!

Great pics Charlie! Thanks for sharing.

I enjoy all types of riding, and doing a gentle scenic ride like that is a lot of fun too.

I very much wanted to go with you but things are tough for me getting out for much riding right now. Now I know what I missed, in spite of your numerous invites.

 

[HarryCallahan]

Its a group mindset

And thanks to the veto of AB672, biking access to reservoirs around the bay area will remain dicey at best.

A lot of water district rules and employees are still stuck in a 19th century mindset that says keeping folks out is the only way you have clean water. It's like they haven't adapted to developments like filtration, chlorination, UV sterilization, and whatnot.

A buddy of mine worked over at Vaquero Reservoir near Brentwood for a while. It was funded by the voters with the understanding that they would get recreational access. My friend said the whole time he worked there, his boss (who was from SFPUC) was always grumbling about the public access. Bikes were limited to fire roads "for environmental reasons", while security patrolled the same roads on quad runners and in crewcab pickups.
Oh, and my buddy was forbidden to have his bike at the watershed on working days, even for patrolling on the bike legal trails.

 

[zorg]

A lot of water district rules and employees are still stuck in a 19th century mindset that says keeping folks out is the only way you have clean water. It's like they haven't adapted to developments like filtration, chlorination, UV sterilization, and whatnot.

A buddy of mine worked over at Vaquero Reservoir near Brentwood for a while. It was funded by the voters with the understanding that they would get recreational access. My friend said the whole time he worked there, his boss (who was from SFPUC) was always grumbling about the public access. Bikes were limited to fire roads "for environmental reasons", while security patrolled the same roads on quad runners and in crewcab pickups.
Oh, and my buddy was forbidden to have his bike at the watershed on working days, even for patrolling on the bike legal trails.

As luck would have it, EBMUD is no better. It'll take a whole generation or two to retire there before anything can ever happen. It's hard to break the little fiefdom mentality.

 

[Skyline35]

Thanks everyone for the compliments!

I have dual monitors at work...thanks for the new wallpaper!

I'm curious, which one did you pick?

I looked at them last night with my wife, and she said "We could ride our bikes there? Those are the first photos you've shown me that looked like a place I'd like riding."

It would be a good "date" ride. It's slow, it's social, the docent is pointing out this and that, lots of stops, great views, and restrooms every two miles. (Yes, that's like 6 restrooms in ten miles!)

how was the traffic out that day??
last time i took some kiddies out on that ride we barely avoided being run down by about fifteen horses-havent been out there in a while

No horses Sunday. No horse poop on the trail either. Horses are allowed there but I got the impression there haven't been any there in while.

Traffic on hwy 92 was packed-jammed going west for the Half Moon Bay pumpkin stuff. I originally had the notion to go up to Skeggs afterwards for some higher intensity riding but the traffic canceled that.

Beautiful! Great pics Charlie! Thanks for sharing.

I enjoy all types of riding, and doing a gentle scenic ride like that is a lot of fun too.

I very much wanted to go with you but things are tough for me getting out for much riding right now. Now I know what I missed, in spite of your numerous invites.

I know how busy you are so I stopped badgering you about the ride. The pictures give you an idea of what's there - put this one in your backlog of rides to do someday...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures and maybe they've inspired a few to sign up and go do the ride. The views are worth it. We in the bay area live in an amazing place!

///Charlie

(Everyone knows I was being factitious when I said at the top it's boring - right?)

 

[velocipus]

I looked at them last night with my wife, and she said "We could ride our bikes there? Those are the first photos you've shown me that looked like a place I'd like riding. Cool. I'll have to book some reservations.

The politics of getting that open as far as it is were indeed silly, but it's progress. At least it is not all houses, like some other formerly beautiful areas I know of.

Funny, my girlfriend said pretty much the same thing. Maybe this could be a "mtbr s.o.'s who don't want to ride technical singletrack" ride?

 

[Portola Vince]

Acid Test

As luck would have it, EBMUD is no better. It'll take a whole generation or two to retire there before anything can ever happen. It's hard to break the little fiefdom mentality.

That's probably true Zorg. I remember awhile back before mountain biking got famous the big test was to dive into the Pulgas Water Temple and find the hole in the bottom and come out the other side into the sterile lake. That was as early as 68.
The act itself was crazy but it was also a well known fact back then that Crystal Springs Lake was one of the original eden's off limits to the public.

 

[Cadillac]

I tried to ride here once but a Fed (yes, federal agent), shoo'd me away.

Sucked. I even had a pass and a group to meet.

 

[Skyline35]

I tried to ride here once but a Fed (yes, federal agent), shoo'd me away.

I didn't see any federal agents but I did notice that those rangers driving around in the white SFPUC pick-ups had deputy sheriff badges.

Re-reading my original post this morning, I see that I consistently reversed east and west in my photo descriptions - I wonder how I ever find my way back to my car on my rides!

 

[Fast Eddy]

I have dual monitors at work...thanks for the new wallpaper!

I like the way you think. I'll try it out!