Santa Cruz?

Maaaaaaayyyyybe on Sunday. 5+ inches in the past week and a big storm right before that with hardly any time to dry out between storms. The rain just stopped this last night.

The trails need time to recover

Kinda what I thought. Thanks for the response!

Just use an E-bike, those don’t wear out trails.

Especially if you shell out for the hoverbike option

hoolie said:

Just use an E-bike, those don’t wear out trails.

Click to expand...

Those definitely damage the trails. My horse, on the other hand, is an animal and therefore at home in nature and incapable of damaging trails so we will be using them all week. 😤

It depends on where you go. Nacine Marks is going to be muddy but it may be OK at Wilder Ranch. Some trails at Fort Ord should be OK and also some at Toro Park. Santa Cruz mountain areas get 2-3 times as much rainfall as the lower elevations and this includes the Salinas and Monterey areas.

Separate issue is tires with most local people do not ride with tires that work well in mud.

Calsun said:

but it may be OK at Wilder Ranch.

Click to expand...

They had Wilder Ranch fenced off at the hwy 1 tunnel near the ranch house today.

Not worth bringing the bikes. There is so much water here, my garage has water seeping in from under the concrete slab. If you ride the trails, you'll just be creating lots of work for anyone who does trail maintenance.

Definitely appreciate those who come on here to ask about trail conditions. Down here at Fort Ord MORCA just did work on popular downhill trails and people are already out there tearing them up again in the rain. Hope they’re donating a lot of cash to trail organizations cuz I doubt they’re out there moving dirt.

We got 22" of rain here this December, just up the hill from Wilder. Even the paved roads are rather wet and muddy.

wgscott said:

We got 22" of rain here this December, just up the hill from Wilder. Even the paved roads are rather wet and muddy.

Click to expand...

22 inches of rain... OMG. I'm in San Jose which got a lot less rain but even riding road is dangerous. Sooo much running water in the hills.

I went out to cut drains and remove debris from Emma McCrary and Ucon this morning. The trails are trashed already and lots of people going up Ucon. I haven't seen the dirt this bad in years.

So annoying to see people going around the rock armoring on Ucon. They can climb the hill but can't handle 10 feet of rock?

No trees down though.

Thanks for doing that. I was surprised to see so many people parked along Empire Grade ini the usual spot. I get that it is the first time that the sun has shined since about Dec 11th, but come on...

Yeah ,

According to San Jose Merc , Summit Road/17 got about 9 inches in past 7 days . So did Lake reservoir near JNT . So JNt and Demo will be sloppy. I would say just stay away from anything near Santa Cruz mountains for another week .

You know, I went in yesterday on my SS to do some maintenance in Nisene and I have to tell you surprisingly it really wasn’t that bad in there. Yeah the fire road on the flat going in was wet in spots but the ST wasn’t bad at all. No trees or debris down on the loop I did.
I did do a little raking and packing but overall surprised it wasn’t a slog fest!
that‘s my .02

FortOrdMTB said:

Definitely appreciate those who come on here to ask about trail conditions. Down here at Fort Ord MORCA just did work on popular downhill trails and people are already out there tearing them up again in the rain. Hope they’re donating a lot of cash to trail organizations cuz I doubt they’re out there moving dirt.

Click to expand...

Good point, Ft Ord attracts a lot of folks in wet weather. The same holds true for Granite Bay, which used to upset me, but now I realize that the sandy trails remain much the same year to year.

I Rode Fort Ord yesterday---never have I seen so many folks riding but the trails were in prime condition---almost zero standing water.
Did not see trail damage even on 49 and 50

pctloper said:

I Rode Fort Ord yesterday---never have I seen so many folks riding but the trails were in prime condition---almost zero standing water.
Did not see trail damage even on 49 and 50

Click to expand...

The damage is what you don’t see. Riding through low areas holding water immediately after a rain makes the depression larger & causes drainage to fail. Others ride around puddles causing the trails to widen. Additionally, sandy loam is soft when wet but dries very hard. When riding wet it creates ruts, then when it dries the top layer adds sand to the trails when it dries.

I agree that Fort Ord is great a few days after a rain as was when you were riding (though some trails like 61 & 62 sometimes hold water longer). That said, I stand by what I said… be cool and stay off the singletrack within 24 hours after a rain.