Sometime in February I received an email from a rabble rousing fella from soggy PDX. It went something like this, Hey Southlanders Team Smitty has rented a van* and I have a pass to ramble.
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The Schmidt Clan see the smiles as they head South.
A photograph by Andy Smitty Schmidt on Flickr used by permission |
And a ramble we did! But first there was a bit of logistics to iron out.
The visit date was for late March and the ride around the 22nd and 23rd. There was some mild cajoling to get them down earlier for the RSR** which was planned for March 15th But there were some prenatal wranglings that needed tending. In the land of Auto's were on a day by day alert for this Southern incursion by a Puddle Town resident. Many an idea was tossed about in search of a suitable local for a rambling bike overnight. Oh and there was a radius to consider as Andy's wife was to drop him off via her visit to Mission Viejo , then picked up on Sunday.
Possible locations were Borrego Springs, Joshua Tree & somewhere in the San Berdoo Mountains. Borrego was discarded as it was too far. While in the planning stages the participation count seemed to swell to twelve but in reality it always drops way off. By ride time there were the three of us for the overnight.
I pushed hard for Joshua Tree as I love the place and have never ridden a bicycle in the park. I made calls to the Joshua Tree Ranger District office for more information and came away with a general sense of why you don't hear about bike adventures out there. Highly restricted, the California Riding and Hiking trail*** is closed to bikes and has been hung up for years in congress waiting for approval. It doesn't help that the information disseminated by these folks on the phone is hardly reliable. For instance, I was told that one could post on a bulletin (basically inform the rangers you were planning on camping in the wilderness for safety) walk your bike not ride about a mile into the wilderness along the Pinto Mountains and primitive camp which seemed like a hassle but in a pinch I'll hike a bike when necessary. There is only a small dirt section called the Queen Mine Road that allow bicycles.
The plan was the Coconut and I would travel in advance to snag a camp site leave extra water and fire wood on Friday and on Saturday meet Andy at Coyote Corner in the town of Joshua Tree and ride the 35 miles to camp. Then on Sunday ride back out. Andy had planned to ride the near 100 miles back to Barstow with an overnight in between at Amboy crater.
So the Strada Rossa came and went which I'll detail on a later post...
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Finally got the bike rack loading down.
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
The Coconut and I headed out to Joshua Tree with high hopes of an epic desert adventure. Arriving in Yucca Valley a bit later than I had hoped for (as after my work week I wasn't moving too fast) we made a few pit stops, coffee beans for the Coconut, extra water, snacks, fire wood and made our way into the Park by way of the West entrance. The first thing that greeted us was a wonderful sign informing us that all campgrounds were FULL. Immediately a sinking feeling in my stomach manifested but I pulled up to the kiosk anyway with a determination that we would find a site. The ranger in the kiosk wasn't helping my resolve in fact he had that meek sort of demeanor, you know the don't kill the messenger look. He informed us there was an uptick because of Spring Break. Spring Break! What the hell! I looked over at the Coconut and he said oh yeah I'm on Spring break too.
I'm a working guy without children. Okay so apparently Spring Break is spread out from mid March to mid April or something I suppose to go easy on the rest of us. The revised plan was to make the rounds through the park and see if some cool students would let us share their camp? This wasn't the adventure we were looking for. After making the rounds we came up empty and made our way to the North entrance at Twenty Nine Palms. I figured I'd do the bulletin registration thing and make camp. No dice, remember earlier I mentioned miss-information, yep that option was off the table. Our only options were 1. Camp at Cottonwood Camp approximately 55 miles on the Southern end of the park. 2. Camp on BLM land North of Hwy 62 in a bleak moonscape terrain. 3. Camp at a private camp ground called Joshua Lake Camp which the rangers claimed was scenic. The Coconut made the call and they were having a private something all weekend and there were no sites available, so we decided to take a room at the Hi Desert Motel with pool and HBO. Returned the fire wood and stopped into the Crossroads Cafe for some fine coffee. My general feeling was all of Los Angeles or more likely the entire Western half of these United States had descended on JT.
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Leaving the Hi Desert
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
Fortunately, I'd had a plan B. I put a call into Cyclotourist David in Redlands and arraigned for us to meet at his home Saturday morning then ride up to
Angelus Oaks by way of Hwy 38 Mill Creek Road, Loch Leven trail and make camp at Thomas Hunting grounds a primitive camp. David sent emails with the change of plans and the new route directions. I'd also put an email out to Andy with the change of plans. I watched the Lakers lose again to the Wizards and the Coconut organized his gear and by the time I fell asleep at 11pm I still hadn't heard from Andy.
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Organizing
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
7 am Saturday the 22nd woke up, checked out and had a meal at the Country Kitchen. Checked email and Andy was headed to Redlands. Game on! The word from Barstow was Smitty had now highjacked the van. So one part of the logistics was solved. Sixty five miles later...
About 9:20 am we all met on David's front lawn and always the gracious host the Cyclotourista served us all cappuccino's.
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Hoodlums
A photograph by Cyclotourist on Flickr used by permission |
With printed route instruction in hand David and friend Arlo also coincidentally (if you believe in coincidence, I think it's a SAD thing**** ) from Portland escorted us all the way to the Loch Leven hike a bike bypass, a hasty whiskey circle was formed good conversation David and Arlo swooping back down and the three of us Andy, Coconutbill and me continuing upward.
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Permit stop
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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| A photograph by Cyclotourist on Flickr used by permission |
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| A photograph by Cyclotourist on Flickr used by permission |
Onward we climbed with breaks and conversation along the way. Loch Leven is an abandoned road being reclaimed by nature, sort of a "
Planet of the Apes" *****vibe. We popped out into the mountain neighborhood of Angelus Oaks and made our way to the Oaks Restaurant. There we had a meal Andy and Evan electing to have a beer and I went with a nice hot tea.
We asked our waiter the distance to the Thomas Hunting grounds camp and he claimed it was about 2.5 miles mostly flat. I said claimed because Andy wasn't buying it... turns out it was 3.5 miles and more climbing. There were some mechanical issues and we elected to make a hobo camp atop a knoll with sweeping views in all directions. Camp was set, water was boiled and tea enjoyed while the last rays of light faded, later we all retired into a balmy night and well earned rest.
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
Daylight arrived and we could make out below that the coastal moisture had made it's push inland. As is the ritual we boiled water and the Coconut described the Rivendell sanctioned aeropress process.
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The pour
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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...and press
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
Don't hold your breath but there might be an up coming Coconut instruction video on the perfect cup of Joe.
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
Packed and ready to go we rolled down the hill to the Oaks for pie and coffee while sitting on the porch in the sun. This was at Andy's recommendation and a good one at that.
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Evan bombing.
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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Breakfast of champions
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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Bike friendly establishment
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
We did the reverse route rolling down LL with child like glee carving and picking the best line down, there was a bit of photo leap frog bombing...
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Getting Gnarly
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
Popping back out onto Hwy 38 a fast decent down to an area that the Cylotourist emphasized strongly. That this side route was not to be missed. and worth the time. Entering what was a stalled home development with streets, utilities and graded building pads beyond we entered a large canyon with smooth round slopes draped with new spring grasses. Turning up a smaller side canyon we ascended up a switch back trail hike a biking above Hwy 38 and Redlands below and in the distance.
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A Coconut in a sea of green
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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LCG
A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
This was Crafton Hills and as advertised there was a fire road of hard pack that carved it's way along a ridge and swooped downward to Crafton College.
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
A short five miles later we arrived back at David's with a leisurely walk and conversation to the Gormet Pizza Shoppe, great dishes were had, Hanger 24 beer was consumed and pizza (since I'd been talking about it to the Coconut all weekend ) enjoyed by yours truly.
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
All good times have to end and this weekend was no different, for me they are always bitter sweet and over really fast. Though I'd never met Andy in person he was exactly who I thought he was, a good riding partner with easy banter and mad riding skills. A Northwest/Southwest connection was made and I think it's safe to say that the Coconut was safe and intact. Job well done by all.
One last thing, there was an enormous amount of bike geeking especially around Andy's Jackalope built by Bantam Bikes in Portland. I gotta say I also like the Pass & Stowe front rack super utilitarian, hmm maybe for the Atlantis down the line?
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| A photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr |
For more socalpedalpusher Flickr images
here.
The Coconut's are
here
Andy Smitty Schmidt
here
The Cyclotourist
here
*The Smitty Schmidt clan goes carless in the puddle capitol.
**The Redlands Strada Rossa ride of consequence. A mere sixty six mile 7200' mixed terrain ride, add a little heat and let the suffer fest begin.
***The riding part must be referring to horses cause it's off limits to bikes. This trail is approximately 35 miles and runs from Black Rock Campground outside of Yucca Valley to the South and terminates at the North Entrance at Twenty Nine Palms.
****Seasonal affected disorder.
***** Andy at some point had mentioned the movie Planet of the Apes and I guess it just stuck.
As always thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down.
