Jonesin for a Ride!

I have always wanted to do a long-distance cross country bicycle ride ever since I was a kid. I’m no longer a kid, I’m now turned 60, now it’s become a bucket list.

This ride won’t be cross country, but it will be along the coast in California. It will entail taking a train from San Juan Capistrano to Oakland with the bike on board. Then the next morning start by catching the ferry boat to San Francisco, ride to the Golden Gate Bridge, then turn south to San Diego along the coast route. The whole trip should be about 650 miles and take 10 to 14 days.

I told my friend Paul about my plans. He turned 65 this year. He though 650 miles, 65th year, yeah, I’ll join you…

So after a summer of riding and planning, time to put pencils down and just ride. We will leave on 10/14 on the Amtrak train and start Monday 10/15 peddling…..

Link to our planned route, click here.

All geared up!

Transportation for the next 12-14 days

Second Days Trek – 11.2 miles.

Day 2 Elevation and Distance

There were a few pictures from Day 1 that were missed, which shows the start of the first impasse and how rocky it was. Just before the impasse we were traversing along a bluff, but you could see in the distance, the cliffs and the shoreline with the tide coming in.

But we went forward at a quicken pace to make it half way through the impasse.

As you can see in the picture of Paul and I chatting it up at the mouth of the canyon we camped, there were plenty of rocks to contend with.

And as it became the norm, every evening we would all gravitate to watch the sun set before heading back to the campfire.

Cynthia and Keith hauled in a special treat for our first night to celebrate Sam’s birthday – a whole bottle of wine and items for making s’mores! What a treat!

Sleeping wasn’t hard either as we were on the beach, so the sound of crashing waves are continuous and for the first night, a babble brook too.

As you can see, our low tides were during the mid to late mornings. Since we were already 1/2 through the first impasse, we only had 2 more miles till we were safe, but the start of the 2nd impasse would be another 10 miles pass that. That was our goal for the day, to camp just before the 2nd impasse at Big Flat, so day 2 was to be our biggest day.

The next morning everyone woke up at different times. Paul was up early and killed some time making cairns on the beach. I was up shortly after that – not feeling too sore, but sure could feel it on the back and the calves.
We all traveled in twos. Paul and I , Keith and Cynthia, Sam and Tim. I always wanted to get a little head start in the morning as I was the newbie and the slowest. Today Paul and I started out about 9 a.m. Shortly there after Cynthia and Keith passed us by. at 10ish we were at the end of impasse 1. We all took a break here and enjoyed the creek, refilled our waters and took in the scenery. only about 10 miles to go!

The next 10 miles brought vastly different conditions. The morning started out calm and cool. After our first break, the winds picked up considerably.  Although at our backs, it was a cold blast off the surface of the ocean and at times, pushed you along, weather you liked it or not.  It was tricky crossing creeks, balancing yourself on a log crossing only to have the wind catch your back pack and almost toss you in the creek.

Our footing conditions changed quite a bite on this stretch also – from sand, to sand and rocks, to bouldering, and to hard pack trails. In the late morning and early afternoon we had a strong cold wind to our backs, with the only relief was to find a creek canyon or very large rock.

Walking in sand you loose about 20% efficiency with each step. Your foot sinks and slides with each step. At times, I would walk in someone else’s steps as it made it a bit easier. Other times you would search out rocks that were flat that  would give you some traction, and when you were on a hard trail, you felt like you were superman.

By late afternoon we found ourselves on a grassy plateau. This turned out to be the beginning of Big Flat – and area which is the draining for Kings Peak (the highest point in the county) and the Kings Peak range. We found places to set up camp after a long days hike. Looking south, we could see the lights of Shelter Cove farther down the coast.

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First Days Trek – 7.5 miles Click here for google earth kzm file.

Day 1 Elevation and Distance

The Group: myself, Tim, Sam,Cynthia, Kevin and Paul

Monday morning we loaded our gear into our cars and headed to the lot at the south end of the trail at Black Sand Beach and parked.  This is where we will come out on day 4.  There was a shuttle driver we arranged to shuttle us two hrs north to the northern trail head.  

Two hours later we were starting our four day hike with about 33 to 35 pounds on our back, sunny but cool weather with a good 15 mph tailwind.  Our goal is to make it to the beginning  of the first high tide 4 mile impasse zone, which was about 5 miles away.

This hike is about 20% trail, with the rest of it is negotiating the beach and shoreline.  The hike started on the beach, greeted by sea lions sun bathing on the beach, then turns into a small trail just above the beach, navigating thru some poison oak and gain some elevation and cliff like trails with breath taking views. 

At our 5 mile mark, a decision was made to start the first impasse zone, but to camp at the halfway point.  High tide was about an hour or so away, so we started out.  We had to hustle as we were not sure.   Luckily we all made it but it was close, as the last few hundred yards the tide was reaching the cliff side.

We settled in a remote canyon that we had to our self’s and after setting up camp, enjoyed the rest of the evening.

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Will update with our group adventure, just getting all the pics together and finding some time to document the hike.  Overall it was a great experience and a beautiful stretch of undeveloped California coast, only available by hiking it….  Came out of it with sore calves, tight shoulder muscles and a grin on my face.  And even a week later, some toes that didn’t like one of the days and it still shows.