A short trip down Highway 17 from Silicon Valley lies the beach/forest bedroom community of Aptos. Besides its wide sandy beaches, historical timber mills, and relatively less unaffordable housing with dreary commutes to the valley, Aptos is also know for being the home to Nisene Marks State Park. The forest was clear cut in the 1800's but the redwood forest here is resilient and grew back with vigor. If only my hairline would do the same.
The park has tons of hiking and biking trails. The valley is flat enough but the real fun lies in the hills, if you're so inclined to ride up 1,500 to 2,500 ft. Fortunately, Dave Smith knows a thing or two about biking in the Santa Cruz mountains and built a happy little service that shuttles bikers, runners and hikers from Aptos to the summit at the Soquel Demonstration Forest, another mountain bike single track haven here in Santa Cruz mountains. And just like that, you can get in a happy mostly downhill 15 mile point-to-point adventure.
The bike ride isn't the only adventure. Dave drives up the backroads, pointing out historical and local sites along the way. Did you know that Nisene Marks is the southerly most redwood forest? How about the Bayview Hotel, built in 1878 and still in operation? The vineyards and apple orchards where the wild deer get fat and happy, followed by mountain lions getting fat and happy? That Corralitos creek is home to steelhead trout? The Tibetan retreat where you can get married? No? Well, Dave knows all. The 30 minute ride up from Epicenter Bicycles was worth the $25 fare before we even started the bike ride.
Kids these days. So much screen time and so little outside time, but my son was happy to go on his first real mountain bike ride with his dad. For added kicks, we brought his happy little friend along. The initial climb, which barely registers in my memory from the few times to Soquel Demo Forest was an hour long arduous bike pushing exercise. They approached their initial downhill sections with equal trepidation, though towards the end, they bombed down the trail with confidence, if not grace.
After an hour and three and a half miles, we reached the benches marking the turn-off to the technical trails of Demo Forest and the long descent to come. To say we were happy to finally reach the benches is an understatement.
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| Benches at Ridge Trail, Soquel Demo Forest |
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| Hamilton, Ross and me |
And the downhill! Wow. Aptos Creek Rd is a fire road, not single track, so it's not very technical. Perfect for beginners. Carpeted in fallen pine, with a few rocks, some roots, and some fallen trees to duck under. And, oh, this little landslide made for an interesting stop. The steep drop-off, over 100 ft, into a nest of fallen trees was a sight.
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| Slide! |
As fun as the downhills are, it gets tiring on the hands and wrists. The respite at the Sand Point Overlook was welcome. A couple of benches, an ocean view, father-and-son (and friend), doesn't get much better than this.
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| Sand Point |
We still had 8 miles of downhill to go. We traded turns leading. The forest got even more beautiful, if that was possible, as we rode alongside Aptos Creek and inside its canyons. A glorious 2 hour bike ride was topped off with a trip to burger. where we got some of the best hamburgers around (I got the "Chuck Norris" jalapeño burger) and dad got a pint of craft beer. An all-around excellent adventure. Thanks, Dave!
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