It all started with
a Ridenet posting by Neil Wyenn inviting us to join him on a Saturday ride
in the Frazier Park area near Gorman. Neil had planned out a 60-mile loop
that would take us across the forest from Chuchupate Ranger Station to
Half Moon Campground, and then return via Piru Creek to the jeep trail
going to the top of Frazier Mountain. To add frosting to the cake, a long
time friend of Neil and mine, Dick West, was going to come down all the
way from the Sacramento Area to ride with us.
At around 9:00 AM, a
total of 6 riders met at the Jack in the Box in Frazier Park for the ride.
There were two ladies, Lisa Pogue (XR250) and Julie Angell (RT180), as
well as four guys, Dick (DRZ400E), Neil (XR250), Jeremy Briggs (XR650R),
and me (DRZ400S). Both ladies are excellent riders and required little or
no assistance to cover some of the more challenging trails the area has to
offer. Neil, Dick and I have been riding for decades (in fact, I believe
that Dick and I have ridden with each other for some 30 years, this year),
whereas Jeremy had only been riding about six times, and struggled a
little with the motorcycle that he had chosen to buy. All in all, it was a
well-matched group, and we helped each other through the tougher spots in
true dirt-rider fashion. The weather was perfect, with blue skies and
temperatures in the 60-70 F range.
Julie, Neil, Jeremy and Lisa |
Dick and Ron on the trail again |
Neil had done a lot
of planning and prep work for this ride, and the terrain he chose was
generally right for the group, with enough of a challenge to keep the
seasoned riders happy but without too many challenging sections to get our
newer riders in over their heads. He billed it as a scenery ride and he
certainly delivered on that promise.
Julie contributed to
the ride in a most pleasant way, as well. She had baked a bag of
crumble-proof lemon cookies and passed them around as we were unloading
the bikes. My good buddy, Dick, (the snake) offer to carry them in his
backpack during the ride. While we had more at each break and during
lunch, Dick conveniently "forgot" to split them with us at the
end of the ride. I'll wager that he enjoyed them all the way back to
Sacramento.
Serious
scenery rides in the Frazier Park area |
We rode about 60
miles and generally followed the course that Neil had laid out, but we did
turn back without completing the Piru Creek section of the loop. Jeremy's
650 was just too much for him to handle in the alternating boulder gardens
and deep sand of that creek bed. The morning and early afternoon part of
the ride is the loop shown in solid red line (Chuchpate to Lockwood to
Half Moon Camp and return via Piru Creek), while the late afternoon
portion of the ride is shown in dashed red line (Lockwood to Long Valley
and up Maxy Jeep trail to the top of Frazier Mountain and back to
Chuchpate via the road). See the map right:
Dick and I took the
less seasoned riders under our wing and suggested different riding
techniques that we had learned over the years. Jeremy, who originally
hails from South Africa, was doing a credible job of handling that monster
650. We later found out that he was also recovering from surgery on his
arm, which explained some of the numbness that he complained of. Lisa has
really improved in the couple of years that I have ridden with her, and
Julie did a great job on the little 180 CC two-stroke Yamaha. This is
probably because she usually rides with her brother who shows her no mercy
on the trails he takes. It turns out she also works for Yamaha, but for
the music/piano part of the company.
Dick gives Julie and Jeremy some tips |
Lisa and Jeremy confer before rocky uphill |
One of the first
stops for use was the stunning Lockwood Valley, with its breathtaking
panoramas and year round stream. Many riders take a dirt road this far,
and use the valley as a staging area. (Back before the Sespe Wilderness
was created, Dick and I used to stage here for the ride down Johnson Ridge
into the Sespe Gorge and Hot Springs area. The trail into Sespe Canyon
started from Half Moon campground and turned into a single-track that
switch-backed down a steep narrow ridge into the canyon. Some of the
corners were banked but others required muscling the bike around, and one
had a 2-foot step just after the turn. Year ago, at the bottom of the
trail, we would sometimes encounter a party of hippy types skinny-dipping
in the hot pools. I don't think we ever joined in however, because the
thought of having to ride back up the ridge after getting all hot and
relaxed in the mineral water was just too daunting.)
Snedden Ranch Panorama from trail |
Lockwood Creek |
Leaving Lockwood
valley the trail (7N15) is a rugged jeep road that climbs over several
ridges and eventually comes to an overlook that surveys the Guillermo
Valley, and then drops down to tie in with 7N03. Along this trail were
many hunters camped out or actively seeking deer. Most gave us a friendly
wave as we went by. The trail has some cobby hills but generally is fairly
easy. At one corner, we encountered an abandoned mine that Dick couldn't
resist posing in front of.
Lisa rounds the corner after uphill |
Dick checks out an abandoned mineshaft |
The overlook had an
interesting memorial (grave marker?) as well. Alongside the cross was a
small pine tree and picture of the person being honored, Jimmy Espinoza.
Jimmy was obviously a hunter as the picture tied to the tree showed a
person in camouflage and carrying a rifle, but it wasn't clear whether he
died on this spot and was buried there, or whether it was just his
favorite place in the forest and he was being remembered with a marker
there.
View from overlook into Guillermo Valley |
Memorial/burial site near the overlook |
From this point on,
we were mostly on graded dirt roads taking us to Half Moon Campground and
our lunch stop. At the campground were some friendly hunters that we
cooking up their lunch. Their little dog appeared to want the contents of
our sack lunches more than what they were preparing.
After lunch, we
started on a trail taking us through the Piru Creek drainage. The first
part of the trail was a relatively easy and scenic ride through some open
canyons, but as we progressed, the canyon walls grew steeper and the trail
degenerated into a barely perceptible path through very rocky sections
broken by sections of really deep wash sand.
I'd estimate that we
made it about half way down this trail. After a trailside conversation, we
decided to turn around and head back the way we came. Our other concern
was that we might run out of daylight without being able to complete our
planned Frazier mountain loop.
Lisa and Dick attack a rocky section |
Lisa, Dick and Jeremy on a downhill section |
At any rate, we
turned around without finishing the Piru Creek leg of the trip and
retraced our path back to Lockwood Valley. This wasn't all bad because we
saw some scenery that we had missed on our way in. It was interesting to
note that the Los Padres Forest has implemented an Adopt-A-Trail program
for the trails in this area. This program allows the forest to maximize
the use of scarce Forest Service Funds and labor by encouraging clubs to
adopt and maintain their favorite trails in the forest. In this way, the
trails can be kept up and kept open instead of being closed for budgetary
reasons. We noticed that the adventure pass was also required to park in
the forest. Funds derived from this program are used to fund improvements
in the forest and buy tools and equipment used by the volunteers in
maintaining the trails
Scenery on the Way back to Lockwood |
Lockwood Trail Adoption Sign |
When we made it back
to Lockwood, Jeremy decided to cut the ride short and head back to his
truck. After escorting him to the highway, we continued on towards Frazier
Mountain. The trail to the mountain took us through several very
picturesque meadows and offered some additional trail challenges. By this
time it was getting late in the day, so we hustled along and I didn't have
as much of a chance to take pictures.
Meadow on the way to Frazier Mountain |
Hustling for home as the dark closes in |
The trails to
Frazier Mountain were fun but not as challenging as the Lockwood Trail.
The Maxy jeep trail up the backside of the mountain was steep and had a
few twisty turns, just to keep it interesting. By the time we made it to
the loop road that circles the top of the mountain, dusk was definitely
upon us. It was starting to get real nippy and we decided to head for the
trucks. We were treated to a spectacular sunset as we dropped down the
road and headed for the ranger station and our vehicles. Even though we
had lunch at Half Moon campground, we were famished by the time we got the
bikes loaded and changed out of our riding gear.
We decided that a
fitting end to our day of riding and discovery would be to share dinner.
We noticed a small Italian Restaurant in Lake of the Woods and decided
that a steaming plate of Spaghetti or a tasty Calzone would be just the
thing to cure our hunger and prepare us for the long ride home. It was
neat to be able to spend some time getting to better know the person that
you just spent the day riding with. As we ate, it was obvious that Neil
was already planning the ride for the next week. He was already hitting us
up for Jawbone or El Mirage.
At around 7:00 PM,
we hit the road with full stomachs and pleasant memories of our Fall
Frolic in the Forest.
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