This was the Big Daddy of trail rides for us in 2009. This is the loop I've had my eye on since I got confident in my horse's ability to handle things in the open, maybe in May or June. Last week's ride up big, bad and scary McCrary Ridge Trail turned out to be not so treacherous as it had been described to me. If the trail with the bad reputation could be tamed, what possible horrors could await us on this loop trail? Well .....
Started out on the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail. Some of the trees are getting their autumn colors.
After about 1.3 miles, we turned onto the Clark Connection Trail, which is all switchbacks up the side of the mountain for about a mile. But, before we head up, we cross Waddell Creek and Bella got a drink.
Waddell Creek
Some noise from the nearby campground caught her attention
Up the creek
Down the creek
I figured I might not ever go up these trails again, so I wanted a good photographic record of the trails and sights.
The trail winds through the woods a little bit before going uphill
Still winding and scenic
Now we're going up
And up
We've been this way once before
Looking uphill
Looking down the side of the hill
It's all very pretty, but already Bella is starting to puff a little, even at our very casual walk and frequent stops for photographs
We're coming to a clearing at the top of this switchback
And this was our turnaround point on a previous ride
Even though there wasn't any fog on the ocean, it was still a very hazy day. This is looking across the canyon we just came up, to the beach where the Rancho Del Oso entrance and horse camp are.
Telephoto of the ocean and beach
Waddell Beach
Alright, let's explore some new territory. The trail continues around the ledge and goes back into the shrubs and forest
But keeps going up; more switchbacks
It's so beautiful. the forest and the path through it are a delight.
I am so grateful that I'm able to see and appreciate this wilderness. We came across a group of 3 backpackers going downhill who were envious of my mode of transportation. But so few people venture up this way.
And even though it feels remote (and it is), the trail seems wonderfully maintained.
New vistas open up as we continue to climb higher
It's too bad it was so hazy and these photos aren't sharper, but you get the idea. It was just spectacular!
We arrived at a big vista point where we could see two beaches. This is where Clark Connection ended and the West Ridge Trail began. The following 6 pictures are a panoramic starting from the west and moving north, then east.
yeah, that's a beach though that haze
To the left: a telephoto of the beach.
To the right: looking south across the canyon and the photos below are a panoramic from south to west
This trail goes out to some point but dead-ends
We probably should have taken a break here, but we hadn't been riding very long. We have long since left the canyon floor and it is quite warm at our elevation, out in the full sun. Bella is huffing and puffing, but our pace is slow, so she should catch her air.
We are about to continue on the West Ridge Trail which looks to be fairly level for the most part (looking at the wide space between the lines on my topo map), so I feel that if we continue at a walk, Bella will recover and we may be able to dash along the ridge for awhile.
West Ridge Trail
We're riding away from the coast now and these mountains are on our left, the north side
The path is perfect for horse riding, but the sun is intense
Oh dear, looks like we're going up again.
Finally back into the woods. It's a little cooler, but Bella is still huffing and puffing.
These low resolution jpeg photos don't adequately provide you with a glimpse of the richness of color and diversity of the woods
Lots of leaves on the trail. We're making some noise.
Maybe it's the heat that is keeping Bella from catching her breath. I loosened her cinch a notch and hand-walked her for about 30 minutes. It helped a little.
I mean, just look at this trail! How lovely it would be to lope for awhile. Not today.
While walking in the woods and making lots of noise shuffling the leaves on the trail, we came across a hiker who told me he thought we were wild pigs coming up the trail from the noise! He didn't guess it was a horse.
That hiker was the last person we saw for the next 3 hours. The trail came out of the woods and got downright nasty. Look at the drop on this thing and then look ahead at how it climbs up the next hill. Bloody hell.
A funny thing happened as I was taking this photo while Bella was struggling with the crawl down this steep slope. The saddle slipped forward.
Yeah, this is a photo of the ground, apparently, as I slid off Bella's neck and over her head and fell face forward on the ground. But I didn't let go of the camera and was unhurt other than a bloody nose.
Bella was the World's Best Trail Horse with this misadventure. She didn't move while I picked myself up and cleaned up, then patiently stood still while I unsaddled and then re-saddled her, properly tightening the cinch.
It's bad enough to go steeply uphill and then steeply downhill, but the trail was badly eroded and pebbly too.
Ah, back to some level ground, but we're still in the boiling hot sun and I used half my water to clean myself up. (Did drink the first of my two Pepsi's though)
Couldn't stop taking photos of the gorgeous scenery
These trees were covered in dry but spongy looking moss (I guess). But it was very dry here.
The views were awesome.
And we're headed in this direction
The trail wound around to the west and then looped back on/above itself for a little while so we looked down on the trail we just came up
Well, that doesn't look like fun. We sure are high up now
But wait, we're going higher.
I should try to put these panoramic photos together
At the top of this peak is the pinnacle of Chalk Mountain, just above 1600 ft, so that's how high we've climbed up from the beach! There's a ranger station you can barely make out, with a tower just to the left of it. This trail turned to the left and didn't go to the top, thankfully.
View to the right of us, looking down into the canyon off to the side
The trail as it curved around to the left
Wow, a trail marker. I felt so far from all civilization, this posted sign was actually somewhat comforting. Note that no bikes are allowed on this trail. Duh.
This was a very strange flat area on the side of this mountain. I wonder if at one time it was bull-dozed for a possible home site before this land became a state park. Right around the corner from here is where West Ridge intersects with Chalks Road
And then we were on Chalks Road, on our way to Henry Creek Trail. I hand-walked Bella almost all of this road. It was so hot.
Chalks Road
The views from here were amazing, the best.
Telephoto of the beach from our spot near the pinnacle of Chalk Mountain
Now I think I've seen these ridges before when we came all the way up Gazos Creek Road to Whitehouse Road about a month ago. Ah, familiar ground!
Chalks Road
Not a lot of traffic up here
But the road is nice and smooth with occasional shade
Wow, a big trail marker! Okay, so we've come 6 miles so far. I was confused about the arrow pointing down for Henry Creek Trail. Does that mean this is an intersection, and the trail (?) to the left of the sign is Henry Creek Trail? I knew we were on Chalks Road, but I didn't think we were that close to our next intersection.
So of course, what did we do? We took the seeming trail. We didn't go far because it was soon apparent that we weren't on a trail at all, but just a steep hillside where rocks we dislodged rolled down and out of sight (but not out of hearing) down the hillside, sort of like Peregrin Took and the bucket in the mountain well that awoke the orcs and Balrog. Good thing Bella can pivot on a back foot to turn around in a tight space. (THANK YOU GOD)
So I hand-walked her almost the whole rest of the way to Henry Creek Road, but occasionally had to ride when I started getting too hot. Our pace was pretty slow.
Hey, that looks like a trail off to the right. Could it be?
Is it?
False alarm. That wasn't the trail we were looking for.
I was stopping to take photos just to stop. Lots of nice things to look at, of course.
Now THAT looks like a trail way out there
The road starts to go down and that's nice
A gate! I looked at the map and didn't see this gate on it. Why isn't this gate on my map?
Just past the gate, the road split, one road going down to the left, the other road going up to the right. Fortunately, I spied a trail marker up the road to the right, and upon inspection, discovered it said 'to Henry Creek Trail' ... good, we're still on the right track.
So we trudged on
and on
There's a trail again out there to the right of the road
Looking back to where we came
The road wound around, and this is what it looked like, looking back from where we came.
Another big trail marker! We must be getting really close to civilization now!! And this gate's on the map!
The sign says we have arrived at last at Henry Creek Trail, which should only be about 2 miles down to the Skyline to the Sea Trail, and Waddell Creek where Bella can get a long cool drink.
Henry Creek Trail
The sign says Waddell Beach only 7.2 miles. Yea! I feel like we're almost home.
Just past the gate, we are suddenly going downhill VERY steeply. Both of us are tired and hot. I'm going to hand walk her down these real steep slopes.
Bella's such a good horse - what an understatement!
I think this is looking back at the road we just came from
And this is where we are going. All in full sun.
I didn't count on the big up and down dips on this trail. I was kind of hoping it was ALL downhill.
This is the top of one of the big dips. You can see the trail snaking off in the middle of the photo (on the left)
Going down
This is an old burn area. There was a branch growing in a circle right over the trail.
Bella was trudging behind me.
I was holding the camera over my head to take this picture because I was standing so far downhill. She was refusing to tackle this slope for a moment, but I assured her I would not leave her here, so she had to come with me. We're getting close to water, I promise.
You can see the forest through the trees. So it was about 1.5 miles in the sun and .5 miles down through the woods.
And finally, we got out of the sun on the ridge and went into the forest shade where we were swarmed by mosquitos.
We have been on this part of the trail before. I'm back to riding and Bella has recognized the trail and has new energy
I now have to ask her to stop to take some photo of this or that because she's in a hurry.
Down
Down
Down
We can hear the creek now and I don't want to stop Bella to take anymore photos, hence this is out of focus while we're moving.
At last we are back at Waddell Creek and she slurps her fill
Just a little ways past the creek, we can see the Skyline to the Sea trail crossing above us. Bella trots up the hill
Waddell Beach - 5.2 miles. For the first time since we rode up Clark Connection, Bella's breathing has returned to normal and we stopped for a good break. She got carrots; I had an apple (well, she had some of the apple too). She got carrots a couple of hours ago, so this wasn't her first break, but it was for me. And I popped open my second Pepsi. Ahhhhhh
Skyline to the Sea Trail
On the way back, there's a spot on the trail that's always wet. For some unknown reason, the wet ground spooks her every time. It's the only thing she's consistently afraid of.
Omigosh, her worst nightmare, the whole trail is wet.
And when there's a trickle of water across the trail, well, that's her opportunity to JUMP and run!
In the fall, poison oak is colorful. It is very abundant along the trail.
Late afternoon sunlight streams through the trees, backlighting the golden leaves.
Surrealistic poison oak growing up a redwood
Coast live oak
Probably half-mile from the parking lot, there are deer on the trail. These two weren't too timid.
A smaller deer hid in the tall grass while the two older ones foraged in plain sight
Not too fearful of the horse and rider going by.
And I had a flash on my camera, so they were being very brave
When I stopped to take this picture--I think this might be a black walnut tree--Bella let me know she was impatient to get back to the trailer and get away from the gnats that were buzzing her face
Ah, and here we are. What a welcome sight. It's 5:20 PM. So we rode about 14.6 miles in 6 hours.
Highway One
After I opened the gate to exit the park, turned around to go back to the truck and saw smoke coming from the top of the mountain. This is just where the Lockheed Fire started in June! What's going on ???
Back on the road, heading south
Ocean side
Cliffs at the beach and the Pacific Ocean
Here comes a first responder to the fire on the mountain
It's a Cal Fire truck
Here comes another fire truck
And another. And there were a bunch more. When I got back to the ranch, we saw there were helicopters going to the rescue as well, and they got the job done. Don't think it even made the news
Emergency vehicles at the beach. Someone must have gotten hurt surfing or something.
Fog started coming inland just north of Santa Cruz
Well. That's that. Don't know if I'll ever go on the West Ridge Trail or Chalks Road or Henry Creek Trail again, but sure am glad I took all those pictures so I can remember it. What a ride!
Think we'll go back to some shorter trails again for awhile.