Last Chance Road and other backroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains

Bill Bushnell - Sunday, July 25, 1993

At 5:45 I leave home and begin riding south on Middlefield Rd. Two miles later, I stop at Paul Kern’s house, and the two of us continue to Gunn High School, where we wait until about 6:20 in the unlikely event that anyone else on my bike ride mailing list shows up. No one does. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as the ride description sounded difficult this time. The ride was difficult.

We continue riding south on Foothill Expressway. The morning is foggy and cool, yet there are quite a few bicyclists on the road. We stop briefly at the Stevens Creek Reservoir picnic area just beyond Montebello Rd. and peel off a layer of clothing and use the facilities.

The first leg of our ride takes us to Big Basin Redwoods State Park via the shortest route. This means we ride up Stevens Canyon and Redwood Gulch. Several mountain bikers come zipping down the canyon and a car or two with bikes on the roof goes driving up.

Soon we find ourselves climbing Redwood Gulch, the first real climb of the day. Just past the first steep pitch we pass the old guy whom I always see along here picking up bottles and cans by the road. When we get to CA-9 we turn right and continue climbing to Skyline. Very little traffic passes as we climb at a comfortable pace.

At Skyline we stop briefly to put on another layer. Looking south and west we see fog and more fog. The temperature is 60F. On the descent to Waterman Gap, we mostly coast, passing each other as if attached by rubber bands. The descent is cold, and I am glad when we finally reach the gap and begin climbing on CA-236 toward Big Basin.

Paul has just bought himself a Camelbak, and I have installed a Blackburn “Bomber” cage on my bike. Because of all the water we can now drink, we both find ourselves stopping often to make parabolas. The Camelbak holds 70 oz., about 18 oz. more than my Bomber cage bottle, but Paul finds the water pouch prevents the sweat on his back from evaporating in the cold damp air.

Paul is determined to get his body acclimated to Cytomax. I admire his ability to endure this digestive hardship. I take every opportunity to remain in front of and upwind of him as much as possible. We dub the foul mixture “Fartomax”.

On the descent into Big Basin, we leave the highway at the unmarked gate and descend to Opal Creek on the North Escape Rd. The North Escape Rd. is paved but covered with leaves and mulch from decayed redwood needles. Since the day is still early, we have the beautiful road to ourselves.

At the park headquarters we make a brief stop to look at the map. After figuring out where we need to go, we start down CA-236. We pass a gated road entering a campground. A tenth of a mile later, I realize we have missed our turn, so we turn around.

The gated road is Hihn Hammond Rd. It is paved all the way to the park sewage treatment plant. Hihn Hammond becomes dirt and veers right and uphill just before the paved road descends to the sewage center. We climb Hihn Hammond until we reach another fork. Hihn Hammond continues to the right, but an unnamed road descends steeply to the left. A small sign reads, “Not a through trail”. This must be Last Chance Rd.

We turn left and ride down the steep trail. Soon the old road degenerates into a steep single-track trail, and then this trail decays into a rough trail alternating from large rocks to sand pits. Nearly simultaneously, we both cry out, “Oh, shit!”, as we make unscheduled dismounts. I manage to stay astride the top tube as I grab a large boulder on the right, but Paul, who is riding 20 feet ahead, does a bellyflop.

We continue walking our bikes for a short section before carefully remounting and riding down to the creek. Last Chance Rd. fords the East Fork of Waddell Creek downstream of the Big Basin sewage plant. A sign at the ford warns not to drink the water. The outflow does not reek, but I’m not thrilled with the idea of dipping either my shoes or my bike into the stream. Fortunately, there are suitably large rocks in the stream to allow us to cross without getting wet.

After crossing we continue on the sometimes rough trail. In several more places, it looks as if a stream has cut its way into the trail. Paul manages to ride the remainder, but since I’d rather suffer a bruised pride than bruised skin, I choose to walk several more sections. Before long the trail becomes smoother as it climbs steeply out of the little canyon. A quarter-mile later near a wooden fence, the trail makes a sharp turn to the left, broadens considerably, and becomes a road.

From here to its end at Swanton Rd., Last Chance Rd. is a mostly level, dusty, washboard-surface road. It must be a mess in winter. Having pulled a muscle in his shoulder from the earlier fall, Paul is not happy about the ceaseless ruts, vowing never to return until he puts Rock Shox on his mountain bike.

Just before it begins its quick descent to Swanton Rd., Last Chance Rd. becomes paved. The descent is not long, but the pavement is very bumpy. Even with my fat slicks, I can only just manage to keep my eyeballs in their sockets. Last Chance Rd. joins Swanton Rd. at the high point of the latter and is a private road, but it is apparently open for public travel via foot or bicycle. This is the kind of attitude I like. I guess they don’t get much bicycle traffic, so they don’t bother trying to close off all access.

At Swanton Rd. we turn left and ride down through the community of Swanton. On the climb out of the little valley, we make another parabola stop before joining CA-1 and riding south to Bonny Doon Rd. We turn left and climb Bonny Doon Rd. The fog having not yet lifted has turned into a light drizzle. This is probably good as the climb from the coast is steep and can be quite hot on a sunny day.

At Smith Grade we turn right. After riding the cool ups and downs of Smith Grade we turn right on Empire Grade and descend directly to the Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz for a well-deserved lunch and rest.

After nearly a two-hour rest, we slowly and reluctantly ride up Bay Street and the UCSC campus bike path. After riding up and through the campus, we continue into the upper campus on Chinquapin Rd. The road has been graded, but this has made the surface loose and dusty. We pass a group on horseback descending, and later we pass a family slowly riding bikes up the road.

About a quarter-mile before Chinquapin joins Empire Grade, we turn right on Marshall Rd. and head down to Upper Scenic Drive and then very steeply down to CA-9 and Felton. As we ride toward Felton on CA-9, another guy on a bicycle comes alongside to report that he was nearly attacked by “a madman” while riding through The Pogonip. I remember seeing people camped out or hiding in the shadows when I hiked once through The Pogonip and through the steep section of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park between the upper UC Campus and CA-9.

We turn right on Graham Hill Rd. and left on Zayante Rd. Our return trip to Summit Rd. is via Zayante and Hutchinson.

On Lower Hutchinson a couple of furiously barking dogs come to greet us. Not wanting to attract attention, we pedal on hoping the obstreperous canines will find us uninteresting. We stop at the beginning of Lower Hutchinson, and just then we hear the clop-clop of horse hooves approaching. Not wanting to be caught on the road and forced to ride back down, we quickly head down Lower Hutchinson into the thick forest. For the first mile or so, Lower Hutchinson can’t make up its mind whether to go up or down, but eventually the single-lane road begins winding its way up the hillside.

Soon we come out of the forest, and after passing a ranch, we reach the end of the private section of road. Unfortunately, Upper Hutchinson ahead seems to ascend to the sky. After a couple long uphill pitches followed by short and steep downhills, Upper Hutchinson climbs very steeply (well over 10% grade) and without a break nearly all the way to Riva Ridge Rd. The cool overcast weather has been a saviour as the climb would be very unpleasant in the hot sun.

At Summit Rd. we turn left and then veer right onto Bayview Rd. and begin the steep winding descent through Redwood Estates. After passing under CA-17, we turn left on Old Santa Cruz Highway and continue down to CA-17 just above the Alma Fire Station.

At the beginning of the month I rode CA-17 down to Alma Bridge Rd. and then descended the relatively safe dirt bike path. Today, the two of us continue past Alma Bridge Rd. and ride down the final grade into Los Gatos. I manage to spin my 50x12 up to 43 mph with the help of a brisk tailwind blowing down out of the hills. At this speed, I’m not going much slower than traffic, so I take the lane where the shoulder disappears. As we reach the left-hand exit into Los Gatos, a gap appears in the traffic-Helmet mirrors are wonderful-and we sweep quickly across both lanes and ride up the off-ramp into downtown Los Gatos. Whew! The people in their cars probably think we’re nuts, but I really didn’t feel it was that dangerous. I feel more at risk of a spill riding down the steep gravel path by the Lexington spillway.

We continue uneventfully on the flat route back through Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Los Altos to Palo Alto where we stop at Togo’s for an inexpensive late dinner.

Ride stats:

distance: 117.4 miles

climbing: 9630 feet

total time: 14:35

riding time: 9:37

average Speed: 12.2 mph

maximum speed: 45.0 mph

index: 156

irp: 11

mirp: 16

climbing density: 82

climbing ratio: 0.0155

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

Please do not publish or distribute for profit without permission.