Charcoal Rd., Ward Rd., Old Haul Rd., Towne Trail, and other treats

Bill Bushnell — July 15, 1993

I decide to take off work today and do an exploration ride. I tend to do these kinds of rides by myself at odd times of the day or week to avoid other people as the routes wander onto roads not normally open for public travel. Reader discretion is advised!

I leave home at 11:00 and head south on Foothill Expressway and then continue up Stevens Canyon. After carefully negotiating the big slide past the end of the paved road (portage), and fording Stevens Creek (3 times), I begin the sometimes steep, and root-bound single-track up to Table Mountain where an old Christmas tree farm used to be. I dismount when fording the creek the last two times, at some of the hairpin turns and at particularly nasty sections of trail.

Charcoal Road doesn’t actually begin until you get to the top of Table Mountain. I manage the climb without stopping or dismounting, but by the time I get to the top I have side-stitches (from breakfast, I guess). It’s a difficult climb, but worse than the steepness are the occasional “sand pits”. One particularly nasty one has me learning to deal with sudden loss of traction in both wheels after coasting downhill. And then there’s another place on Table Mountain where the trail descends with a gradually increasing side-tilt into a huge glistening bush of poison oak.

After getting water at the fire station, I ride down Ward Rd. all the way to Pescadero Creek. What an adventure! Some sections are about as steep as the Indian Ridge Trail I rode down on Mt. Tam., yet at least on the upper part, the road is very loose dirt, so traction is difficult. On the way down I notice a pair of thin bicycle tire tracks perhaps from road bike slicks, and a few other knobby tracks.

Partway down Ward Rd. (after the gate at the entrance to Portola State Park), I continue on a fork (not on my 7.5-min USGS topo map) where the road has recently been graded. I end up in what looks like some sort of encampment. There are tables, and several outdoor sinks. A little further is a trailer, a fuel or water tank, and a couple other shacks. No one seems to be here, yet it seems too fresh to be abandoned. Not wanting to find myself running afoul of a “mountain man” or pot-grower, I beat a hasty retreat. It turns out that Ward Rd. bears right where all the “No Trespassing” signs are posted. It doesn’t really look like a road because it’s overgrown. I mistook it at first for a drainage siding, and when I found myself at the encampment, I thought I’d have to ride back up the horrible grade.

After the camp, Ward Rd. continues as a very faint dual-track, sometimes so overgrown it’s a single-track. About 1/4-mile down from the camp, I recognize the terrain. I had hiked up Ward Rd. with my dad about 8 years ago when we started in Portola State Park. Back then the road wasn’t so overgrown, and more of it passed through Santa Cruz Lumber land. Today the road is nearly all in park land—Long Ridge OSP near the top, Portola State Park in the middle, and Pescadero Creek County Park near the bottom. We had hoped to find the road that connects Ward Rd. to Slate Creek and the Old Page Mill, but that road is long overgrown. We actually did find the road alignment at the Slate Creek end; the cut in the hillside was clearly discernable, but even on foot, we were bushwhacking over our head. We never did hike/whack the entire length—too many spiders and ticks! I wonder if Ward Rd. is being allowed to “return to nature”. [A foot trail has since been cut along this alignment connecting Ward Rd. to Slate Creek and the Old Page Mill site.]

I continue down the rolling ridge, descending steeply at times. In several places the road comes out into the open, and the view of China Grade and the upper Pescadero Creek watershed is beautiful. Of course, I take a few pictures.

My topo map must be too old! At one hairpin a road in better condition continues straight. This road does not appear on the topo. I assume it eventually descends to Pescadero Creek closer to the sawmill. Perhaps I should explore it some day. I continue right on the less-traveled road that I know to be the correct way.

100 yards later, I find a water bottle on the ground! It’s a dirty, red Specialized bottle with a white cap, and it is full of water, too. I don’t want to give whoever administers/patrols this road the idea that bicycles frequent it, and I don’t like the idea of leaving the bottle, so I pick it up and carry it home. But I dump out the water first.

After what seems like more interminable descending, handled with “kid gloves” in my usual fashion, I finally reach Pescadero Creek. When I hiked this I remember the ford being somewhat difficult to cross due to the lack of suitable rocks in the stream. I think of riding through, but I see that the cement “cobbles” are coated with slippery algae, and that the stream bed on the far side looks sandy and muddy. Then I think how I’d feel if I had to ride home from here all soaking wet. Using my bike as a third support in the stream, I manage across without getting water in my shoes.

At Old Haul Rd. and Ward Rd., it looks like Santa Cruz Lumber are putting in a highway! The Haul Rd. has recently been graded, and new signs are in place warning that the area is patrolled by Fire Security Patrol or some such. I’m not too worried as I’m heading down the Haul Rd. toward the park, so even if I were caught, they’d probably kick me in that direction anyway.

After continuing down Old Haul Rd. I turn right on the Towne Fire Trail. My official Pescadero Creek County Park Map is also old, as it clearly states that bicycles are legal on the Towne Trail, yet I pass three signs in three different places that expressly forbid bicycles from traveling it. It’s probably politics with the horse-people since the Towne Trail goes to/from the horse camp up on Haskins Hill. Nevertheless I decide to press ahead.

After descending and crossing Pescadero Creek on a footbridge, the Towne Trail begins a mostly vicious ascent up to the horse camp. My goal is to reach the Sierra Club hut where I can get water. The grade is so severe that at times, I simply cannot pedal the bicycle without it bucking up from under me. Sometimes I have to use the two-foot gear. It is while going up the Towne Trail that I pass the only other people I have seen since the bottom of Stevens Canyon (at the slide). If you don’t like Charcoal Rd., you wouldn’t have been happy on this road.

When I get to the Sierra Club hut, I decide to risk taking the road through the Alpine Ranch rather than riding by the horse camp and the probability that I’d be caught on forbidden roads. I continue up to the local summit and then over the gate at the boundary. The sign says, “Do Not Enter, Private Lands”. The road on the other side of the gate is very primitive and about 50 yards from the gate is completely overgrown. Only from the placement of the taller shrubs can I tell where the alignment runs. The road passes what looks like a cottage that seems to be unoccupied before descending along a meadow. Down to the right are the main ranch buildings. Maybe they won’t look up and see me riding here! :-) A quarter-mile later the dual-rut road joins the main driveway. There’s a camper trailer beside the road.

A half-mile later I reach Alpine Rd. and the white iron gate with spears on top. The problem is I’m on the inside, and I want out. I lift my bike over the adjoining barbed-wire fence, and because I’m thin enough, I manage to squeeze myself between the bars taking care not to catch myself on the spears. Then I sit down for a while and pluck foxtails from my shoes and socks!

I continue up Alpine to Skyline and then north on Skyline to Thompson Rd. I take Thompson Rd. to Alpine Rd. and then downhill to Joaquin. Then I ride up Joaquin and zip down Los Trancos Woods Rd. getting home by about 18:30.

Ride stats:

distance: 60.7 miles

climbing: 6110 feet

average speed: 10.9 mph

maximum speed: 48.0 mph

riding time: 5:34

total time: 7:32

index: 85

irp: 11

mirp: 15

cd: 101

cr: 0.0191

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

Please do not publish or distribute for profit without permission.