Distance: 23-mile out and back Elevation gain: 2780 ft
I owe Skyline Boulevard an apology.
Skyline is much hated by cyclists for its heavy traffic and lack of shoulder. Several riders have commented in Bestrides that they consider it a deathtrap, and up to now I’ve only ridden it as an unavoidable connector.
But at its southern end, Skyline turns idyllic. At Saratoga Gap most of the car traffic turns off, and the last ten miles are bliss—next to no traffic, glassy road surface, lazy climbing and descending through pretty woods, grand vistas to the west. Then it gets better. The southernmost 2.5 miles are simply magical—a car-free, almost-one-lane up and down back and forth ramble through drop-dead gorgeous miniature forest. I loved it so much, on the return ride I tried to pedal as little as possible, just to prolong my time in the magic.
As a cherry on this sundae, there’s an add-on that gives you 1-2 miles of killer climbing through typical Santa Cruz redwoods. The total elevation gain for the ride is substantially above our 100-ft-per-mile benchmark, but almost all the work is in these 4 miles, so you can skip them if you’re out for an easy day.
Park at the intersection of Bear Creek Rd. and Skyline. There’s a big dirt parking lot for you. Head north on Skyline. The road is instantly fabulous. There is no reason for any vehicle to be in there—anyone heading toward Boulder Creek should be on Hwy 9 and anyone heading toward Santa Cruz or Scotts Valley should be on Black Rd.—but for some reason the road surface is absolutely pristine. The road is essentially one lane, the contour is all little ups and downs and sweet little turns, and the landscape is fairy-tale pretty. Savor these first 2.5 miles—nothing else on the ride can match them.
At mile 2.5 you hit the intersection of Skyline and Gist Rd. (clearly signed), and you have two decisions to make: 1) do you want to take the Gist/Black detour at all? Doing so commits you to 1-2 miles of serious climbing (10-14%), plus 1-2 miles of steep descending, but it’s splendid scenery, and the only redwood forest on the route; and 2) if you take it, do you want to do it on the outbound or return leg? Outbound gives you 1.2 miles of descending and 1.7 miles of climbing; return reverses the numbers. Black has prettier woods than Gist, which might be an argument for doing it at 4 mph instead of 20.
After the Gist/Black detour, Skyline changes—wider, straighter, slightly less car-free, and with more ordinary woods. The contour is moderate, relatively unvaried climbing almost all the way to Saratoga Gap. But it’s still lovely riding, the road surface remains pristine, and you’re treated to some good views of the country off your L shoulder. Midway you pass Castle Rock State Park and the traffic might pick up a little—turn around there if you are determined to remain car-free.
Saratoga Gap is just a large intersection with a parking lot. I’ve stopped the route here because the traffic to the north should be considerably more intense. Turn around and ride home. If you’re doing Black/Gist on this leg, note that Black, while a fairly large and noticeable turn-off to the L, is (oddly) unsigned.
Shortening the route: The jewel in this crown is obviously the first/last 2.5 miles—ride it out and back for the best 5-mile ride of your life. If you want short and intense, ride those 5 miles plus Gist/Black.
Adding miles: Our ride takes off from Bear Creek Rd., a road I don’t recommend riding to the west from our starting point because, while on a map it looks like any other pretty, winding Santa Cruz back road, it’s actually the main artery for all the traffic between the Los Gatos area and the bedroom communities of Boulder Creek, Felton, Ben Lomond, and others, so it’s usually constant traffic. East of our starting point, Bear Creek Rd. to Summit Rd. is brief, has a lovely contour and gives you some great westerly vistas (better than Skyline’s). Summit Rd., between BCR and Hwy 17 is fairly built up but is delightful riding and takes you past the turn-around of our East Zayante Road ride. Continuing on down Summit past Hwy 17 takes you to our Bean Creek/Mountain Charlie ride and/or our Eureka Canyon Rd. ride.. I wouldn’t continue on Bear Creek Rd. past Summit—it’s rough and unpleasantly steep, with the usual BCR traffic.
Looking westward from Skyline near Castle Rock State Park
Distance: 13.5-mile out and back (with a spur) Elevation gain: 2700 ft.
This ride is in Bestrides for one reason: the view. The riding is worth doing, but not spectacular. But the vista…
The ride begins with a classic, straightforward 5.3-mi. climb with pleasant oak scenery and an elevation gain of 2340 ft—in other words, work. This is followed by a return descent that for me is too steep and too rough to be tons of fun. But midway up the climb you pass Weaver Rd., and the views from Weaver Rd. make the whole ride memorable.
Park somewhere along Alma Bridge Rd.—there are frequent dirt pull-outs. Ride as much of ABR as you need to get warmed up (it’s lovely riding—see our Alma Bridge Rd./Old Santa Cruz Hwy Plus ride for details), because Soda Springs Rd. climbs from the gun and never stops. We’re talking just under a 10% average here.
Soda Springs Road
Climb for 5.3 mi. at a consistent pitch (8-11%) through constant serpentine turns. You’re climbing up the side of a canyon wall, and at first you’ll think you’re in for good vistas of the canyon beside and behind you, but in fact the vast majority of the ride is through oak forest. It’s not the lush rainforest around Felton, but it’s pretty in its way, and it blocks any and all distant views. There’s nothing along the road except a sprinkling of houses, and they’re all down driveways so all you see is the occasional driveway, often with a pretentious gate. That’s it—small oaks and driveways, for an hour. I did ride by a sign that read “Soda Springs Resort—no vacancy,” but I think it’s a joke. At 3.7 mi. in you pass Weaver Rd. going off to the R—make a note so you don’t miss it on the descent.
At the top you hit a serious gate across the road and “No trespassing-Private Property” signs and you turn around. The following descent is not my cup of tea. The pitch is so steep I had to brake constantly, the corners are typically blind so corner-cutting is potentially fatal (traffic is next to nothing, but you will meet at least one car, you won’t see it coming, and it will be using the entire road), and the road surface, while no problem at climbing speeds, is a bit rough at 20 mph. Maybe a better descender than me would find it thrilling.
Soda Springs Road
When you get back to Weaver Rd., don’t skip it—that’s why we’re here. Weaver is on the other side of the ridge, and it couldn’t be more different than Soda Springs. It’s flat or mildly pitched, it’s short (1.5 mi.), it’s undeveloped (no driveways), and—most importantly—it’s open. You can see forever, in three directions. You can see Lexington Reservoir, where you started your ride, far below you to the west. You can see the South Bay spread out to the north like a map (I think you can see Mt. Diablo). And most wonderfully, you can see 50 miles to the south, across Santa Cruz, across Monterey Bay, to the city of Monterey, the Monterey Peninsula, and, to the west of the peninsula, the Pacific Ocean. Or you can see a lot of fog, depending on weather conditions. But it’s grand. Photos don’t do it justice. About 1 mi. in, you pass a mighty oak tree on your L with a gorgeous view of Monterey under its overarching branches. World-class photo op. (Truth in advertising requires that I tell you you can get similar views with much less climbing along Bear Creek Rd.)
Weaver Road, with Monterey Bay and Monterey in the distance
A mere 1.5 mi. in you hit a gate and the usual “Private Property—No Trespassing” signs and you turn around, return to Soda Springs Rd., and finish the descent.
Shortening the ride: Ride to Weaver Rd., ride it, and return. Of course you could drive to Weaver Rd., and just bag the vista, but we are cyclists and that thought wouldn’t occur to us…
Adding Miles: This ride takes off from the route of our Alma Bridge Rd./Old Santa Cruz Hwy Plus ride. Do it all, or if you just want a few more miles do Alma Bridge Rd. and Old Santa Cruz Hwy—those miles are without significant climbing penalty.
Weaver Road, with Los Gatos in the distance…and is that Mt. Diablo?
Distance: 10.6-mile out and back (with a spur) Elevation gain: 1215 ft
This is a short, charming ride through an enormous stand of eucalyptus trees and then along the stark, treeless headlands of the State Park. Most of the time you are well back from the shoreline (only dropping down to the beach once), so if you want to see breaking waves and eroding rock cliffs you’ll have to get off the bike and hike a trail (the Bluff Trail being the obvious choice). Which I strongly encourage you to do. At the Park visitor center there is the preserved house of the Spooners, the ranching family that worked the land in the 19th Century, well worth a visit. The lone beach, Spooner Cove, is across the street from the house, and it’s a nice one.
The road is actually called Pecho Valley Road, but I’ve never heard it called that, and any valley on the route is negligible. (While we’re on the subject, you won’t be riding any “montañas” either.) The road has a nice contour, never really flat or straight. The map profile suggests it’s fairly hilly, but it doesn’t feel that way. Most of the work is in the short climb from our starting point to the Park entrance, a straight, fairly featureless climb I’ve included largely to give you some work.
The eucalyptus grove
The views of the ocean from the headlands are pretty pedestrian as views of the ocean go, but there is a wonderful vista of Morro Bay, Morro Rock, and the sand spit separating the bay from the ocean, behind you as you finish that first hill—it’s easy to miss if you don’t turn around. Good as that view is, there’s a better one (same subject matter) from Sand Spit Rd., which is why I’ve had you take the short side trip onto it. Sand Spit Rd., despite all appearances, dead-ends at a parking lot far from the beach, leaving you a substantial hike to the water, so once you’ve seen the view you don’t have to ride the rest of it if you don’t want to.
You have to walk to see this
The drawbacks of the ride are that it’s short, it connects with no other good riding (Los Osos Valley Road is mostly straight flat shoulder riding through ag country, abundantly ridden by locals but without much interest), it is often plagued by motorists, and there is no shoulder and little passing room. In other words, a classic early morning beat-the-traffic ride.
Note the two new-born seagulls on the top of the rock
The park is a birder’s paradise, and you’ll probably see gulls, oystercatchers, guillemots, and owls if you walk the Bluff Trail. It’s also a haven for rattlesnakes.
There’s little to say about the ride itself. Ride to the gate blocking the road; turn around and ride back. Check out Sand Spit Rd. either on the ride out or the ride back. The main road actually continues on the other side of the dead-end gate, but it’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant land and for once I don’t suggest ignoring the No Trespassing signs.
From Sandy Spit Rd.: Morro Rock, with the town of Morro Bay just to its right, Morror Bay to the R of the spit and the Pacific Ocean to the L
Shortening the ride: Ride to Spooner’s Cove (the visitor center) and return. Those first miles are by far the most rewarding, both in scenery and in road contour.
Adding miles: Ours is the only paved road in Montaña de Oro, but the park is very friendly toward bike riders and welcomes them on many of their trails, so consider getting off-road. Islay Creek Trail is a good first choice, a meticulously maintained dirt road that’s easy on gravel bikes. The park is so supportive of bikers that they have loaner bells at the trailheads, so you can borrow one and warn hikers of your coming.
As I said, there is no other rewarding road riding in the Morro Bay area.
This ride is a bit of a miracle: 6 miles of wilderness adventure riding in the heart of the East Bay. Bestrides Friend Carl told me about it, bless him. It seems to be off most other locals’ maps. And it’s certainly not for everyone, especially not for those whose image of cycling is rolling down a wide, smooth road chatting with a buddy at your side. This is about as close to mountain biking as road riding can get—in fact I don’t recommend it unless you’re on a gravel bike. It’s a wooly, Jeremiah Johnson sort of experience, and a moderate navigation challenge to boot. I loved it, but I love it when the road begins to feel like a trail.
Beyond the virtues mentioned above, there are at least two others: 1. the landscape is lush and gorgeous. If you look at the eastern shoreline of San Pablo Reservoir, you’d swear that a ride along the lake would be largely barren grassland with a thin scattering of trees. But, incredibly, this ride is mostly in dense woods, and glimpses of the lake are few. 2. The isolation is mind-boggling. The route takes you past 3 recreational sites along the shore—there you may see some signs of life. Everywhere else, you should see no one. I did this ride on a lovely sunny Wednesday afternoon in July (2025), and I saw 1 human being. Round trip.
How can the place be so isolated, when it’s the access road to the shoreline of a large recreational lake?, you ask. The answer seems to be, the lake has been largely mothballed for recreation. The lake is closed to boats in an attempt to control the mussel infestation, and the water is closed to swimmers because it’s the region’s drinking water. Most of our route is gated off (so you have the road to yourself). The 2 fully developed boat launching facilities you pass are closed, and it looks long-term.
You might also look at the map and conclude that San Pablo Dam Rd., which is big, wide, busy, and smack on your L shoulder all the way out, would destroy your tranquility with its racket. Why it doesn’t, I don’t know, but it doesn’t. I was conscious of traffic noise a brief time or two during the ride—the rest of the time, I could have been in the Yolla Bolly wilderness.
This is a ride for people who like variety of road surface. It’s constantly changing, and ranges from smooth wide two-lane to rough two-lane to on-and-off pavement to gravel to double-track to a really nasty 1/4 mile of single track you can walk. Most of it is delightful, almost all of it is pleasant. But it’s riding that demands your attention—you can’t faze out and rack miles.
Navigation, as I say, is tricky. There are innumerable gates, turns, and apparent dead-ends. You ride through a couple of parking lots. RWGPS’s map below is, I think, accurate. Googlemaps, less so. Ignore what RWGPS says about road surface. There is some confusion about names. RWGPS calls the second leg of the ride, after the first launch ramp, “Old San Pablo Dam Trail.” Googlemaps continues to call it “Old San Pablo Dam Road.” Some sources say you spend some time on the Bay Area Rim Trail; some don’t. RWGPS says you spend time on “the Kennedy Grove Connector Trail”; Google refuses to acknowledge that leg of the route exists. You may get momentarily lost a few times. That’s part of the adventure. I will talk you through it. If you keep heading NW, refusing to turn L back onto San Pablo Dam Road on your L or R into the lake, you should be good. Luckily, the GPS signal is strong on the route and my Garmin “you are here” map was fully informative throughout.
Since this ride parallels San Pablo Dam Road, which is a leg of the infamous Three Bears Ride, which I have badmouthed elsewhere in Bestrides, if you’re riding that loop you could use this route as a way to avoid the tedious slog that is SPDR. I’ve mapped it to turn around at Patra Dr., which is a suburban street 1/4 mile from the Three Bears route. But frankly if you like riding the Three Bears, which is the classic roll-and-chat slog, I don’t think this ride is your cup of tea. If for no other reason, this ride is slow, and you’ll probably want to get the Three Bears loop over as soon as possible.
Old San Pablo Dam Rd. takes off from San Pablo Dam Rd. 1/4 mi. west of the Bear Creek Rd./Wildcat Canyon Rd. intersection. There’s no place to park, but I assume you’lll be riding in from somewhere—might I suggest Inspiration Point? At the OSPDR intersection there’s a large sign reading “Orinda Watershed Headquarters.” Ride 1/10 mi past the headquarters buildings to the first of several gates. Go around the gate, minding the mass of poison oak on your shoulder, and ride on cracked pavement to the huge, eerily deserted boat launch facility. The pavement goes R down to the water—you stay straight onto gravel double-track.
Pavement comes and goes. At the next large gate you enter the San Pablo Reservoir Recreation Area, where you may see some picnickers and traffic may return. At the northern end of the complex there’s a large “EXIT” sign pointing you L onto a steep little climb that returns to San Pablo Dam Rd. Don’t take it—instead, go straight ahead onto the paved road. Go around another gate. After you see the reservoir’s dirt dam on your R, the main road again swings L and climbs back up to SPDR, and again you don’t take it—instead, take the unprepossessing single-track heading north from the curve. Suffer the very rough single track descent to a massive, apparently impassable black fence. The trail leads you to a large unlocked gate in the fence. Unlatch it and go through to the polished road on the other side. Note that according to the signs on the back side of the fence, you have just exited the San Pablo Reservoir Hypolimnetic Oxygenation System Project and you needed a trail permit to do that single track.
Ride 100 ft to the big curve in front of you. Going L again takes you back via a short climb to SPDR and again you want to go R, to the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area. Ride through the parking lot to the large gate across the access road. The gate has signs reading “Pedestrian Access” and “No vehicles,” but I rode through without opposition. There is a sign saying that the gate may be closed “due to absence of visitors,” and (incredibly) that the gate is closed on weekends and holidays. If that’s true, turn around (you’d 100 ft from the end of the ride anyway) or ride back to that curve and take that L up to San Pablo Dam Rd.
100 feet beyond the gate is Patra Dr., and 1/2 mile beyond that is Castro Ranch Rd. and access to the Three Bears loop.
Shortening the ride: in general, the road surface gets sketchier the further you go, so ride until it isn’t fun any more. Note, I’ve identified 2 places where the route offers you a bail-out to return to the comforts of San Pablo Dam Rd.
Adding miles: You’re in Bicycle Central for the East Bay east of Tilden Park. There is the Three Bears, but more interestingly there is our Wildcat Canyon Etc. ride 4/10 mi. away. Other nearby possibilities are detailed in the Adding Miles section of that ride.
Distance: 14.6 mi. out and back Elevation gain: 2225 ft
Kaiser Pass is not my favorite ride in the area. In fact, I’d say it’s only pretty good. But when I was preparing to ride in the area, everyone I talked to said it was the premiere ride east of Fresno. So, because it’s likely that you’ll hear the same, I’m going to describe it so you know what you’re getting into.
Kaiser Pass Road is a 7.3-mile climb from the east end of Huntington Lake to the summit. Its consummate virtue, in this area, is that it isn’t burned. The maps of the Creek Fire show it burning all around Huntington Lake, and in fact the south shore is largely burned once you get away from the shoreline, but KPR itself is entirely, sweetly lined with healthy conifers. Still, the bulk of the ride I find slightly monotonous Green Wall riding. On the return, the descent is long, straight, and fast, so if you like such things this might be the ride for you.
Start at the intersection of Hwy 168 and Kaiser Pass Rd. The climbing begins immediately—if you want to warm up, the 6 miles of Huntington Lake Rd. along the north shore are easy rollers and totally pleasant riding.
The lower miles—note the road surface
Tthe first 5 miles of KPS I find tedious—Unvaried moderate climbing on a big, wide, relatively straight road without distinguishing feature or variety. About 2 miles from the summit, the road completely changes character—from big to small, from straight to meandering, from an unvaried pitch to up and down, from smooth road surface to sketchy. The landscape improves, because you get above the green wall and start seeing some nice granite. Now you’re IN the Sierra instead of riding past it. I like those last 2 miles a lot. Near the end of the ride there are some nice vistas looking westward over the terrain you’ve just traversed, all unburned forest.
The upper miles
The pass itself is easy to miss. There is a false summit and some signs for turn-offs to Badger Flat just before it, but there is no signage at the summit itself—only two outhouses, a dirt parking area, and a slight downhill to the east. Of course Kaiser Pass Rd. continues on, but the road surface becomes even sketchier (see Adding Miles below).
Once back to the wide, smooth road, the return ride is that sort of thing you may love and I don’t: a 35-45 mph rocket-sled descent without much to do except sit there, in a straight line or on the occasional curve so gentle it might as well be straight. The road surface consists mostly of those little vertical grooves cut into the pavement to aid car traction in the snow, and it’s just disruptive enough to be a slight flea in the ear.
From near the top looking westward
Shortening the ride: Depending on your taste, you might prefer the first 5 miles or the second 2.
Adding miles: As I mentioned, the miles along the north shore of Huntington Lake (Huntington Lake Rd.) are a pleasant, pretty way to add 12 miles (out and back), with some classic, unpretentious Sierra mountain lake resorts along the route. Fire damage is nil until the very west end.
You can continue riding east past the Pass. The road runs for c. 17 more miles, mostly moderate descending, and becomes rougher and smaller, until it’s little more than a track. It takes you to Mono Hot Springs, a locale of considerable interest, and then on to Edison Lake, where it dead-ends just past the Vermilion Valley Resort, which offers you the possibility of overnighting before the ride out. I hear good things about it. Streetview will let you preview almost the entire route.
You can continue riding west from our starting point, but both alternatives have their drawbacks, Hwy 168 has some nice contour but can be very trafficky (especially on weekends), and Big Creek Rd. (discussed at length in the Million Dollar Road ride) is a dauntingly steep descent.
Distance: 25.3 mi. out and back Elevation gain: 2988 ft
This is one of the many good foothill rides in the area between Fresno/Clovis and Shaver Lake. This short out-and-back has two features that make it stand out from the others:
1. A killer descent. It’s 9 miles of 30-45-mph rocket sled ride on near-perfect road surface through short straights and wide, lazy turns. Pretty much bliss.
2. The vista. For much of the climb, you can see forever to the west and north. A lot of it was hit by the great Creek Fire burn of 2020, and it’s pretty scrubby landscape anyway, but it’s big.
Of course that descent means the ride out is 9 miles of uninterrupted moderate climbing through the local roadside scenery, which, thanks to the Creek Fire, is nothing special—scrub, with the occasional low-rent ranch—and were it not for that descent and the view, it would be a fairly generic ride.
The Clovis valley sees 100-degree temps in the summer. This ride is just out of the valley, so expect summer temps well into the 90’s. Thanks to the fire, there is little shade. Ride in the spring or the morning.
Begin in the town of Auberry, which miraculously contains two automotive garages and a fine mom-and-pop grocery store, and almost nothing else. Ride to the end of Auberry Rd., then ride back.
Kinda generic going up, swell coming down
If you’re looking for food after the ride, I recommend Velasco’s in nearby Prather.
Shortening the ride: Turn around anywhere on the climb. The further you ride, the longer the descent.
Adding miles: You can loop this ride by riding from the town of Auberry on Lodge Rd. to Toll House Rd. to the east end of Auberry Rd. back to Auberry. There’s an even bigger loop consisting of Auberry Rd. heading westward from Auberry to Millerton Rd. to Toll House Rd. to the east end of Auberry Rd. and back to Auberry. Just remember to ride any loop counter-clockwise, so you get the Auberry Rd. downhill.
From the town of Auberry, Power House Rd. is also worth riding.
For a more extensive discussion of riding the region’s foothill roads, see the Adding Miles section of the Million Dollar Road ride. For details on the unpleasantness of Jose Basin Rd., see again the Adding Miles section of the Million Dollar Road ride
Distance: 14.4 mi. out and back Elevation gain: 1324 ft
This, along with the Kaiser Pass ride and the Auberry Rd. ride, is Bestrides’ introduction to the rich riding region east of Fresno. I’ve just dipped a toe into the area’s resources. In the Adding Miles section of this entry I survey the area’s possibilities beyond what I’ve ridden. If you’re going to the area to ride, be sure to read that discussion.
Of our three area roads, Million Dollar Road is the best, a dramatic and memorable ride, and easy to boot. It’s 7.5 miles long and I expect you to do it as an out-and-back, though there’s a sweet 11-mile add-on at the turn-around and a looping option, both of which I’ll discuss in Adding Miles. It’s a relatively flat road (I don’t know where RWGPS is getting its figures, but I did no work) along a steep sidehill through a dramatic rocky San Joaquin River canyon. The rock cuts on your shoulder and the cliff walls across the river are grand. If you’re a rock person like I am, this is your ride.
The ride is a tranquil piece of cake (unless you’re troubled by exposure), but it’s hard to get to if you come to it from the south. From the town of Auberry you have 10.6 miles of Jose Basin Rd., a one-lane, battered, twisty 10-mph nerve-racker full of deadly blind corners through unrewarding scrub. I found the drive in much more taxing than the bike ride. It may be easier to come from the west, via Italian Bar Rd. Jose Basin does offer one benefit: miles before you get to MDR you see the San Joaquin River Canyon in front of and far below you, and you can see MDR itself carving its way along the R side of the canyon (see photo below). I know of no other ride you can see the length of from a distance in this way—very dramatic.
MDR is an access road for service vehicles getting to the hydroelectric dam at the north end of the road and the powerhouse, both of which you’ll see on the ride. You can expect to see perhaps one pick-up. The road is a fat one-lane with good pavement throughout, despite RWGPS’s insistence that much of it is gravel.
From Jose Basin Road: Million Dollar Road crosses the canyon wall in the distance
Like most of the geography northwest of Shaver Lake, MDR burned in the devastating Creek Fire of 2020. But the canyon is almost entirely rock, so the effect on the scenery was next to nil. You will see a lot of fire damage on the drive in.
As I said, getting to the ride is harder than doing it. Out of Auberry, go up Auberry Rd. briefly to Jose Basin Rd. and take JBR. In c. 6 miles the road forks (without signage) and the two forks apparently of equal importance. The L fork seems to head down into the canyon while the R fork stays level. Take the L fork, which is now Italian Bar Rd. Incredibly, my GPS was working at the fork and the roads were labeled. Drive to the river. Million Dollar Road obviously takes off to the R at the prominent spot where the river turns from south to west and IBR follows it. There is a small dirt parking area just W of the intersection. There is no road signage.
Looking at Million Dollar Road
At the start of MDR you must get through a massive gate, with the usual signs warning you the risks and liabilities you’re undertaking by proceeding. It’s .a bitch to get around, over, or under, so if you’re alone (as I was) I recommend waiting for a hiker to come along to help you with the task. This shouldn’t take long—the road seems to be under the radar for cyclists but is well-known to hikers, who come for the falls. On my ride I saw about a dozen walkers.
There are no forks or options on MDR itself. Ride to the dam and a dead-end intersection with an unexpected street sign telling you you’re at the intersection of Big Creek Powerhouse and Big Creek Powerhouse (sic), the Big Creek powerhouse being what you get to if you continue on the new road to the R.—maps call this new road Canyon Rd. (more on this later).
You can’t miss the falls—they’re big and beautiful and the road bisects them on a bridge. I did the ride in late July and there was plenty of water—a hiker told me in the spring when the waters are high they cover the road. So don’t do the ride then.
If you’re a fan of electric grids, there’s a large relay station on the banks of the river right when you start the ride—it’s easy to miss on the way out but clearly visible at the end of the return ride.
The canyon wall
Shortening the ride: There’s no particular reason to, but you can turn around at the waterfall. The road is slightly steeper in the second half.
Adding Miles: Everything discussed in this section is riding I haven’t done.
At the turn-around point of our ride you’re at the intersection with Canyon Rd., which runs east to Big Creek (hence the street sign reading “Big Creek Powerhouse”). It’s a 5.8-minute (one way) ride dead-ending at Big Creek Rd., the back road from Shaver Lake to Huntington Lake, a ride I’ll be recommending in a minute. Canyon is all seriously up heading east (2033 ft gain in 5.8 mi.) and it runs directly through the Creek Fire burn, so the landscape is devastated, but the road was recently repaved so the surface is impeccable, the road contour is delicious (very curvy), and the scenery is really rather awesome in an apocalyptic sort of way (see photo below).
You can turn L (the other way) on Canyon Rd. and continue up the river. I’m not sure what it’s like, thought it’s paved at least for a while.
You can make a loop that includes Million Dollar Rd., though it involves some rough or trafficky riding. You can start the loop anywhere, but I suggest you start in Auberry to get Jose Basin Rd. out of the way early. Ride from Auberry to Million Dollar Rd., up MDR, east on Canyon, then at the intersection with Big Creek Rd. take BCR (you’ll have to get through another intimidating gate like the one for MDR, closing off Canyon Rd. to the public) west to Shaver Lake. This leg is a demanding, splendid, constantly serpentining climb on a great road surface—one of the best stretches of road in the area, if you don’t mind the burn. Ride Hwy 168 along Shaver Lake and continue on it down toward the valley and back to Auberry. Hwy 168 is sometimes blessed with a great road contour and sometimes straight as a stick, but it’s always trafficky (trebly so on weekends) and I’d never choose to ride it unless I was keen to complete this loop. I’d map it for you but RWGDP won’t let me map MDR (because it’s gated and officially “private” I suppose). If you do this loop, you are almost entirely beyond the reach of water resupply, so plan accordingly.
Canyon Road seen from Big Creek Road
If you want to explore the other riding in the area:
The best road in the area not in Bestrides is Big Creek Rd., part of the Million Dollar Rd. loop described above. Sometimes confusing called Huntington Lake Rd. on maps, it’s the backroad alternative to Hwy 168. About 10 miles long, it begins (west to east) with about 6 miles of delicious serpentine descending on excellent road surface, then, at the unexpectedly large community of Big Creek the road goes to rough-hewn one- lane and turns up—extremely, unforgivingly up, as in lots of 12-16%—for the remaining 4 miles to Huntington Lake. One of the hardest climbs I’ve ever seen. The country to the north is Creek Fire devastation, but you can see forever and the view is really quite magnificent (though admittedly not pretty). Ride it all (you could continue on along the lake shoreline, 6 miles of perfectly pleasant rollers, then ride our Kaiser Pass ride, or loop back on the trafficky Hwy 168), or skip the killer climb and just descend to Big Creek and turn around.
There are three long, medium-sized roads with good road contour in the area: Beasore, Minarets, and Dinkey Creek. Beasore Rd. has the bonus of Jones Store, a classic country store of some renown. It can be looped by taking the road that goes R just beyond the store and goes over to Minarets, Grizzly Meadows Rd., which I think is paved. It has the huge advantage over Minarets that it escaped the Creek Fire.
Minarets Rd. used to be a plumb ride, but it was devastated in the fire, and reports are that riding it is now a grim experience.
Dinkey Creek has a nice contour and is outside the Creek Fire burn area, and it has two bonuses: McKinley Grove, a small, blissfully uncrowded grove of giant sequoias (I went to see the giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park this summer and couldn’t get a parking space), and Courtright Way (not Road), a small, quirky little road that goes from the east end of Dinkey north to Courtright Reservoir. You can preview it on Streetview.
At the east end of Trimmer Springs Rd. is a road worthy of special mention: Black Rock Rd. (Vomac Rd. for its first few miles). Small and twisty, it passes through Balch Camp and proceeds to Black Rock Reservoir (12 mi.) on pavement, then continues on reportedly technical dirt northward all the way to the eastern end of Dinkey Rd. Word is, the canyon scenery is at first grand, then gets even better as the road passes through Granite Gorge. Ride as far as you are able. The Balch Camp area in 7/25 suffered a forest fire, and I don’t know how that impacted the riding conditions.
Most of the roads in this Added Miles section are snowed in in winter and sport a delicious 70-75% high temp in mid-summer. If you want to ride in the spring, the roads in the foothills (between the Clovis/Fresno valley and the mountains) are said to be lovely riding when everything is still green. Try Watts Valley Rd., Maxon Rd., Burrough Valley Rd., Toll House Rd., Lodge Rd., Millerton Rd., Pittman Hill Rd., Auberry Rd., Powerhouse Rd.—which is pretty much all of them.
Distance: 13-mile out-and-back Elevation gain: 1015 ft
This is the easiest and perhaps the shortest ride in Bestrides. You will do next to no work. Not counting the small descent and climb at the beginning of the ride out and the somewhat more substantial drop at the end, it’s essentially flat. That’s because it’s a converted hydroelectric ditch.
So why is it in Bestrides? Because it’s pure bliss—gorgeous, tranquil, isolated, one-lane, with A-level pavement. As the friend who put me on to the ride said, ‘It would make anyone want to ride a bike.” So go do this ride. If you want more miles/work, Adding Miles below will show you how to do that easily.
Besides the fact that the ride is a joy, it has another selling point: despite it’s feeling deep in the outback, the start of the ride is only an incredible 0.6 mi. off Hi 80. So you can bag it in an hour on a break from driving to Tahoe or Reno.
Judging by the snowplow guidance poles lining the road, the area is under snow in the winter, so schedule your ride accordingly.
A mile or so from the beginning of the ride is Dutch Flat, a true, unspoiled, and charming Gold Rush town with a few buildings, a large and functioning hotel, and no tourists. Well worth a visit. If the museum is open, check it out—it’s a treat beyond your expectations. The hotel looks good on the website and says it’s working toward opening a restaurant (as of 5/25).
Park near the intersection of Drum Power House Rd. (named after a guy named Drum) and the oddly-named Main St. (it’s a continuation of the Main Street of Dutch Flat). There isn’t much room but you can squeeze onto the shoulder. After a few houses, the rest of the ride is through wilderness marked only by road signs on trees—lots of them: turn arrows, “blind curve,” “15 mph speed limit,” and the like. Given the fact that the road deadends at a power house of interest to perhaps 10 people in the state, you’ll have the road to yourself (I met two vehicles in the 13 miles, and wanted to ask each what they were doing there), which raises the question, Why are all these signs there? We’ve all ridden hundreds of back roads more hazardous than this one, but the signs imply your life is hanging by a thread at every turn. All I can figure is, there’s some government regulation requiring over-zealous signage on power house roads, or something. To kick off the ride on this note of caution, at the very start of the route you see 5 warning signs within 50 ft: road narrows, falling rocks, share the road, winding road, and ice. You also see a sign that reads (uniquely, in my experience), “Private Road. No 1-80 access. GPS is wrong! Dead end.” In other words, a general air of negativity. All this for a ride that’s about as risky and hair-raising as Disneyland’s Autopia.
The road serpentines sweetly along a steep sidehill in the Bear River canyon. The scenery is varied and all lovely: big canyon vistas, roadside oak canopies, conifer forests, dramatic rock cuts of white, grey, yellow, and black festooned with colonies of bleeding heart, succulents, and coral bells. In addition, there is much hydroelectric activity in the canyon. On the far canyon wall you’ll see a long flume supplying water to an invisible power plant and a giant pipeline carrying water over a ridge to the west. Ahead and far above you to your right you’ll see another giant pipeline bringing water over the southern ridge.
5.2 miles in, the road begins an unmissable descent, which continues almost to the end of the ride and takes you down to the powerhouse itself, which is without interest. The climb back out is substantial, so you should seriously consider turning around. If you want more work, there are better ways to get it (see Adding Miles below).
Shortening the ride: You won’t need to, but if you’re looking for effortless you can skip the climbs at either end.
Adding miles: This ride adds on to our Lower Colfax Rd/Rollins Lake Loop ride via a sweet 8.8-mile connector that goes from the eastern tip of our Rollins Lake loop along small roads paralleling Hi 80, through Dutch Flat, to our ride’s starting point. Doing the two rides plus the connector gives you 46 mi. of riding, and of course Lower Colfax’s northern end is near other good riding, as detailed in that ride’s Adding Miles section.
Distance: 17.2-mile out-and-back with spur Elevation gain: 2000 ft
All roads in the southern Gold Country, other than Hwy 49, are worth riding. They’re all relatively small, with great scenery and intriguing, ever-changing contour. Some are more worth riding than others. Some have rough pavement. Some have traffic. Some are dirt. I’m always on the look-out for those tiny back roads that have none of these flaws—like this little jewel. It’s a cut-off between two roads users of Bestrides know well, Jesus Maria Rd. and Mountain Ranch Rd, and it’s 6+ miles of one-lane, glassy-surfaced, isolated, riotous up and down. It’s short, but you’ll get some work (check that elevation gain), it can be incorporated into longer rides effortlessly (see Adding Miles below), and there’s a side road, East Murray Creek Rd., that adds a few miles and is just as delightful riding.
You’re in the edges of the big burn that devastated Jesus Maria Rd. (Whiskey Slide’s northern terminus) a few years ago, so about a third of the route is returning brush with views of burned-out hillsides, one third is lush, lovely oaky woods, and one third unpretentious ranch land. But I didn’t find the effects of the burn aesthetically displeasing, and, as is often the case, you get a clear view of the road ahead of you, which allows you to bomb the road with confidence.
Whiskey Slide Road
There are no services on WSR, but there are typical mountain-community general stores and mercantiles in the area—in Mountain Ranch at the southern end of WSR, at Railroad Flat up Mountain Ranch Rd. a few miles, and scattered along both Mountain Ranch Rd. and Railroad Flat Rd.
All roads in the southern Gold Country running north and south share a topography: since there is a constant stream of rivers and creeks running west out of the Sierra, all east/west roads are constantly descending to a waterway and climbing up the other side of the draw. Whiskey Slide Rd. is no exception. Whichever end you start on, you stair-step your way down to Jesus Maria Creek via delightful, whee-inducing little whoop-dee-dos, cross the creek, then stair-step you way back the back side. The climbing is fairly intense (you’ll see the occasional 10%) but always short-lived, so it never gets tedious. The road surface is flawless, the sight lines are perfect (so you don’t have to hold back for oncoming traffic), said traffic is next to non-existent anyway, and the road width is mostly a snug single lane.
E. Murray Creek Rd. takes off to the east a stone’s throw from WSR’s southern end, and it has all the virtues of WSR (isolation, great road surface, lovely scenery, constant variety) without the elevation gain or the burn. Don’t skip it.
Shortening the ride: I don’t think you’ll have to, but either half of the road can be ridden as an out-and-back to the creek. Both halves seem equally desirable.
Adding miles: WSR takes off from our Jesus Maria Rd. route and returns to it, making a short-cut that saves you a few miles. Honestly, the miles omitted by taking WSR are good but not unmissable, so there’s an argument to be made that the Jesus Maria ride is better with the WSR option.
If you’re a map-reader you’ll see that Ponderosa Way continues north from the northern terminus of WSR and you’ll hope it’s good riding, but it quickly turns to fairly unpleasant dirt.
Distance: 11.4 mile out and back Elevation gain: 2070 ft
This is another nice climb out of a Wine Country valley, of which Bestrides has several, this time taking off from the eastern edge of Santa Rosa. Since Bestrides has a lot of these rides, I try to think in terms of what’s special about each. This one is shorter than most (5.7 mi. one way), a good bit steeper than most (way over the 100 ft/mile benchmark), and blessed with a pristine road surface (a feature it shares with Ida Clayton and Cavedale). The scenery is pretty standard Wine Country climb: open hillside with a sprinkling of oaks and houses. The traffic, as with most Wine Country dead-end climbs, is minimal. The road size begins as a wide, double yellow-lined two-lane, shrinks to a wide one-lane without centerline, then shrinks further to a true one-lane in its last mile. Vistas are minimal—brief views of Santa Rosa in the valley below and of the mountains surrounding.
All of which raises the question of why you would pick this ride over Bestride’s other Wine Valley Climbs. I can think of three reasons: 1) you want some steep. 13-15% pitch is pretty rare in this area—Los Alamos has a couple of stretches. 2: You’re in the area, and the narrowness of Cavedale and the roughness of Sonoma Mountain Rd., the other two nearby Bestrides rides, put you off. 3: You like an adventure (see the last mile of the ride description below).
Los Alamos Rd. (“the poplars” in Spanish—I didn’t notice any) takes off from Hwy 12 just south of Santa Rosa, and at first it looks like nothing but standard Greater Bay Area suburbia. Park on a side street. Soon the houses begin to thin out (though they continue to dot the hillsides). Climb on pretty, smooth, big two-lane full of sweeping curves to a major fork in the road, at which point the double-yellow stops and there’s a sign reading “Winding one-lane road” (the usual Highway Department overstatement—two cars can pass easily), and the pitch moderates. This is my favorite leg of the ride, with no houses, a nice rollercoaster road contour, and no one else on the road.
Shortly you see a prominent ranch house on the R, there’s a gate for closing off the road, a sign reads “15% grade,” and the road goes to true one-lane. The rest of the ride is only 1 mile, and it’s a trip. If you like adventure it might be the reason you’re doing the ride. You cross a small ridge top with some excellent views of the hills ahead of you to the south, then plummet down the promised 15% pitch to the end of the road at the Hood Mountain Regional Park trailhead, which is nothing more than a dirt parking lot and a parking ticket vending machine. This road is on a steep sidehill, with a wall on one side and a drop-off on the other, and you can occupy your mind with musing on just what two cars would do if they met going in opposite directions. I have no idea. I met one vehicle during my descent, and I barely had room to squeeze my bike between them and the wall. The driver graciously moved to his R about 3 inches.
Curiously, Streetview doesn’t map this last mile—it stops at the gate, which it shows as closed. Someone’s in denial.
Depending on who you are, that mile may be the highlight of the ride or something you definitely want to skip. The climb back out is tough, and there’s absolutely nothing worth seeing at the bottom. I liked it, but I like edgy.
The ride back is predictable. The first mile is a true slog, then the ride back to the double-yellow is sweet, then the descent on the double-yellow, like most Wine Country descents, varies from ripping to (for me) too-steep-to-be-much-fun. YMMV.
Shortening the ride: Turn around at the gate. You’ll only be saving 2 miles, but you’ll save a lot of effort.
Adding miles: Adobe Canyon Rd., a short, pleasant little climb, is just to the south of you on Hwy 12. A bit further down 12 are the Cavedale Rd. and Sonoma Mountain Rd. rides. Just north of you, off Calistoga Rd., is St. Helena Rd., a ride I like because I like wooly outback rides but whose road surface is too poor to make it into Bestrides. In 13 miles it will take you to the town of St. Helena, but it’s a very steep climb coming back.
