Distance: 30 miles, wandering route Elevation gain: 2840 ft
A general word of warning about riding in the Southern Southern Gold Country: every back road I’ve ridden south of Jesus Maria Rd. (which was bad but just got resurfaced) has stretches of pavement ranging from poor to comically horrible. That includes every Bestrides ride in the area—Ward’s Ferry, this one, and others like Dogtown Rd (not so much Priest-Coulterville). If poor pavement bothers you, ride somewhere else.
This ride lies just west of our Ward’s Ferry Road ride, but it couldn’t be more different. Ward’s Ferry is a straight down-and-up crossing of a big canyon. This ride wanders around in a warren of old farming roads that roll up and down constantly over endless little hills. It’s never flat, and it never climbs or descends for long.
It’s harder than the profile makes it look, because short, steep rollers wear you out, and because the road surfaces here are poor, and that beats you up. The up side is, this isn’t your yuppified Gold Country. There are next to no gated mansions, vineyards, Lexuses—just oak and grassland, unpretentious folk, beat-up pick-ups, and horses and cows in the fields.
There is nothing magical about my route. I just tried to link as many of the roads in the area as I could. My route has you riding everything of note except Algerine Wards Ferry Rd., which you can easily add as an out and back.
Start at the intersection of Old Ward’s Ferry Road and Jacobs Rd. You can start at the northern end of OWFR if you want to, but it’s very unpleasant multi-lane frenetic urban. Half a mile past Hwy 108, you’re in the country.
Old Ward’s Ferry Rd. is the second-worst road surface on the ride, and it’s immediately up and down, so it’s hard on an unwarm body. Nothing on this ride lasts very long, however, so soon you go R onto Murphy Rd. and things are much better though not perfect. Go right on Lime Kiln Rd. and go up and down, mostly up, until you’re in the shadow of Hwy 108, where Campo Seco Rd. goes L along the highway.
Campo Seco is a horse of a different color. It runs along upscale housing tracts on one side, so it’s bigger, domesticated, busier, and glassy smooth.
Go L on Algerine and roll to Twist Rd. At the intersection is a chance to pick up Algerine-Ward’s Ferry Rd. (not on our route)—just keep riding past the Twist turn-off.
Whatever you do, don’t miss Twist Rd.—it’s the best road in this bunch. The road surface isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough that you can finally bomb some descents.
Twist Rd. ends at Jacksonville Road, for all intents and purposes a highway, though not a heavily trafficked one. It’s not thrilling, and the pavement is new chipseal, but it’s OK and the views (of the canyon holding an arm of an arm of an arm of Don Pedro Lake) are good—the only time on this ride where you can see further than across the meadow beside you.
Stay on Jacksonville as it becomes the Stent Cut-Off (surely somebody’s idea of humor) and returns to Algerine. Go L and ride back on Algerine to Camp Seco, Campo Seco to Lime Kiln, and down Lime Kiln, but only a mile plus to the Jacobs Rd. cut-off back to your car.
Jacobs is not to be missed—perhaps a third of a mile of the worst road surface I have ever experienced. Absolute misery. It’s easier and more pleasant to walk it, but ride it just so you can tell your friends you did.
Shortening the route: Except for Twist, none of these roads is markedly superior to any other. The southwest loop might be slightly superior to the northeast loop.
Adding miles: This ride takes you within yards of our Ward’s Ferry Road route, a ride I would certainly do before I did this one. In Sonora you are 6 miles from Big Hill Road out of Columbia, a 10-mile out-and-back consisting of a four-mile moderately challenging climb followed by 6 miles of easy rollers, with fabulous views of the lands to south—the best vistas in all my Gold Country riding. It would be a Bestrides-worthy ride, but it’s cursed with the same unfortunate Calaveras County pavement as this ride—not intolerable but bad enough to turn an otherwise wonderful 4-mile descent coming back into something merely good. If you’re near Columbia, don’t miss little Sawmill Flat Road, unique in the region (in my experience) for having easy rollers, lush scenery, and pristine road surface.
Distance: 20-mile out and back Elevation gain: 1410 ft
Most of the rides in Bestrides are fairly taxing, not because I need to be taxed, but because most really good scenery goes up and down. But there are a blessed few rides that offer ample rewards without requiring work (consult the nearly-flat rides list on the Best of the Best page). Huasna Road is one. A mere 20 miles of mostly imperceptible climbing or descending, with one 1-mile moderate hill near the turn-around, it’s perfect for a recovery day or a day with the non-riding spouse, yet the road contour is so seductive (gentle rollers, no long straights) and the scenery so gorgeous (oat-dotted grassy hillsides, riparian oak canopies) that I guarantee even the most hardened of hammerers will be charmed. A perfect ride for the day after you do the thrill-fest that is Prefumo Canyon Road. The descents from the summit of the little hill are wonderful in both directions, definite Best of Bestrides descents if they weren’t so heartbreakingly short.
A side benefit of this ride is that it motivates you to go to the town of Arroyo Grande, where it starts. Admit it, you’ve never been there. It turns out to be a bustling, sweet little village with oodles of charm, an ice cream parlor, a gyro stand, a fish taco restaurant, and a patisserie, well worth a post-ride stop.
Two words of caution. 1) I did this ride in April, when the hillsides were green and the wildflowers lush. It might be a bit less stunning in the dead-brown grass of California’s summer. 2) The prevailing wind in this area is westerly, and it can snort, so I would consult the weather with a particular eye on the predicted winds, and plan my ride so I’m not doing the 10-mile return leg into the teeth of a gale.
A number of rides in Bestrides follow Huasna Road’s profile: park at the intersection of a main artery and a small, untrafficked road. Ride the untrafficked road through an agricultural valley, follow the valley until it turns into a narrow creek canyon, follow the creek up a gradually increasing pitch until it turns into an actual climb, ride to the end of the pavement, return. This profile always gives you a nice mix of flat, rolling, steep(er), open, wooded, inhabited, and isolated.
Do not begin at the beginning of Huasna Rd.—it’s big and busy. Drive down Huasna to where Huasna goes off to the R and Lopez Dr. continues straight. A sign at the T tells you that “Lopez Lake” is straight ahead. A sign on the R points to Huasna. Park before the turn, in a large dirt turn-out. Ride down Huasna. You will need to negotiate 3 intersections where you might have doubts—follow the signs to Huasna Valley in every case. Notice especially the second, at the intersection of Huasna, School, and El Rancho, where you go R—there’s a sign to Huasna as you approach the intersection in this direction, but when returning you get signs for School and El Rancho but none for Huasna and you have to take the unnamed fork.
For the first 4 miles you’re riding through small agricultural operations—pleasant enough but not particularly special—but then you get off the valley floor and into the trees, and it’s downright grand for the rest of the ride. You’re climbing, but so gradually you won’t notice until you ride it going the other way. About 8 miles in, you hit the one and only hill, about 3/4 mile at 4-7%—in other words, just enough to open up your legs. If you’re saving yourself for harder days, you can spin the entire hill without effort.
The descent down the backside is perfect—easy slaloming at 25-30 mph through lazy, banked esses on glass. Off the descent you debouche into Huasna Valley, which is very pretty, and Huasna itself, which is about 4 simple ranch houses. The road splits into two in the midst of “downtown,” and you turn around.
The climb back up the hill is about like the climb up the front side. Then the descent is just as sweet as the descent on the outbound leg was. The rest of the return ride is that sort of 2% descending where you don’t think you’re descending, you just think you’re on the best day of your life. Assuming you’ve timed it right and the winds aren’t bad.
Shortening the ride: I know the ride is already short, but there is a sensible way to make it shorter: drive the first 4 miles of Huasna, to where the road enters the canopy and begins to serpentine.
Adding Miles: Thanks to the fact that almost every road southeast of San Luis Obispo runs through pretty, gently rolling farm country, the opportunities for extending the Huasna ride are plentiful.
From our turn-around point, Huasna Rd. continues on past Huasna Valley, now smaller and much less developed. Apparently cyclists ride a lot of it, but it’s only paved for two more miles, and that pavement is only tolerable chipseal. The first mile is highly recommended, because the scenery is as good as what you’ve been through but it’s much more isolated. Go for the solitude. After that, the road climbs briefly to a summit and you can get an idea of what lies ahead of you if you continue. It looks pretty and wild. Back in Huasna, there’s a sign reading “End county-maintained road 14 miles ahead,” for what that’s worth. When I was last there (4/23), there was a sign at the beginning of the road saying “Road closed,” but I assume it’s tongue-in-cheek. But perhaps not. The winter of 2022-2023 tore up nearly every dirt road in California, so I wouldn’t venture out anywhere into the outback without a reliable report on road conditions.
One of the joys of riding around SLO are the people. While I was riding this leg, I stopped a car and asked the driver if the road was in fact closed ahead. She said, “I don’t think so. You can go for a really long way. There’s almost no one up there. It’s so pretty in there. You’re the smart one. You go and enjoy yourself.” I’m not making this up.
The other road out of Huasna is Huasna Townsite Rd. It runs for about 3 miles until it dead-ends, and the scenery seems fine, but the road surface is a particularly nasty kind of chipseal that seems to be pebbles instead of gravel. If you’ve dreamt of riding Paris-Roubaix, here’s your chance. I hated it.
From the start of our ride there are a several attractive options:
1. Ride 3 miles up Lopez Dr. (toward Lopez Lake), turn L on Orcutt Road, and ride Orcutt for 8 miles, then turn around. Orcutt is a perfect example of what I think of as open-country riding. It meanders peacefully up and down along big meadows, by small creeks, and past tidy family farms and vineyards. It’s not twisty or thrilling, but there’s a surprising amount of contour and the scenery is SLO rural at its best.
2. Ride 8 miles up Lopez Dr., past Lopez Lake, turn R onto Hi (not High) Mountain Rd. and ride it 6 miles to the end of the pavement. HMR is a mini-Huasna, easy and pretty but less gorgeous. Reportedly, locals ride Hi Mountain’s dirt all the way to Pozo. From what I saw of the dirt it’s in excellent shape, though I asked a local (in 4/23) if the dirt was good all the way to Pozo and she laughed and said, “Usually, yes; right now, no.” Lopez Dr. itself is a popular bike route that rolls through pretty country, so you won’t suffer riding it, but it’s a bit big and a bit busy and I would only choose to ride it to connect better stuff.
4. If you want a real challenge and adventure, just a stone’s throw down Hi Mountain is Upper Lopez Canyon Road, an absolute ball-buster of a ride. It’s a rough, narrow road, little more than a track, and it’s nastily up and down pretty consistently. Oddly, it’s covered by Streetview, so you can preview it. I rode it once, and once is enough.
5. If you turn L on Lopez Dr. instead of R from our starting point and head away from Lopez Lake, you soon hit Corbett Canyon Rd., a local favorite that parallels Orcutt and seems similar in ambience.
Orcutt Road
If you want to look further afield, the SLO area is particularly blessed with route resources, thanks mostly to the SLO Bicycle Club website. There you’ll find a list of favored local rides, though the 40-odd rides detailed there aren’t evaluated for quality or character. I have a paper ride map of the SLO area called the San Luis Obispo County Bike Map, and it’s a beauty. See if local bike shops still have copies. Downloadable maps of the area are at https://bikeslocounty.org/resources/maps/.
I’m delighted to add this ride to Bestrides for two reasons, beyond the obvious one that it’s great: a) it’s in an “under-represented” area of California—San Luis Obispo had no rides in Bestrides before this (there are now two, this and Huasna Road); and b) I was tipped off to it by a reader who told me I had to check it out, which is always my favorite way to discover a ride.
It’s a marvelous ride, full of everything we ride bikes for: beautiful woods, grand vistas, some easy rolling, some moderate climbing, a little tough climbing, some thrilling descending, a charming village at the turn-around—even a bit of rideable dirt. I didn’t put it in the Top Ten best of the best list, but I was sorely tempted. It’s a high-energy thrill-fest, along a creek through dense, magnificent riparian oaks, then up to a mountaintop where you can see forever, then down the back side through more oak canopy to the village of Avila Beach, a perfect spot for getting off the bike, having a bite, whale watching, and all the other things one does at the beach. The last time I was there, the humpbacks where coming out of the water to feed just off the beach.
For a 30-mile ride, it’s a bit of a workout. Most of the 3000 ft of climbing you do in 4 miles—the two miles on either side of the summit. You’ll touch 12% on the ride out and 11% on the return.
If you want to see green hillsides, the window is small. I am told that the SLO spring is very short-lived—two weeks or so. Apparently I was lucky to first do this ride in mid-April, when the wildflowers were flourishing and everything was green. But I’ve also done it in the fall and was similarly smitten.
This ride has possibly the grandest vistas in Bestrides after the Santa Rosa Road Wall and the Mt. Tamalpais ride. On a clear day from the summit you can see much of SLO spread out below you 10 miles to the east and Morro Bay and Morro Rock on the coast 10 miles to the west. Since much of the specialness of the ride is in the vistas, try to find a day with immaculately clear skies.
There’s no reason not to do the ride starting at the other end. It just means you hang out in Avila Beach at the end of the ride instead of at the turn-around.
You can start where Prefumo Canyon Road leaves huge Los Osos Valley Road, but it’s shoulder riding through generic residential/apartment complexes, so I drive the 1/2 mile down PCR to Castillo Ct., park curbside on Castillo, and ride from there. The first 3 miles are mellow ascending rollers, so you can warm up on them before doing anything hard. The scenery here is pretty oak riparian woods. Then it gets better, and better, and better.
From mile 3 to the summit (at c. 4.5 miles) you will work, but you won’t mind because there’s a lot going on. The road is never straight and never climbs at one pitch for long, so you get constant breaks and variations, the landscape opens up, and the vistas start. By the time you get to the hilltop summit, the view is unimpeded to the west, north, and east. If you like to complete things, there are short views to the south as well.
Looking north from the summit of Prefumo Road, with Cerro San Luis Obispo (?) in center
Roll across the hilltop for a short mile (with several mega-mansions for company), then begin the obvious descent down the back side. Of course you can turn around at the summit if your climbing legs are toast, but you don’t want to, because the rest of the road is really, really pretty. On the back side of the summit, the road surface, which has been unproblematic, goes to hell, but it doesn’t matter because it only lasts for about 1/4 mile and then you’re on dirt. I’m not big on dirt, but this is rideable (25 mm tires are a good idea), it only lasts a bit over a mile, and the oak canopy on the dirt leg is the best non-vista scenery on the ride. Near the end of the dirt a dirt road goes off to your R at a large gate and a road sign tells you Prefumo Canyon Road is ending and See Canyon Rd. beginning, but it’s easy to miss.
Pismo Beach and Pismo Rock, left, from Prefumo summit
When the dirt ends, you begin two miles of descending that is very different from the slope on the north side of the summit. This is relatively straight, therefore fast, with just enough bending to keep it from being boring (and one big esse curve to catch out the inattentive). It feels good, after all that work, to relax and let the bike rip. Once off the slope, you have 4 miles of effortless riding over easy rollers through a garden-pretty little canyon with oaks on one side and often old apple trees on the other. See Canyon apple cider is a local thing, and I encourage you to stop at one of the apple stands and sample it. I recommend the See Canyon Fruit Ranch. They’ve been making cider since 1894, so they’ve gotten really good at it.
See Canyon Rd. dead-ends at San Luis Bay Drive. Take it R for 1/2 mile until it dead-ends on Avila Beach Drive (unsigned). Take it to the R and ride the mile or two to town. When you get there you won’t be alone—Avila is the turn-around point for lots of local cycling routes.
As an alternative to San Luis Bay Drive, just before SLBD dead-ends at Avila Beach Drive it crosses the Bob Jones Trail (hard to see, heading off to your LEFT surprisingly), a paved rec trail that will take you straight into Avila if you want to avoid the sometimes-busy Avila Beach Drive. It’s very back-water, with informational plaques on the local geology, kids playing on their BMX bikes, a trail-side stream, and lots of root-broken pavement. It’s fun but not exactly road riding—I did much of it at 8 mph. For me it’s a do-it-once sort of thing—others swear by it.
On the ride back, the first few miles of See Canyon Rd. are dreamy, but the last 2 miles before the dirt are an unaltered, mostly straight grind at a pitch steep enough to make you work. It’s the only leg of the route I can’t say I enjoy. After the dirt, the short climb to the hilltop is murder—very steep on a bad surface—but, as I said, short. You can see the summit up ahead of you, which is a comfort.
The descent from the hilltop is at first a bit too rough, a bit too steep, and a bit too full of speed-scrubbing hairpins for aggressive riding. Mistakes can be costly. I overcooked a turn and crashed straight into a rock wall—if it had been an outside turn instead of an inside one, I might still be falling. Instead of maximizing speed, relax and take in the ambience, which is transporting. Once past the 2 miles of steep, the descending is great—descending rollers through pleasant esses at comfortable and controllable speed on unproblematic pavement. Castillo Ct. comes all too soon.
The rewards of the dirt leg
You’ll see some cars at the two ends of this route, and the hilltop is a popular place for nature lovers and their cars on weekends, but I didn’t find it to be a problem. Passing lines are good, and much of the route is almost deserted. Even in the road’s busiest season, traffic wasn’t at all bad.
Shortening the route: Ride to the summit and turn around, from either end. If you do this, I encourage you to come back the next day and do the other side.
Adding miles: From Avila Beach Drive the Pacific Coast Highway (the surface road that parallels Hwy 101, not Hwy 101 itself) runs north (toward SLO) and southeast (along the coast). Both directions have their charms and are worth riding. East is better. That way takes you to Pismo Beach, another charming village built around its pier, the Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Preserve (unmissable on your R), and ultimately Grover Beach with its easy access to beachfront at Oceano Dunes Natural Preserve. There’s extensive exploring to be done among the seaside cottage cul-de-sacs and village side streets along the way.
From Avila Beach, Avila Beach Drive continues for another mile or so and dead-ends at Harford Pier, a charming, bustling wharf with sport fishing, an active pod of seal lions, and two fun restaurants, one at the end of the pier with a patio over the water. Much less touristy, more blue-collar, than Avila Beach.
Avila Beach
If you’re looking for rides further afield, the SLO area is particularly blessed with route resources, thanks largely to the SLO Bicycle Club website. There you’ll find a list of favored local rides, though the some 40-odd rides detailed there aren’t evaluated for quality or character. I have a paper ride map of the SLO area called the San Luis Obispo County Bike Map, and it highlights every ridable road in the area, though of course it doesn’t rank or grade the rides. See if local bike shops have copies. Downloadable maps of the area are at https://bikeslocounty.org/resources/maps/.
Prefumo Canyon Rd: Dropping off the edge of the hilltop on the return to SLO. Downtown SLO is barely visible on either side of the mound at 1:30
April 2025 note: sometimes road surface is everything. I’ve always liked this ride, but felt I had to apologize for the lousy tread of the descent down Howell Mountain Rd. to Pope Valley and the less obnoxious tread problems ascending Ink Grade. Happily I can now report that both roads have been gloriously resurfaced, are now glass, and are now both wonderful riding. That elevates the ride from good to great—hence the Best of the Best rating. Even better news: now that Ink Grade is glass, it’s become a top-tier descent—one of the best descents in Bestrides and one of the best I’ve ever done.
As with all the rides in the Wine Country and Marin County, try to do this ride in the spring, when the foliage is lush and green, the scotch broom is blooming, the vineyards are beginning to bud, and the temps are moderate. Of course it’s doable any time of the year, but in other seasons the scenery is merely pleasant, whereas in the spring it’s drop-dead gorgeous.
This ride is a bit of a grab bag. It strings together three climbs and three descents, each with its own character. Locals typically ride it as a one-way, from south to north, and continue on, as a part of pleasant longer routes we’ll discuss in Adding Miles. But I’m not crazy about those longer routes, so I’ve mapped it as an out and back dumbbell. The route includes Old Howell Mt. Rd., most of which is officially closed, to cars, bikes, and walkers, so if you like being naughty (as I do) this ride is for you. If you don’t crave wooly, off-piste riding, you might want to skip the entire western half of the route. There is also 1.6 miles of a nasty mix of heavy traffic and broken pavement which you must simply survive.
Because Old Howell Mt. Road is officially closed, many maps (including electronic ones) don’t acknowledge its existence. Also, various maps have various opinions about what it’s called. Just follow the route map and you’ll be fine.
Park just outside St. Helena at the intersection of Silverado Trail and Old Howell Mt. Road (which is also the intersection of ST and Pope St.). There’s a small dirt turn-out for parking at the end of Pope. At the intersection OHMR is signed simply Howell Mt. Road, but is signed Old Howell Mt. Rd. at its other end. RidewithGPS calls it “Howell Mountain Road South.” It climbs from the gun, so consider warming up on Silverado, the region’s primary recreational bicycle road, which is nearly flat and heavily trafficked but with an adequate-to-plentiful shoulder. It’s good, mellow riding in general and in the miles south of Pope is particularly sweet, so you may want to just keep riding ST, and I won’t think less of you for it, but we have bigger fish to fry.
Old Howell Mountain Road
A short leg up OHMR brings you to the intersection of OHMR and Conn Valley Rd. CVR is serious vineyard country, as evinced by the 20 wineries whose names hang from the unmissable sign at the intersection. It’s a pleasant road by itself, and it goes all the way to Lake Hennessey, so it’s worth riding some other day. Go L to stay on OHMR, and very soon you see a permanent sign that reads, “Road closed ahead: no vehicles, no bicyclists, no pedestrians.” Indeed, shortly thereafter you reach a permanent and serious gate across the road and a sign that reads “road very closed.” Getting around the gate is easy, but immediately beyond it you’ll swear the signs are right because you’re looking at a giant mound of dirt and no road in sight. Fear not. The mound is about 40 ft up and 40 ft down the back side (ride it if you have a gravel bike, walk it if you don’t), and after the mound the road reappears and is in remarkably good shape—lots of small cracks, lots of weeds growing through the median, and a few fallen limbs to dodge, but absolutely no risk.
A no-traffic guarantee
OHMR is a steady moderate climb through typical east Wine Country dry scrub. Watch for a nice open vista to the southeast, with Lake Hennessey in the distance. After 4 miles, OHMR dead-ends at a road that is Howell Mountain Rd. to the R and Deer Park Rd. to the L.
Here you have a choice. As I’ve routed it, you go straight across onto White Cottage Rd. and ride it for 4 miles to its end. White Cottage is a pleasant but not exciting steady climb through pretty, fairly developed terrain on a polished, wide two-lane road. The eponymous Cottage is nowhere in sight.
The alternative is to go R and take Howell Mountain Road through Angwin to the juncture of Ink Grade, White Cottage Rd., and HMR. The upside to HMR over White Cottage is, after Angwin the road contour is more interesting (curvier). The downside is, at least through Angwin, the traffic is heavier. Since you’re going to come back this way, I suggest you go up White Cottage and come down HMR.
Closed roads don’t get routine maintenance
Just before White Cottage dead-ends at Howell Mt. Rd., it crosses Ink Grade. Now you have one of the toughest decisions you’ll ever have on a bike. Do you descent Ink Grade (which used to be a no-no due to rough road surface but is now a superb ride), or do you continue on White Cottage to the intersection with Howell Mt. Rd. and do the descent of HMR, which is also a wonderful ride? Here are some things to consider:
Both descents are on glassy, perfect surface.
Both go to roughly the same place—Pope Valley Road..
HMR is much steeper (9-12%, compared to Ink Grade’s 4-8%).
HMR is curvier.
HMR is less varied—all pretty much the same pitch, the same amount of twistiness. Ink Grade is much more varied—no two corners are alike, lots of changes of pitch.
Ink Grade is much narrower—it’s a true wide one-lane, with no centerline. I’m not sure two cars meeting could pass each other. HMR is an obvious main route—two substantial lanes with centerline.
Because IG is narrower, it’s much less trafficked—seeing any cars at all is news-worthy—and it’s prettier (at least in the spring), because you’re more snugly in the woods.
I prefer Ink Grade, but I ‘m not a big fan of brake-burning plummets. I’ve mapped the route down HMR, but that was before the repaving.
At the bottom of HMR, at the tiny community of Pope Valley (which consists of a market in case you need ice cream, a garage with a sign that reads “since 1915,” an old barn advertising “blacksmith and wagonmaker,” and a vast automobile graveyard with some amazing old car bodies), go L on Pope Valley Rd., ride to Ink Grade on your L and go right on past it for 1/10 mi. to gawk at the spectacle that is Hubcap Ranch. Return to Ink Grade and ascent it. It’s a dream, as good as ascending gets—constantly reinventing itself, 4.1 miles of bliss through beautiful scenery, just hard enough to make you feel like you’re accomplishing something and with lots of changes in the pitch to vary the workload. With the new surface, I loved it so much I went back and did the climb the following day, something I never do. Don’t miss the tongue-in-cheek “Col de la Croix de Ink Grade” distance-and-elevation markers along the route.
At the top of Ink Grade, return to the White Cottage Rd./Howell Mt. Rd. intersection whichever way you didn’t ride up.
The ride’s one vista—looking southeast to Lake Hennessey from Old Howell Mt. Rd.
Now you are in for 1.7 miles of hell, the descent of Deer Park Rd. DPR is quite nice in places, but here it’s awful—lots of cars whizzing past you at 55 mph while you fight for control at 35 mph over steep, dangerously broken pavement and no shoulder. None too soon, bail out to the R onto Sanitarium Rd. (you’ll feel like checking in), which is heaven in comparison to what you’ve just done. Sanitarium used to be the best road surface on the route, but no more. Still, it’s pretty good, and it’s a fairly straight, very fast descent (40 mph if you want). It used to be almost car-free, but Siri has decided it’s a better route than Deer Park Rd. and is sending through traffic down it. And it’s built up, so the scenery is without interest. When it returns to Deer Park Rd, it’s a stone’s throw down DPR to Silverado Trail, which you take L back to your car.
Ink Grade
At the bottom of Sanitarium, there are a couple of little detours you can take to the R to add 3-4 miles to the route and avoid the little leg of Deer Park Road at the bottom of Sanitarium—first, Crystal Springs Rd., which seems to be a local favorite, and second, Glass Mountain Rd., which is shorter and I think a bit prettier. Both go north and run into the Silverado Trail, which you take L back to your car.
Ink Grade has a sense of humor
Shortening the route: Do either loop by itself—I recommend the northern loop. Or ride Ink Grade as an out and back—8 total miles of perfect climbing and descending..
Adding miles: On Pope Valley Rd. you’re in the midst of eastern Wine Country cruising country. The roads in every direction are popular riding routes. Continuing W on Pope Valley Rd. from Ink Grade, the riding is easy and lovely until the road turns into Butts Canyon Rd., at which point the road surface deteriorates and the landscape turns into post-forest-fire dreary—rolling hills full of dead tree trunks emerging from a sea of scrub brush. Butts will take you all the way to Middletown (16.5 miles), but I wouldn’t do it. Turning R on PVR from Ink Grade,, you soon reach Pope Canyon Rd and Chiles-Pope Canyon Rd., both staples of regional touring. I like the ride from Pope Valley down Chiles-Pope Canyon to Hwy 128 a lot, especially the descent from Chiles to 128. Hwy 128 will return you to the Napa Valley (I wouldn’t go the other way on 128—the traffic can be deadly, though the road contour is good).
Pope Canyon connects with Berryessa Knoxville Rd., which runs for 37 miles all the way to Clear Lake (where it’s called Morgan Valley Rd.), and locals have told me they’re ridden it in previous years, but I drove (not rode) the miles from Berryessa to Knoxville and I’m here to tell you, do not ride this road. The road surface, as of 6/25, is beyond horrible—it’s life-threatening. Do not trust the Streetview images—the road has been torn to pieces since they were taken. Morgan Valley Rd. itself (Knoxville to Lower Lake) is totally rideable as an out and back from Lower Lake, and the contour is nicely varied, but the scenery is poor, thanks to major fire damage, and the sun exposure is intense in hot weather.
Old Lawley Toll Road
You’re 11.5 miles down Silverado Trail from the Old Lawley Toll Rd, a tiny gem of a climb I absolutely love but which stands in the midst of a cycling wasteland (since Hwy 29 is unrideably trafficky) and is only 4 miles long. You don’t want to drive any distance to do 4 miles, so you should go bag it now while you’re in the neighborhood.
Just on the other side of St. Helena is Spring Mountain Rd./St. Helena Rd., a road which on paper looks like a perfect ride—small, relatively untrafficked, curvy. It’s all up then all down across the ridge between the St. Helena valley and the Santa Rosa valley, and it’s a pretty good ride with a couple of drawbacks that keep me from recommending it: 1) the climb up from St. Helena is really steep, steeper than I find fun either going up or going down (like, lots of 12%+); and 2) the pavement on the Santa Rosa side is uniformly lousy, the kind of lousy I find really interferes with my pleasure. If they would repave the west side of the summit, riding just it as an out and back would be a dream. But this is Sonoma County after all.
Distance: 35 miles out and back Elevation gain: 3925 ft
(A Best of the Best descent)
This is one of seven rides (all detailed in the Adding Miles section of the Mountain View Road post) that are worth doing around Boonville, a charming little town with good food and an interesting history, so I encourage you to find a place to stay in the area, make a cycling holiday out of it, and do all of them.
This ride has its drawbacks. The road is a little too trafficky, a little too wide, and a little too monotonous of pitch and a little too long climbing. But the pros outweigh the cons. The road contour is continuous mellow serpentining, the road surface is immaculate, the vistas in either direction are outstanding (Russian River Valley to the west, Clear Lake to the east), and the descents, on either side of the summit, are superb. I’ll put the descent on the east side up against any descent in Bestrides. It’s that good.
Which brings us to a dilemma: how do you ride a hill with a great descent on both sides? I’ve mapped it as an out and back, which is frankly asking a lot of your climbing legs and your patience. If you’re not up for that, you have three choices: a) arrange a shuttle and ride it one-way, and that way should be west to east; b) ride it as an out-and-back from base to summit, preferably on the east side; or c) do the loop I lay out in Adding Miles. Whatever you do, descending the east side should be your number-one priority.
The first miles
Park on Hwy 175 out of Hopland. The route is very mild climbing for the first 5 miles, but if you want more warm-up you can ride Old River Rd., a perfectly pleasant flat ride, running north and south off 175 (clearly signed—the southern leg soon dead-ends at Hwy 101, the northern leg runs forever).
Back on 175, the vineyards in the first 5 miles are particularly picturesque. After 5 miles you run out of valley, you hit a 180 turn and climb for 5 more miles to the summit at a moderate pitch (6-7%) that hardly varies. Watch for the vistas of the Russian River Valley below you as you climb, but if you miss them the vistas on the east side are grander.
Miles of this
Just before the summit, you pass an “Entering Lake County” sign. If you’re planning on turning around at the summit, continue on a while because the vistas in the quarter-mile past the summit, of Clear Lake to the east and the ridges and canyons to the north, are magnificent. Much of the landscape was burned in the 2018 Mendocino Complex fire, but you’ll hardly notice now.
Just past summit, looking down on Clear Lake and fire damage—click to enlarge
Again, the descent from the summit heading east is simply perfect. Perfect pitch, perfect curves, grand vistas, open sight lines, lovely rock cuts. Notice I have no photos of the east side—I wasn’t about to interrupt my bliss by stopping to take photos.
If you’re following my route, turn around and ride back to the summit. Both climbs are about 5 miles of serious pitch, but RWGPS says the elevation gain on the east side is less because you’re starting higher. Be that as it may, I promise you’ll get your fill of work.
The eastside climb—your road is in center and at 10:30. Click to enlarge
Back at the summit, there’s a sign that reads “9% grade, next 4 miles.” Having already climbed it, you know that’s not true—it averages maybe 7% at the most—but it’s a lovely descent, all smooth, sweeping, banked curves where you can hold your speed easily, and the traffic becomes a non-issue because you’re going as fast as they are. At the bottom of the descent you have 5 miles of perfectly sweet 2% descending to make you feel like a god on the bike.
Shortening the ride: ride from either end to the summit, then return. Again, I recommend the east side.
Added miles: As I mentioned, Old River Rd. near the beginning of the ride is pleasant, easy riding in either direction. Old Toll Rd. takes off from 175 on the R a couple of miles into our route and gives you 2.7 miles of lovely rambling on good pavement before it turns to dirt.
Speaking of Old Toll Rd., after it turns to dirt it wends its way all the way to the eastern terminus of Hwy 175, changing its name midway to Highland Springs Rd. If you like dirt, consider looping the route, riding one way on 175 and the other on Old Toll/Highland Springs. Here’s a map:
I think RWGPS’s got the pavement/dirt proportions exactly right.
The good news is, once on this road it’s impossible to get lost—there are no forks or options, in either direction. The bad news is, the 10 miles of dirt range from OK to nasty. I did it once, on a gravel bike, and it beat my brains out. I feel no need to ever do it again. Don’t even think about it on skinny tires. However, I was riding clockwise, when most of the dirt is rocky downhill—if you do the loop counterclockwise, most of the rocky stuff is a moderate climb and much less jarring. But you give up the east-side descent on 175. It’s a tough call.
At the east end of our ride, 10 pleasant miles down Hwy 29 is our Clear Lake to Cobb route, which by some devil’s logic is also Hwy 175. See the Adding Miles section of Clear Lake to Cobb for more riding in that area. Five miles to the north on Hwy 29 is a short, easy gem, Scotts Valley Road, a pretty, mostly flat saunter through old pear orchards—perfect for a family spin.
(Note 11/12/20: Geysers Road was a victim of the Kincaide Fire. Richard (in his comment below) says the landscape is OK.)
For a comparison of 4 climbs in the Wine Country—Pine Flat Road, Geysers Road, Ida Clayton Road, and Cavedale Road—see the introduction to the Ida Clayton Road post.
Many areas have the “Big Ride,” the one you do on the day you want to put in some miles and do some work. In the Wine Country, the Big Ride is Geysers Road (when it isn’t Stewarts Point/Skaggs Springs Rd.).
When I reached the beginning of the Geysers Road climb, I was stopped by a group of road maintenance guys and we got to talking. Did I really want to do this?, one of them asked. Geysers, he said, was a mess. Long and steep, with a surface that was at its best broken pavement, at its worst full of gravel, rocks, and fallen plant material, with frequent stretches of dirt road and spots of minimally repaired earthquake damage where the road “just falls off.” Also no water or other reprovisioning opportunities, and little to no cell service.
As it turns out, he was absolutely right, but it’s a wonderful ride nonetheless and nothing to be feared. Except for one hard mile of 14-15% climbing, all the elevation gain (c. 4000 ft) is thoroughly manageable, and the scenery is stunning. As with all Wine Country riding, the road surface is indeed poor, varying from sorta OK to wretched, but the worst of it is on the ascent, when you’re doing 5-7 mph and it’s not an issue. I found the earthquake sections geologically fascinating. And the isolation is a large part of the appeal—after I passed the turn-off to the gravel pit 3 miles in I can’t remember seeing a single vehicle. (Mike below says 2021 saw a major patching of potholes and the road surface is now better.)
If you have everyone’s image of the Wine Country—vineyards, gently rolling hills, old farm houses, everything neat as a pin—forget it. Geysers is a wild and woolly climb up the side of a creek canyon, followed by a few ridge crossings and mad descents through more canyons, all barren of signs of humanity (one house, one thermal power plant). No wine tasting here. You do, however, get that stereotypical Wine Country riding experience on the Geysers Rd.-to-Cloverdale leg.
You want to ride Geysers from north to south. The road is in two halves with very different characters. The north side (up to the Geysers Resort Road turn-off) is narrow, mellow of pitch, rough, and winding. The south side is steep, wider, straighter, and smoother (though not smooth). So riding from south to north robs you of most of the road’s rewards: instead of a charming, curious, and mellow ascent and a speedy, relatively smooth descent, you get a steep, relatively featureless slog up to the summit, followed by an unpleasantly rough descent. You’ll see riders beginning at the south end, but I suspect they’re riding to the summit and back. This is fine if all you want is a workout, but the north side is by far the prettier and more dramatic.
By the way, you won’t see geysers. You’ll see some developed thermal activity in the distance to your L, but it isn’t pretty and the resort itself is closed.
I would avoid this ride on a hot summer day, since much of it is exposed and there is no water.
River Road
The route is in the shape of a D, with Geysers being the rounded part and the straight part being Hwy 28/Geyserville Rd./Asti Rd. The latter is all gently rolling valley riding, so you could start anywhere along it. I like to ride a while before climbing, so I start in Asti, which gives 6 miles of warm-up before Geysers, though in fact you could start in Geyserville if you wanted to get all the flat stuff out of the way.
Early miles of Geyser Road
Start at the intersection of Asti Rd. and unpretentious Washington School Rd. (there’s a small turn-out for parking). Ride down Washington School for a half-mile to River Rd…if you can. Washington School crosses a gully on a dirt bridge that is impassible in inclement weather, so WSR is gated off much of the year. (Note 6/2026: a reader comment below says the bridge is out of commission and looks to be so for some time.). Give it a try—consider walking the 100 yards of the bridge if it’s unrideable—because River Rd. is just perfect, an idyllic roll along the edge of the vineyards, with grapes on your L and woodlands on your R, on the only glassy road surface you’ll see today. It’s like the over-ridden Silverado Trail without the traffic and with more contour. If WSR is off limits, ride north on Asti Rd., which is merely OK. It will take you to the same place.
Leaving the creek
River Rd. runs into Geysers Rd. Geysers is narrow and rough at first as it follows beside and climbs high above Big Sulfur Creek, but the character of the road varies—from patchy one-lane to gravel to smooth two-lane with bright centerline. You will “climb” for the next 13 miles, to the Geysers Resort turn-off, but a lot of it is mild up and down and absolutely none of it is hard—mostly 4-5%, never more than 7%. This is the best scenery of the ride, particularly in the fall when the leaves are turning, and the road is constantly rising, falling, turning, so it keeps your interest. There are several short stretches of gravel, all easy to navigate on 23mm tires. Notice the earthquake damage—very short stretches of road where the surface has dropped a foot or so.
Much of the upper climb is nicely wooded
At the Geyser Resort intersection, everything changes. The road becomes a polished, wide two-lane with centerline, and the pitches are steeper. From here on the scenery is about big, open canyon vistas, and there are several places where the road skirts the lip of the drop-off vertiginously.
Typical south-half view: looking back from the summit (Geysers Rd. in upper right)
Immediately after the Resort Rd intersection, you will do the ride’s only real work, 1.5 miles of truly hard 14-15%. Then it’s an easy mile or two to the first of the ride’s two summits. Don’t expect to see the Hwy 101 valley when the view to the west opens up—there are canyons and ridges between you and it. Check out the perfect view of the next climb, a serpentining stretch laid out perfectly before you on the opposite hill. It looks like an utter bitch but isn’t bad.
Looking at the second climb, from the first summit
A steep 2-mile descent reminds you that no descending in Sonoma County is really much fun—too rough, and the possibility of potholes, frost heaves, or even gravel stretches is always there. Cross the bridge and do the last climb, 1.5 miles that at first threatens to be ugly but soon turns moderate. Then substantial descending, which would be great if they’d just pave the damned thing, until you re-enter the valley.
Hwy 128: nice if the traffic is light
Take Hwy 128, which is very pretty but a bit too trafficky, to Geyserville, then Geyserville Rd, which becomes Asti Rd., back to your car. This last stretch is on the very shoulder of Hwy 101 and thus is only OK riding, and it rolls more than your tired legs would like, so be prepared (or start your ride in Geyserville).
Shortening the route: I wouldn’t. You could ride to the first summit and turn around, but you wouldn’t save yourself much in the way of miles or work, and you’d miss some very good stuff.
Distance: 11 miles out and back Elevation gain: 1045 ft
I run the risk of having too many Santa Cruz rides in Bestrides, but this one is charming, different from the others, and hard to find on one’s own. It’s not a great ride, but it’s a nice little one. It’s officially N. Rodeo Gulch Road, and South Rodeo Gulch Road is directly across the street from its southern end, but people (and most maps) just call it Rodeo Gulch.
For Santa Cruz, It’s a dry landscape
How is it different from the other SC rides? First, there are almost no redwoods. The scenery is very good, but it’s not OMG awe-inspiring like the others. The ecosystem is dry, so the woods are eucalyptus and great, gnarly oaks. And it isn’t all along a creek at the bottom of a canyon in the dark—you work your way up a gulch and break out on the top of a largely open hill where there are (unheard of in SC) clear skies and actual vistas (not impressive vistas, but vistas). And it isn’t all up and down—the top of the hill and the first miles at the southern end are essentially flat. You won’t even rack 100 ft/mile. Consider it a recovery ride. Yet you’ll do enough work to feel like you rode your bike. If you want more miles, this is Santa Cruz so it’s easy to add on (see Adding Miles).
Begin at the intersection of N. Rodeo Gulch Road and Soquel Drive. Soquel is a big, very busy main artery, but there is a big dirt turn-out perfect for parking at the very beginning of NRGR.
Ride north on NRGR. You’ll climb gently for a few, moderately built-up miles. Traffic is an issue, but once you clear the metropolis (in a couple of miles) you should have the road largely to yourself. Note the marvelous oaks on your L at the very outset.
In about 2.5 miles you leave the creek (Rodeo Creek, I assume) and start climbing noticeably, working your way out of the gulch and up to the hill top, a pitch that lasts about 1.5 miles and will get your attention (you’ll even be at 11-13% for a short while). Once on top, roll along the essentially flat hill top for about a mile. What vistas the ride offers are here, views of the two broad scrub canyons on either side of the ridge and a few glimpses of the Bay through the trees (easy to miss). In the last 1/4 mile of the ride, the road drops steeply down to the dead-end at Mountain View Rd./Laurel Glen Rd. (the road changes its name at the intersection). If the intersection looks familiar, it’s because you ride through it on the Bean Creek/Mtn. Charlie ride. The 1/4-mile drop to the intersection and subsequent climb back out after you turn around have no virtues, so if you want to skip them I won’t think less of you—just turn around when the road makes an obvious move to plummet.
The oaks in the Gulch are mighty. I think it’s an oak.
The ride back has a very different character, which is why I encourage you to ride the road both ways. Saunter across the hill top, then enjoy a very nice serpentine descent marred by imperfect pavement. The last 2.5 miles of slight downhill are an ego-boosting delight.
Lovely eucalyptus on the southern climb
Adding Miles: If you want to ride NRGR as an out and back, then continue on, start at the north end so you end up on Mountain View Rd./Laurel Glen Rd. instead of Soquel Drive. Then you’ve got good riding in either direction (see the Bean Creek/Mtn. Charlie ride for routes). If you’re looking for a small loop, you can loop Rodeo Gulch from either side, riding either Branciforte Dr. > Mountain View > Rodeo Gulch or Soquel—San Jose > Laurel Glen > Rodeo Gulch. I prefer Branciforte Dr. to Soquel—San Jose, but I prefer Laurel Glen to Mountain View, so there you go. Either loop involves you in some typical urban connecting, but the area’s bike lanes are good. If you’re looking to extend our mapped ride by just a bit, I suggest NRGR>Laurel Glen to the end of LG, then return.
Paul (below) suggests Hidden Valley Rd., a sweet little 3-mi. out and back off NRGR, as an add-on.
For riding further afield, see the introduction to the Monterey Bay area in Rides by Region for a list of the good roads in the Santa Cruz area.
Distance: 23 miles out and back Elevation gain: 3260 ft
(A Best of the Best ride)
(A Best of the Best descent)
(Note: This route was left undamaged by the fires of 2020. The burn boundary is roughly Empire Grade—expect substantial burn evidence on any route north of that road.)
This ride is in Bestrides because of 3.7 miles—the length of Felton Empire Road. Since few Bestrides users are interested in going for a 7.4-mile ride, I’ve added some worthwhile miles to make a day of it, but it’s those 3.7 that really matter.
There are two roads that run parallel north/south through the region northwest of Santa Cruz: Hwy 9 and Empire Grade. Hwy 9 is a beautiful road but the main artery through the region and is very heavily trafficked with no shoulder—to be avoided except when necessary as a connector. Empire Grade is much less developed and much less busy, and is a staple bike route for Santa Cruzans, but it’s tamer, bigger, and straighter than the real Santa Cruz back roads and thus lacks that sense of being IN the redwood forest that makes SC riding so special. It would be a great ride anywhere else, but it’s not near the top of my SC ride list.
Felton Empire Road
These two roads are connected by three roads of interest to cyclists: Felton Empire, Alba, and Jamison Creek. All three are short (3-4 miles), steep, windy, and gorgeous. Felton Empire is fairly steep, and Jamison Creek and Alba are very steep (slightly under 10% average). Locals insist that Jamison is steeper than Alba. If you want a vertical challenge, go for either one. Hint: Jamison Creek is shorter (3 miles to 3.7 miles), but it begins with about a mile of low-key climbing so it packs all the hurt in the last 2 miles. JCR has recently (as of 5/24) been repaved, so its surface is pristine (thanks, Alex). I think both roads are too steep to be fun descents, but YMMV. So if we’re looking for a ride that’s rewarding up and down, the choice is Felton Empire, a testing but totally rideable climb and absolutely as good a descent as there is on this Earth. Since there is a fog line between Boulder Creek and Felton, Felton Empire Road and Alba are wetter, therefore lusher/prettier, than Jamison Creek.
At the top of Felton Empire you can go three ways, and they’re all good. But two of them, Ice Cream Grade (straight ahead) and Empire downhill (L), are part of the Bonny Doon/Empire Grade ride, so I’ve mapped this ride to go R, uphill on Empire, to its end, then back.
Start in the small, pleasant town of Felton. Felton Empire Rd. is steep from the get-go, so I strongly suggest riding around the back streets of Felton for a while until your legs are ready to work. Note the wonderfully-named Gushee St.
Felton Empire Road
Head up Felton Empire. It’s never steeper than it is at first, and, while there’s a lot of 8-10% stuff, there isn’t a single moment of “I’m not sure I can do this.” The scenery is just grand. FER is, as the name suggests, the connector between moderately busy Empire Grade and Felton, so you’ll see some traffic—major traffic on weekends and holidays, enough to dampen one’s spirits. Look off to your R to see how steep the drop-off is. I think there has been major clearing of understory, for fire control, in recent years—at any rate, the trees are intact but the mood has gone from lush to a bit stark (as of 9/25). Still very good, though.
Felton Empire Road
At the top, you really have two choices: do the ride as mapped, or do a loop that includes Ice Cream Grade, the upper end of Pine Flat Rd., and a leg of upper Empire, in either direction. If you aren’t planning on doing the Bonny Doon ride, consider doing the loop, though the area north of Empire Grade was hit hard by the fire. You can go either way—clockwise gives you a sweet descent and mild climb out on Ice Cream, and counterclockwise gives you a mild descent and a significant climb out.
Assuming we follow our map, go R at the four-way and continue up Empire Grade to its end. EG seems pretty ordinary after the wonders of Felton Empire, but it’s really totally fine. It’s mostly mild to moderate climbing, with nothing seriously steep but some substantial overall elevation gain. As you ride north, it gets smaller, prettier, and quieter. Just before the Alba intersection, you start descending, and most of the rest of the road is moderately down, so if you’ve had your fill of climbing, turn around at Alba. Otherwise, go to the end, which is a gate separating you from what looks like some sort of prison.
Felton Empire Road
Empire Grade (and its brother to the west, Pine Flat Rd) is merely fine going up but a hoot coming down, a fast, largely straight ripper with wide, mild curves you can take at speed and the occasional roller you can power up to keep your legs awake. You can stay on it all the way to Santa Cruz and prolong the fun, but we’ve got something much better in mind.
Turn L onto Felton Empire and prepare to be transported. This is descending as good as it gets. It’s very fast and it’s never straight, but the curves are deliciously banked and the sight lines are outstanding, so you can carry a lot of speed safely. If the Disneyland Matterhorn bobsleds were run on bikes, this would be it. The fact that you’re riding through Eden only adds to the joy. Get to the bottom, get off your bike, and try to fathom what you’ve just experienced.
Shortening the route: Ride up Felton Empire and back down.
Adding miles: See the Monterey Bay discussion in the Rides by Region chapter for a survey of roads in the Santa Cruz area. Since it’s the same conversation for all 6 of our Santa Cruz rides, I’ll do it once there and leave it at that.
Distance: 34 miles out and back Elevation gain: 4840 ft
A general word of warning about riding in the Southern Southern Gold Country: every back road I’ve ridden south of Jesus Maria Rd. has had stretches of pavement ranging from poor to comically horrible. That includes every Bestrides ride in the area—Ward’s Ferry, Old Ward’s Ferry, not so much Priest-Coulterville—and others like Dogtown Rd. If poor pavement bothers you, ride somewhere else.
This is a classic “drop down into a river canyon, cross the river, and climb up the other side” ride. Thus it’s a lot like Mosquito Ridge Road, but not as good, because the road surface is often poor and the rock strata are only fair, but it’s a dramatic canyon, and the road surface is at its best when you need it the most, which is on the steep descending and climbing near the river. The primary appeal is the solitude and the narrowness of the road—traffic averages 1-5 vehicles per transit (16 miles), and the road is often precisely one car-width wide, so you have to pull off onto the hillside to let the rare car pass. No centerline, no fog line, no shoulder, no guard rails—just a little ribbon on pavement between cliff and drop-off.
The ride’s unique feature is the bridge across the Tuolumne (“TWAH luh mee”) River, which is either a work of art or an abomination, depending on your taste (see photo below). From either side of the canyon there are some spectacular views of the river and road below you, so you can look down on where you’re heading (or where you’ve been), which is something I always love. It’s usually ridden in one direction only, as part of several possible loop routes in the area (see Adding Miles), and it’s certainly easier that way. As an out and back, it’s serious work—4840 ft of gain in 34 miles. There are no 15% killer pitches, just a lot of 7-10%, and there’s a lot of variety in the pitch, so no endless grinds.
This is a slow ride and possibly a hot one, so unless you are reprovisioning in Groveland I encourage you to take a third water bottle and drop it at the bridge for the climb back to the car.
You could start the ride at either end, but it’s better from the north, because if you start at the south end the ride begins with 7 miles of descent, then 3 miles of tough climbing on cold legs—from the north you begin with 6 miles of rollers as a warm-up.
The north (sunny) side of the canyon
At the north end, you can pick from any of a number of starting places, and they all give you about the same ride: the town of Sonora (which is practically a city), the intersection of Ward’s Ferry Rd. and Tuolumne Rd. (there’s a large dirt parking area there), or the town of Tuolumne. I’ve started in Tuolumne, not because it’s a charming town flush with vitality (it isn’t), but because Yosemite Rd., the first few miles of the route, is a bit better surfaced than Ward’s Ferry and thus a mite more pleasant. Ride out of Tuolumne on Main St, which turns into Yosemite, and follow Yosemite (there’s one surprising L turn at an intersection) until it dead-ends at Ward’s Ferry Rd. Go L on WFR. You will soon meet a small sign that inexplicably says “Ward’s Ferry Road closed,” which you can ignore, and a large sign that says, “Caution: steep grades, narrow one-lane road, no turn-outs”—in other words, cycling heaven.
Looking down from the north side on the Tuolumne River Bridge and Ward’s Ferry Rd climbing the south canyon wall in the distance
Immediately after that Sign of Doom, you drop 2.6 pretty steep miles to the Tuolumne River. By some miracle (and in violation of all logic), just when the pitch gets steep the road surface gets pretty good, and stays that way until the worst of the climbing is over. When you begin to get glimpses of the river ahead of you, look over the drop-off—there are great views of the bridge crossing the river below you, where you’ll be in 8 minutes. As you round the hillside and see the river downstream, note the log flotillas along the river bank, awaiting the log drive—a rare sign since the California logging industry died.
At the river you encounter Graffiti Central. The bridge has become a kaleidoscopic, ever-changing graffiti artists’ canvas, almost all of it good-natured and pleasing to the eye, once you get over your environmentalist knee-jerk outrage. There are even spray cans left along the sidewalk so you can sign the guest book as it were.
Tuolumne River Bridge: bridge or art installation?
On the other side of the bridge, 7 miles of climbing awaits. The first 3 are demanding but not vicious. You climb to another, smaller bridge across a tributary, do one more steep pitch, and the rest is moderate. At the intersection of Deer Flat Road and Ward’s Ferry Rd you can go either way. WFR is smaller, a bit more interesting, with more climbing and a rougher road surface. DFR takes you more directly to town, and I’ve mapped it that way. When DFR dead-ends on Hwy 120, go L for a kilometer or so into town.
Groveland is a busy place, because it’s on a main route into Yosemite. It offers a nice Michoacano restaurant, a pleasant city park with good bathrooms, and the self-proclaimed oldest bar in California, the Iron Door Saloon (the Magnolia Saloon in Coulterville claims to be “California’s oldest operating saloon,” since 1851. I’ll let them duke it out) . The supermarket is fifty feet down Ferretti Rd on your L at the far end of town.
Ward’s Ferry Rd between the two bridges, looking north from the south canyon wall
On the ride back, when the descending begins the road surface goes to hell, but don’t despair—remember, as soon as the pitch gets steep the surface gets good. Some of the descending is very good, but there is absolutely no place to get around on-coming cars and no way to see them coming, so be cautious. About the time the descending gets good, you’ll meet the Ward’s Ferry Rd./Theil Rd. fork, and if you’re like me you’ll go L, rocketing off onto Theil Rd. in error. Luckily a “not a through road” sign will alert you to your mistake immediately.
Keeping everybody safe on the south side
On the far side of the big bridge, you’re looking at that 2.6-mile stretch of what is now serious climbing work. This is the only stretch of road on the ride that is fully exposed to the hot summer sun, and on a sunny July afternoon it’s a griddle. Try to schedule the ride to not be there then. The view of the bridge below you is more rewarding now, because you know what you’re looking at.
When you’re back at the aforementioned “caution” sign, the worst of the climbing is over, but there are still 6 miles of mostly up to go, so don’t burn all your matches on the steep stuff.
Shortening the route: Ride down to the river and turn around. Both sides of the canyon are equally rewarding.
Adding miles: Locals ride Ward’s Ferry Road as part of a loop, but that usually involves riding a substantial leg of Hwy 120, which I wouldn’t do in the summer, since it’s heavily trafficked with cars heading to and from Yosemite. But there is one leg worth riding. If you look at a map of Hwy 120 just west of Groveland, you’ll see a 4.5-mile stretch that looks like spaghetti, and a straighter 1.7-mile cut-off called Old Priest Road. This little pocket is the stuff of cycling legend. Old Priest Road averages a mind-boggling 17%, which means much of it is well over 20%. It’s reputed to be the steepest climb in the Sierra. Since Hwy 120 has the same elevation change in over twice the distance, it’s a more reasonable 7% or so, which makes for a fantastic descent (if you’re willing to dodge the cars). All of which means you can ride up Old Priest and down 120, and satiate your climbing and descending jones in a little over 6 miles. I wouldn’t go near Old Priest on a wet or icy day, and I wouldn’t consider descending it ever.
Three miles west of Groveland is the “town” of Priest Station, just a cafe, and the trailhead for our Priest-Coulterville Road route. So you could ride from the oldest bar in California to the other oldest bar in California in 13 miles.
Bestrides has three rides in the Hollister area, San Juan Grade Road, Lone Tree Road, and this one. This is the best of the three. It’s a conventional climb-out-descend-back ride through varied, dramatic, and beautiful terrain (in the spring), with a mountaintop, a simple State Park, and a stunning view westward at the turn around.
The image of Hollister is hot, dusty, dead flat agricultural fields and a culture stuck in 1955. Some of that is true. Hollister is hot and dry in the summer, and cold and dead in the winter, so I would try hard to schedule my riding for late spring (April) after some rain, when the grass is green and the area is momentarily a gorgeous, lush garden. The town of Hollister and the surrounding agricultural valleys (Santa Ana Valley and San Juan Valley) are pancake flat, but they’re surrounded by small, rolling hills rich with meandering roads offering ideal riding contour. The three Bestrides rides from the area all have substantial climbing. As to the culture, Hollister is not especially hip, but it’s a pleasant, easy-going town, and San Juan Bautista 6 miles away is a small Old California treasure with a grand Spanish mission and adjacent historical State Park well worth an afternoon.
Hollister in April would be a cycling mecca were it not for one thing: the road surfaces in San Benito County typically vary from poor to awful. This ride is the best in the area, and it’s still poor. If they’d repave the road, this would be a Best of the Best ride.
The elevation numbers (2700 ft in 22 miles) suggest a fairly hard climb, but the climb is actually harder than the numbers suggest. There is little elevation gain in the first and last miles, so the bulk of the 2700 ft is gained in a 3.5-mile stretch, which translates to lots of 8-11% stuff.
Fremont Peak State Park, your destination, seems to be largely unvisited, so the traffic is next to nothing—both times I’ve done it, on beautiful weekday midday in spring, I saw perhaps 6 cars in the 22 miles, and there was one car in the Park parking lot.
Park on The Alameda (a street) just south of Hwy 156 in the town of San Juan Bautista (“St. John the Baptist”), which happens to be the exact same spot from which we begin the San Juan Grade Road ride. As I said in that ride, a quarter mile or so down The Alameda is a loose three-way intersection without street signs. Take the very wide, crappy-looking road to the left, 100 ft before the other two forks separate. There is a sign reading “Fremont Peak State Park 11 miles” pointing you in the right direction shortly before the turn-off. Ride to the end of the road at Fremont Peak State Park and ride back.
Nothing better than this
The ride up divides neatly into three equally rewarding sections. The first (the first 6 miles or so) is through drop-dead gorgeous oak canopy. There’s some of this on the San Juan Grade ride, but this is better. The climbing starts out flat and slowly increases to moderate.
The second section is significantly steeper. At first it continues through the canopies; then it breaks out of the woods and climbs an exposed and dramatic ridge spine. All told, you’re in for about 3.5 miles of steadily steepening pitch, until the last mile or so contains some truly hard stuff. There are grand views of the San Juan Valley behind you and the dirt trails crisscrossing the Hollister Hills State Vehicular Area on your L.
Section 3 is a complete surprise. Two miles from the end, the road summits, and the rest of the ride is an absurdly sweet little roller coaster with no work and no overall elevation gain through more of that oak canopy you thought you had left behind for good. This little leg is as sweet as cycling gets, and it’s over far too soon when you roll into Fremont Peak State Park itself. At the big circle intersection, go R and climb a slight rise to the official parking lot.
Looking down along the spine with San Juan Bautista in the background—click on it to appreciate
The entire park includes two picnicking areas with tables, a plaque detailing the fairly ignoble history of the peak and John Fremont, a billboard map, an “observatory” that apparently gives some sort of tour infrequently, and a short hiking trail to the actual summit, which I didn’t do. But you don’t have to do the hike to get the view. Looking west from the main parking lot by the billboard, the views are actually quite poor because it’s overgrown, so ride 100 ft down the little paved road past the picnic tables (if the road you came in on is 12 o’clock, this road is 11) to the secondary parking lot—from there you can see Monterey Bay quite clearly. The two smokestacks of Moss Landing are just visible if it isn’t cloudy. It’s quite a vista.
Leaving the valley, the land begins to roll
The descent going home is at first a disappointment. After the 2 miles of roller coaster, the 3.5 miles of steep is steep enough and the road surface rough enough to make the riding rather hairy, since the turns are tight, the road is narrow, and the drop-offs are exposed. Once off the steep stuff, the surface improves (somewhat, though it’s a problem throughout the ride) and you can get off the brakes and have some 25-30-mph fun. It would be marvelous if the road surface were better.
After the ride, I suggest you devote the rest of the day to exploring San Juan Bautista.
Shortening the route: Ride the first 6 miles and turn around. Of course you’ll miss the roller coaster and the vista if you do, but it’s still a lovely ride. If you want to do no work at all, drive to the park and ride the roller coaster out and back (4 miles).
Adding miles: Do the two other Bestrides rides in the area, San Juan Grade Road and Lone Tree Road. San Juan Grade and San Juan Canyon Road begin from the same spot. Lone Tree Road is a short car trip away. For other Hollister-area riding, see the Adding Miles section of the San Juan Grade Road ride.
