Thanks to SDMBA and Others
Laguna Mountain Ride Report
If you’re not from the San Diego region and are planning to come this way, sure, you’ll do the beach thing, but if it’s a day during the week and you want to get in a ride, rent a bike, stuff it into your car rental and make way for the the Lagunas. Monday through Thursday, especially, a ride in the Lagunas is so damn good because the trail traffic is minimal. You can ride for hours and maybe only bump into a handful or two of other trail users.
On this ride, I rode everything in “reverse,” meaning I rode it the opposite way I normally would, except for Wooded Hill and Los Gatos. By going “backwards,” it’s kind of like getting a whole new set of trails, something I wrote about long ago for a major mountain biking magazine that is now dead. Have you noticed? — most mountain biking magazines are gone.
That pile of brush above is blocking the bootleg trail I wrote about here on Paseando MTB. Word got around San Diego Mountain Biking Association, then I got an email and then we corresponded, all resulting a week or so later with an email update saying they agreed with my assessment and that they shut it down. Here’s what it now looks like from where it drops out at the bottom:
There is no doubt that Wooded Hill is getting ridden waaaaaaay more than it ever was in the past. It’s easily obvious when you’re on the trail. Getting up to the top of Wooded Hill is a grind. It’s straight up F-ing hard. You’re lungs feel it, no matter how fit you are. So, then, what is going on? E-bikes are the increased tire traffic, unquestionably. As a hiker friend said, they’ve never seen so many tire tracks, widening of trails on Wooded Hill. Officially, e-bikes are not permitted on trails in Laguna Mountain Recreation Area.
Thank you, SDMBA, for blocking the bootleg trail on Wooded Hill.
I wandered on and on, turning this way and that, no set plan in my mind. Once over by the new bridge, I rode it the opposite way I rode it the first time. This time, I noticed more people/orgs were involved in getting the bridge put in:
I have mixed feelings about the bridge. On one hand, it doesn’t fit the landscape. On the other, I get why it’s there. The muck that is there much of the year is a pain to get through, but … isn’t that what mountain biking is about? I guess I could choose to not use the bridge and go around it, eh?! Usually, when it is/was high-muck-season, I simply avoid that stretch of trail.
Regardless, over all, I think it’s good for all trail users that it’s there. Thank you to everyone involved in making it happen. (Poke poke, rib rib … how “ultra” are you if you’re using a bridge to avoid the muck?! Can we still talk like that these days?!)
It was a beautiful morning of riding. Again, if you can get there during the week, you’ll feel like the Lagunas aren’t heavily trafficked. You can hear waterfowl squawking and birds chirping, breezes through the trees-es, and if you sit long enough and still enough, you might even hear the sound of silence.
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