Wilder Ranch State Park
Trail Review
Cassie, Mike, Andi, and I rode a loop starting and ending at UC Santa Cruz. Our path took us through Seven Springs Natural Reserve, West Marshall Field Natural Reserve, Wilder Ranch State Park, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz Riverwalk, and Downtown Santa Cruz.
UC Santa Cruz campus is the most beautiful college campus that I have ever seen, and just like every other time I’ve been here, I was impressed. However, our path took us north from the East Remote Parking Lot, and the hills were tough with unforgiving grades. At least the scenery was pretty.
The trails on the Natural Preserves north of UC Santa Cruz were difficult, but fully shaded, so that was nice. The trails were made of hard-packed dirt, and traction wasn’t too much of an issue (besides on steep hills on Red Hill Road), but as we kept going north, more and more sand was introduced, which made the going more and more difficult. There were also lots of fellow cyclists, though almost everyone else had either e-bikes or mountain bikes.
The downhill section of Wilder Ranch State Park was the most exhilarating section of the ride, as the trail was a mix of hard-packed dirt on slopes and loose sand on the flats. We would inevitably go fast on the downhill slopes with lots of imperfect dirt to have to fight for balance on the sandy parts as we floated over the sandy bits. We had planned to go down on the Long Meadow Trail, but it was closed, so we went down Chinquapin Trail, western side of Eucalyptus Loop, and Dimeo Lane. On the coastal side of Wilder Ranch, we biked from Strawberry Beach to Wilder Beach and it was nice—hard-packed dirt is as good as it gets. Unfortunately, one of the worst bits of riding was on Ohlone Bluff Trail heading north from Sand Plant Beach; the trail was so bumpy and unforgiving! There was no shade in this area, but we were mostly covered in fog, so it wasn’t so bad.
The ride from Wilder Beach to Downtown Santa Cruz was all on paved road and the highlight was West Cliff Drive, where the views were pretty and cars weren’t too much of a bother even though we were riding on the road. The Santa Cruz Riverwalk was nice too, but it was in full sun, so less nice.
The last three miles from Downtown Santa Cruz to the East Remote Parking Lot in UC Santa Cruz were one of the hardest bits as there is 600 feet of elevation gain in less than 3 miles. Still, we made it slow and steady, and I was proud of all of us for making it all the way through and pushing ourselves. The riding was all on the side of a road, but I thought the city of Santa Cruz prioritized cyclists, so the bike lanes were large, and I felt safe for the most part.
Public facilities were only available at Wilder Ranch State Park and Santa Cruz Surfing Museum during the whole ride. We only used facilities at our lunch stop in Downtown Santa Cruz, though.
What I Learned
It was Cassie’s first time trail riding, and she fell twice on the downhill sections, and her bike got stuck in gravel twice. It was a learning experience for her, and even though everything we rode today was rated “beginner”, I feel like I should have chosen an easier or shorter ride.
Andi is a tough lady. I already knew this, but let’s just say I’m always impressed by her perseverance and her attitude when it comes to doing hard things.
When I mapped our loop on GaiaGPS, it did not know a few of the trails were closed. So, we had to improvise our path a bit. It worked out well, but there were a few minutes where we were unsure how to make it from Highway 1 to Wilder Ranch State Park without riding on Highway 1. Andi asked someone she saw working at the farm we happened to be stopped by, and he helped us with directions. Mike and I remarked that if it was just us, we should not have asked and just tried the path, but having said that, it was nice to know which way to go.
Friends
Mike and Andi joined us for this ride. We’ve ridden with Mike and Andi before, but those rides were with kids. This day was special as it was a good ol’ double date. While Andi rode slower, it just meant it gave others more time to rest on the uphills. Also, it’s always just fun hanging out with this lovely couple.
What Happened?
21.3 miles, 4 hrs 2 mins, 1520 ft of ascent
We had gone backpacking four out of the last five weekends (with the fifth weekend being a car camping trip), so we decided to take it easy by staying around the Bay Area. This meant having to figure out what we wanted to do on Saturday, and after going through about a dozen ideas, we settled on cycling around UC Santa Cruz and Wilder Ranch State Park.
In the last few months, our dear friends Mike and Andi had gotten into cycling a lot more, so we invited them along as I felt that while tough, this would be a ride that they’d be capable of. So, on Saturday morning, we met up on the UC Santa Cruz campus to have fun exploring Santa Cruz on our bikes.
Earlier in the week, I had mapped out the ride on GaiaGPS, and it painted a pretty green color on the slope map of the entire trail, so I was confident that the ride would be fun and decently easy. Within the first 30 seconds of the ride, I knew I was dead wrong. The multi-use path that leads north from the parking lot was incredibly steep, and it was a warning from the gods that today would be much more difficult than my mapping app would have liked for me to believe. One thing we could feel good about was the beautiful college campus, with its redwood groves, and the fog that lent its air of mystery.
We then found ourselves at the end of the campus and at the start of Red Hill Road, where pavement ends and the trail riding begins. As if to warn us off, it started off with this super steep hill. I jumped off of it 60% up the hill as my legs were already tired and I was starting to lose traction. Mike and Cassie made it up a bit higher than I did, but they jumped off of their bikes too. This hiker was encouraging me, stating that although it’s tough, it would soon flatten out and by the time I got to the water tanks, it would be all downhills from there. Like the hiker said, it was tough, but the hardest part was that initial hill, with the rest of the gradient being much more forgiving. We rode up to the water tanks and found them covered in whimsical graffiti, with one of them painted over with the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons. There was more uphill trail riding to West Marshall Field Natural Reserve, but that’s when the hard-packed dirt turned into soft sand—thankfully, flat sandy stuff only lasted a little bit, before we crossed Empire Grade and we found ourselves with miles of downhill trail riding ahead of us.
For me, this was the most fun and exhilarating section, but I’m not sure if that was the case for everyone else. I especially don’t think it was for Cassie, who unfortunately fell twice and got stuck on gravel twice. I thought that the trail seemed a lot like what I remember riding on Montara Mountain in Pacifica, with the trail being a fire road, with lots of ruts. Because we ended up riding much more west than originally planned, we rode down Dimeo Lane and passed by the landfill that we smelled first and saw later.
We then crossed over Highway 1 and figured out how to get to the coastal section. A friendly person who worked at the farm told us to go east on the trail that paralleled Highway 1, and we made our way on the edge of this Brussels Sprout Farm. Once we saw a dirt road going to the ocean through the Brussels Sprout farm, we took it and ended up in Wilder Ranch. The path from Strawberry Beach to Wilder Beach was rather pretty, and we stopped a couple of times to take pictures and to just enjoy the scenery.
From there, we rode through the scenic path to Downtown Santa Cruz, where we ended up getting lunch at Zachary’s Restaurant. We had heard about theft being an issue in Santa Cruz, so we ate at Zachary’s due to their outdoor seating, which allowed us to keep a close eye on our bikes. With Cassie and I having had our bikes stolen earlier this year, we don’t think this extra precaution was unwarranted. It helped us find Zachary’s, so it worked out, as the food was delicious and their restrooms were clean—after 20 miles of cycling having been completed, what more do you need?
The last bit, I don’t want to talk about much as it was a slog. We had a big lunch, and the last three miles were just tough. At least the Santa Cruz streets were bike-friendly, and we did not feel like we’d get run over by cars. On the last hill I cycled up, I remember counting the revolutions on the pedal as a way to motivate myself to complete the ride. And when I was done, it felt great!
Cassie and I rode to our car first, loaded our bikes, and then hid behind Mike and Andi’s car to surprise them when they got there. Funny enough, they surprised us as we didn’t hear their bikes coming! After some chatting and goodbye hugs, we drove back to San Jose tired but satisfied.