Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Mendocino, California
Double Loop, Woodlands State Park
June 18, 2011

For the past few weeks the folks near Mendocino, on the northern California coast, have been touting their trails. But they warned us that the trail system through old growth Coastal Redwood forest was pretty complicated, and it would be easy to get lost without a local guide. Few people have the patience to ride with me, and virtually no one will start at 6:30 am. So, armed with a map and directions from a local, I foolishly headed out on my own. Virtually no trails are marked, some are barely trails, they seemingly crisscross all over the place, and the deep dark forest is quite intimidating. I followed what I thought was the first trail, but so many trails sprung off of it, after about a mile I became concerned that I was even on the right trail. I did not feel comfortable continuing on so I headed back and decided to ride a fire road. After about six miles of fire road I decided that I had driven just too far to ride a boring fire road. So I headed back to the first trail and decided to try finding my way. I had a GPS and if necessary I could press "back to start" to find my way back.

After about two miles I was convinced that I was on the right trail so I continued on. So many trails looked the same, with branches in several directions, that I had a very difficult time finding my way virtually the entire ride. I had to stop dozens of times to get my bearings, and I had to backtrack many times when I appeared to be off course. On several occasions I was presented with 2 -3 different choices of trails and somehow I managed to eventually pick the right one. But, quite frankly, I felt quite uneasy the whole ride. The trails were not particularly technical, but there were many sections little more than a foot wide above steep, fern filled canyons. If I fell off the side I might not be found for years. On the bright side, some of the trails were quite spectacular, and that often helped ease the stress. Much of the forest looked the same and although the last mile was on the same trail I came out on, I could not follow it. So I pushed "back to start" on the GPS and it led me back. Although I feel a great sense of accomplishment, I also feel a bit foolish and I would recommend riding with a local if you want to ride here! In terms of mileage this was one of the shortest rides I ever done, but it certainly wasn't easy, and I did not feel up to doing a second loop. Getting decent photos in the dark forest was quite difficult and it is impossible to adequately capture the feel of this immense forest.

Click on an image to enlarge it.

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