Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Fort Ord (East), Monterey

August 19, 2000

Fort Ord is a former military base just east of Monterey, now administered by the BLM. Mountain biking there can be summarized in one word: awesome. Fifty miles of very well marked trails, ranging from easy to suicidal, combined with very mild temperatures and spectacular scenery, make it a great place to ride. We started at the gate off Portola Road, near where Highways 68 and G17 intersect, just south of Salinas. Click here for a very large and detailed map of the area (1600 x 2100, 233kb). We took the following route (marked trails): 30, 3, 33, 3, 36, 42 (north loop), 43, 41 (goat trail), oil well road (out and back), 2. With many steep, deeply rutted drop-offs, the north loop of 42 (yellow on route map) can only be described as suicidal. We walked down most of them. Neil tried one of the "easiest" and did an endo (end over end) over the handlebars. Fortunately he wasn't hurt.

Click on an image to enlarge it

30.jpg (90846 bytes) 3.jpg (86438 bytes) valley.jpg (52953 bytes) neil.jpg (151460 bytes) me.jpg (137009 bytes) trail1.jpg (68740 bytes)
Beginning of
trail 30		 Trail 30
ahead		 Valley from
trail 30		 Neil Me The trails
await us
neil3.jpg (109630 bytes) neil4.jpg (144053 bytes) trail3.jpg (100298 bytes) goat.jpg (60296 bytes) me2.jpg (77090 bytes) neil5.jpg (67891 bytes)
"I can
make this"		 One second
before launch		 Up trail
10		 Goat trail Above Goat
trail		 Oil well
road in distance
neil6.jpg (122686 bytes) lake.jpg (78845 bytes) trail2.jpg (80635 bytes) 2.jpg (151247 bytes) sand_stone.jpg (149857 bytes) map.jpg (230893 bytes)
Down trail
41		 Small lake Down trail
2		 Near end
of trail 2		 Sandstone
formation		 Route map
 

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