burnszilla
New member
My friend Peter and I went on a day long ride through the Santa Cruz Mountains to explore some areas we've never been. We went down Wright's Station Road to Lake Elsman and came to the gate that blocks off the road around the lake. The property is owned by the San Jose Water Company and it is supposedly policed. Later I learned that you can ride up to the Wright's Station Train Tunnel opening not far from the bridge that crosses the creek.
We turned around and headed west on Summit Road to Mt. Bache Road to climb our way up to Loma Prieta Ave. I have never such beautiful vistas from the ridges near Mt. Loma Prieta. We could see the clouds covering the Ocean for miles. At the end of the road pot holes and gravel roads appeared. Peter was anxious to tackle the roads with his V-Strom DL1000 and my K75S was not afraid so we went for it.
We rode past some beautiful homes that were quite aways from civilization. The maps I printed from Microsoft S&T were not that detailed and it didn't tell us that the roads were paved or not. We continued onto Uvas Canyon Road which looked more like a road suited for 4x4ing. We hung a left onto Casa Loma Road and GSed our way down that until we popped out at a clearing with two pickup trucks waiting behind a locked gate.
Damn! We were stuck. One of the guys waiting was a chiminey sweep and he had just finished some work in the area. We all looked around the gate for the key in some 'secret spot.' I asked him who he did work for and why doesn't he call them to find out where the key is. He couldn't call them because his cell phone was out of range. I pulled out my Treo and I had 4 bars. I lent it to him and he called and found out the key was on the back of the mail box just around the corner. Peter as usual was not prepared and was low on gas so we headed into San Martin via Glen Oak Ave along the Chesbro Reservoir Park. It was cool and foggy and quite beautiful along that road. People were fishing and the water was like glass. It was like a scene from On Golden Pond.
After filling up we drove through the city of Morgan Hill for my first time. The downtown area is very poshe. On the way back home we drove though New Almaden and headed up Hicks Road. Curious, we drove up Mount Umunhum Road to see how far it went, since we were on the other side of it this morning near Wright's Station. We knew of all the gates and the old contaminated Air Force Spy Station at the top of the mountain but there was no way past these gates even with motorcycles.
It was time to eat so we stopped off (for my first time) at the Los Gatos Brewing Company in downtown Los Gatos. Not only was the food amazing but so was the beer. On the way back home we took a ride around the Lexington Resevoir and traveled down the Old Santa Cruz Highway which is always a nice alternative to Highway 17.
When I got home I checked out my California Topo Map Software and found lots more GSable roads in the area. There's a lot more exploring to do in my area and a new R1200GS would come in handy.
[I forgot my camera so I took the photos with my Treo 650.]
We turned around and headed west on Summit Road to Mt. Bache Road to climb our way up to Loma Prieta Ave. I have never such beautiful vistas from the ridges near Mt. Loma Prieta. We could see the clouds covering the Ocean for miles. At the end of the road pot holes and gravel roads appeared. Peter was anxious to tackle the roads with his V-Strom DL1000 and my K75S was not afraid so we went for it.
We rode past some beautiful homes that were quite aways from civilization. The maps I printed from Microsoft S&T were not that detailed and it didn't tell us that the roads were paved or not. We continued onto Uvas Canyon Road which looked more like a road suited for 4x4ing. We hung a left onto Casa Loma Road and GSed our way down that until we popped out at a clearing with two pickup trucks waiting behind a locked gate.
Damn! We were stuck. One of the guys waiting was a chiminey sweep and he had just finished some work in the area. We all looked around the gate for the key in some 'secret spot.' I asked him who he did work for and why doesn't he call them to find out where the key is. He couldn't call them because his cell phone was out of range. I pulled out my Treo and I had 4 bars. I lent it to him and he called and found out the key was on the back of the mail box just around the corner. Peter as usual was not prepared and was low on gas so we headed into San Martin via Glen Oak Ave along the Chesbro Reservoir Park. It was cool and foggy and quite beautiful along that road. People were fishing and the water was like glass. It was like a scene from On Golden Pond.
After filling up we drove through the city of Morgan Hill for my first time. The downtown area is very poshe. On the way back home we drove though New Almaden and headed up Hicks Road. Curious, we drove up Mount Umunhum Road to see how far it went, since we were on the other side of it this morning near Wright's Station. We knew of all the gates and the old contaminated Air Force Spy Station at the top of the mountain but there was no way past these gates even with motorcycles.
It was time to eat so we stopped off (for my first time) at the Los Gatos Brewing Company in downtown Los Gatos. Not only was the food amazing but so was the beer. On the way back home we took a ride around the Lexington Resevoir and traveled down the Old Santa Cruz Highway which is always a nice alternative to Highway 17.
When I got home I checked out my California Topo Map Software and found lots more GSable roads in the area. There's a lot more exploring to do in my area and a new R1200GS would come in handy.
[I forgot my camera so I took the photos with my Treo 650.]
