The photos are downsized, ended up about 300 kb ish per photo On Saturday, January 3, 2026 at 4:50:02 PM UTC-5 Armand Kizirian wrote:
> Looks fun! Thanks for the inspiration. > > I second J's request on how you managed all those photos and text into one > message. > > On Friday, January 2, 2026 at 9:33:42 AM UTC-8 J wrote: > >> Great write up. Makes me miss the area even more than I already do. Maybe >> an even bigger interest for me than the ride is how in the heck did you >> make such a long conversation with all those photos and not get it refused >> by google with the "your message was too long" notification that so many of >> us struggle with? >> >> On Friday, January 2, 2026 at 9:23:52 AM UTC-5 West Coast Jeff wrote: >> >>> Hey, thanks all, glad you appreciate it. >>> >>> George, I use a Sawyer filter. I have no memory of actually drinking the >>> filtered cattle water. I probably did the second morning, since I had no >>> other water source. That is water I would ideally purify rather than just >>> filtering. >>> >>> On Thursday, January 1, 2026 at 1:25:23 PM UTC-5 George Schick wrote: >>> >>>> Ditto on the pix and the narrative. Great ride and thanks for sharing. >>>> Just curious - what kind of filter did you use for the cattle and algae >>>> water? >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thursday, January 1, 2026 at 11:45:08 AM UTC-6 SallyG wrote: >>>> >>>>> Your photos, your writing, and your bike...just beautiful! Thank you >>>>> and Happy New Year! >>>>> >>>>> On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 4:14 AM Andy Beichler <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Thanks for the fun story and pictures. They are serving as a nice >>>>>> inspiration on January 1. >>>>>> >>>>>> On Wednesday, December 31, 2025 at 3:54:50 PM UTC-5 West Coast Jeff >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> So it's November ‘22 and California has been dry as the desert since >>>>>>> spring but I've got a bicycle and a sleeping bag and three days to do >>>>>>> whatever I want. A block from my door in San Jose is a paved trail that >>>>>>> parallels Coyote Creek, an ephemeral stream that has been dry, cracked, >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> empty since I moved to California a year earlier. The trail follows the >>>>>>> creek upstream 20 miles, running nearly due south through the linear >>>>>>> Coyote >>>>>>> Valley. I start in city but soon I am in gold hills, dotted with dark >>>>>>> green >>>>>>> oaks. Here, the Diablo Range east of the Bay Area rises nearly straight >>>>>>> up >>>>>>> from the valley floor along the Calaveras Fault, one strand of the San >>>>>>> Andreas Fault system, which defines the topography of the Bay Area. In >>>>>>> Morgan Hill the trail ends and I ride roads for a few miles before >>>>>>> climbing >>>>>>> a smoothly paved, two lane road, spiraling upward 2,000 feet, >>>>>>> approaching >>>>>>> hills capped with ponderosas. I fill water at the entrance and buy a >>>>>>> map. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3938.JPG] >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3587.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Then: a couple miles of dirt road before losing most of that >>>>>>> elevation gain on a dusty, south-facing, switchbacked trail cut through >>>>>>> a >>>>>>> crop of manzanita, the lower portions of the trail in grass and oak and >>>>>>> slopes so steep that if I went off the narrow trail I'd surely careen >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> topple all the way to Coyote Creek below, now winding its way through >>>>>>> these >>>>>>> hills. Down to the creek and cross at China Hole, probably a terrifying >>>>>>> rapid at high water but now just a pit filled with round cobbles and >>>>>>> edged >>>>>>> with boulders bigger than me. I knock my bike across the rocks to a >>>>>>> side >>>>>>> canyon, the Narrows, which will take me straight through this next hill >>>>>>> to >>>>>>> a camp spot at Los Cruzeros. The trail through the Narrows was never >>>>>>> built, >>>>>>> just kicked in by people and cows walking through. It navigates the >>>>>>> rock >>>>>>> spires, chutes, pools, and bars of the canyon by clambering up and over >>>>>>> boulders, cliffs, crossing the stream back and forth, at this time of >>>>>>> year >>>>>>> there's no running water, just frozen pools among the rocks. It is not >>>>>>> rideable. I have to carry my heavily loaded bike most of that mile. >>>>>>> This >>>>>>> gorgeous canyon is likely only accessible and passable when the creeks >>>>>>> are >>>>>>> dry. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_4062.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_4030.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_4047.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_4040.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_4029.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I throw a thin emergency bivy around my sleeping bag, hoping for a >>>>>>> few extra degrees, having noting the frozen pools in the Narrows. Cold >>>>>>> but >>>>>>> dry, this was one of the first times I've gotten to embrace one of >>>>>>> those >>>>>>> things that make California bearable: no tent, just sleeping out, like >>>>>>> that >>>>>>> old Roscoe Holcomb song. >>>>>>> <https://youtu.be/V-6Yior80Xw?si=a1qheTsvrVVpA1qs> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3918.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3689.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3629.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> In the morning it takes a few minutes of hammering with rocks to >>>>>>> break through the ice grown on a pool in the creek bed. Cattle water. >>>>>>> Not >>>>>>> ideal, but for now it's all I've got. Leaving my camping gear at Los >>>>>>> Cruzeros I start pushing my bike up a dirt road to spend the day riding >>>>>>> a >>>>>>> big loop. Here is the thing about Henry Coe: the roads don't do >>>>>>> switchbacks. They are built going straight up and straight down the >>>>>>> hills. >>>>>>> Many of them are walk-your-bike steep, both up and down. The fun riding >>>>>>> is >>>>>>> on roads along ridges or on the many trails zig-zagging up and down the >>>>>>> sides of those ridges. While climbing from camp I quickly veer off the >>>>>>> road >>>>>>> onto a gentler trail to a spring where I can replace my cattle water >>>>>>> with >>>>>>> algae water. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3868.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3956.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3919.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Topping out in sun as the oak woods gave way to meadow, I remount >>>>>>> the bike, hands and grips wet with sweat, and pedal over dusty, rolling >>>>>>> road for miles on the snaking ridgeline. Breezing along in slanting sun >>>>>>> on >>>>>>> those high roads to Kelly Lake. Wind, cattail, ducks. Change a flat and >>>>>>> eat >>>>>>> lunch. Back up onto ridge roads until I peel off to descend single >>>>>>> track >>>>>>> down to my camp spot. The trail, riddled with deadfall, forces me to >>>>>>> walk >>>>>>> many portions. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3965.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3960.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [image: DSC_3990.JPG] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Next day I dry the dew off my bag and bivy in late morning sun, back >>>>>>> track through the Narrows, climb the slope of manzanita, pirouette down >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> winding pavement from the hill tops to the valley floor and pedal the >>>>>>> 20 >>>>>>> miles home to San Jose. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> - >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Some April a few years later I returned to the park in the full >>>>>>> swell of spring, streams surging, bright green grass and trees. I >>>>>>> loaded my >>>>>>> OM-1 with film but screwed it up and have no photos of the second trip. >>>>>>> I >>>>>>> did a longer route, camped and woke in dew, crossed streams up to my >>>>>>> thighs, and for a mile or so walked and rode my Atlantis upstream in >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> ankle deep, cold, spraying water of Coyote Creek, boots strung across >>>>>>> my >>>>>>> top bar. I rode many more trails than the previous trip, flying along, >>>>>>> fully loaded, on rocky single track through dry sand and grassland, >>>>>>> through >>>>>>> moist and shady groves, poison oak skimming my knees and bars. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> When I checked in at the entrance during my second trip, the park >>>>>>> ranger saw my loaded Atlantis and tried to warn me that it would not be >>>>>>> adequate to ride the roads and trails in the park. I told him it was >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> same bike I'd ridden ~100 miles in the park on a previous trip, so he >>>>>>> reluctantly let me proceed. He told me that if I hadn't had prior >>>>>>> experience riding these trails on a rigid bike then he would have >>>>>>> denied me >>>>>>> access. Feel free to head to the park with your Rivendell and prove >>>>>>> this >>>>>>> same ranger wrong. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >>>>>> send an email to [email protected]. >>>>>> To view this discussion visit >>>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0d300e26-2173-478e-90ab-e381da5559dcn%40googlegroups.com >>>>>> >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0d300e26-2173-478e-90ab-e381da5559dcn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>>> . >>>>>> >>>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d9ceaa81-1e98-4633-aca7-5dd3af31d183n%40googlegroups.com.
