Archipelago Ride Part I (b)

Doug called me last night to ask if I wanted to ride Hodges with him and Mark this afternoon, and I jumped at the chance. I figured that I could ride the first half with them, and then ride the route that I had hoped to ride in Part 1(a) of my Archipelago ride last week. After spending some quality time with google maps after last week's debacle, I thought I had found my error in navigation and had plotted a new route that would successfully connect the SDRP trails with the Santa Luz loop.

I dropped my car in the soccer mom lot at South Hodges, and rode across the overpass and down the onramp over to the parking lot near the self storage on the north side where Doug was waiting. He had already done one lap of the north side, and was resting in his car waiting for me and Mark to show up. Mark arrived about 10 minutes after I did, and we were on our way.

We rode the upper portion of the North side, which I usually only ride when I'm going to include Bernardo Peak. Doug found an interesting rock roller that we stopped to do.


We continued along the north side, and made our way past the boat launch parking lot and over to the singletrack. About halfway through, Doug pointed out another neat rock roller just off the trail, and we spent a few minutes sessioning it. Doug did it a few times, and I even was able to successfully negotiate it as well. Mark, not satisfied with rolling it, also decided to both huck it and ride up it as well.

After that, we continued to the turnaround at Hernandez Hideaway, and parted ways. I headed up Rancho Drive and started down Del Dios like I had the last time. I rode down Del Dios, across the closed bridge, and through the (still closed) section of the San Dieguito River Park trail.

Eventually I once again made it to the switchbacks, and made it quickly up the first set using my swing/pivot technique on the handrails. It also helped that this time I had not spent the previous half hour bushwacking looking for a nonexistant trail before heading up.

The second set of switchbacks were another matter altogether, and I once again suffered during the HAB climb up. I reached the top of the switchbacks and rode up on to the mesa as daylight was fading.


Unlike last time, this time I rode the fire road along the top of the mesa, and then made a right on to Artesian Road and headed west. After about a quarter mile, I switched over to a dirt frontage road that paralleled the paved road, and started to take that down the hill into the canyon.

On the way down, I spotted a coyote in the middle of the road. As I approached, he ran off a little bit, then stopped and turned around to watch me. I took a picture, though its a little tough to make him out. He was really only about 75 yards away. Look for the small black dot in the middle of the photo:

From there I continued down the Artesian frontage road, and did a little exploring as I reached the bottom. After realizing there was only one way out, I headed east on a different fire road and quickly saw the turn I needed to take to get out of the canyon and up to the Santa Luz loop. I crossed a small stream, and began the climb out of the canyon.

I had to start HABing pretty quickly, but started riding again near the top and grinded out the finish where the fire road intersected San Dieguito Road. I had finally done it: I had connected SDRP to Santa Luz, and the first section of my Archipelago route was complete.

After marking my position on the GPS, I rode the short distance up San Dieguito Road and hooked up with the trail that leads through Lusardi Canyon toward home. The Lusardi Canyon ride was uneventful, but I was cooking in an effort to make it home before dark. I rode down into the canyon, under Camino del Sur, and crossed the river to the north. From there I rode through the nursery and up the fire road that would take me up to the mesa near home. As I rode up the fire road, darkness fell, and I stopped to strap on my Niterider TriNewt that I had bought just recently. It went on pretty easily, though the strap for the light itself was too short to attach anywhere on my bars except for right next to the shifters, which meant that my light beam was off-center.

I rode up the fire road in the dark, and strained to see where it forked at the top. I guessed correctly in the darkness, and made my way across the mesa and through Del Norte High School construction area to the last short portion of paved road that would take me home.

I arrived home near 9:00 PM, and was once again completely spent. But as exhausted as I was, I was extremely happy to have found the correct route for Part 1 of my Archipelago Ride, and was looking forward to doing Part 2 soon.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 22.49 miles

Total Time: 3:02:51

Ascent: 2415feet

Average Speed: 7.3 mph

Top Speed: 33.1 mph

Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Map:

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