This evening I had the unexpected opportunity to do a final ride over at Del Mar Mesa. After a year of litigation and uncertainty, Pardee Construction was finally going to close down all of the trails on the upper Mesa, including the famed "intestines." I had ridden the little intestines once before with Billy and Joel, and had never done the others. Since I knew this would be my last shot, I got permission from Rachel and headed over.
I didn't have a lot of time, so I decided to drive to the Del Vino Court trailhead and skip all of the LPQ canyon. Today was all about the Mesa; I could ride the canyon parts anytime, but the Mesa was about to be closed forever. I got lost trying to find the Del Vino trailhead, but ended up in an even better spot, parked right at the Carmel Mountain Road trailhead instead.
I didn't know where I was going once I hit the trail because I had only done the small intestines the one time, and only knew the general direction of the others. I headed over to the small intestines, found a spot that looked familiar, and headed in. Turned out that I had guessed right, and that was the portion of the trail I had done before. It was a fun section, with narrow singletrack and some fun but not taxing up and down aspects.
As I reached the end of the small intestines, I ran into another rider who was riding the same section counterclockwise and stopped for a second to chat. His name was Jeff, and he lived nearby and rode the Mesa often. He too was bummed that they were closing it down, and was mostly worried about access to the tunnels and canyon floor from where he lived.
I asked Jeff where the other intestine trails were, and he pointed out some general landmarks not far away. I thanked him and continued my loop clockwise, while he started on his way counterclockwise.
I finished the small intestines shortly thereafter, and decided to ride them again now that I had gained some familiarity. As I rode the short distance back to the beginning of the small intestines, I ran into Jeff again. He had decided to do the clockwise route this time. We chatted for another minute, and then decided to ride together for a while. I followed him through the same route I had just taken, and once again enjoyed the pace and terrain of that section.
Once we finished the small intestines, Jeff indicated that he was going to head home by way of the other intestine trails, and I asked if I could follow him. He agreed, and we rode together for several more miles. He took me through several awesome sections of narrow, up-and-down singletrack, with bushes to dodge and some pretty nice views. There was no way I would have been able to find my way around those trails without a guide, and I was supremely grateful to have run into Jeff.
We eventually came to a spot that I had inadvertently stumbled in to several months ago when looking (in vain) for the tunnels. I remembered the shady area near a single family home, as well as a tricky little drop-in that led down to another short trail in a small canyon below. It was a pretty sketchy drop, and it let right into a loose, rutted section followed by a quick turn. Jeff said that it was too much for him, and I wasn't ready to give up my guide (or attempt that section) so we continued along the rim of that canyon back toward Carmel Mountain Road.
Jeff led the way through another network of trails, and as we passed one section, I could see where that trail that went through the small canyon hooked back up with the one we were on. A seed was planted. From there, we rode to another spot that overlooked the golf course, and I spotted a trail heading off to the west that I was curious about. Jeff was about done, we we rode back to the main fire road (the future Carmel Mountain Road) and said our goodbyes.
I still had plenty of juice left, and there was daylight to burn. Armed with my newfound course knowledge, I contemplated my next move. I decided to ride back to the small intestines, ride them counterclockwise (which I hadn't done yet), hook up with the large intestines Jeff had shown me, take that sketchy trail down into the canyon, meet back up with the main trail, explore the golf course trail, and call it a day.
I did all of that and more.
The small intestines were even more fun counterclockwise, so I'm glad I decided to do that. I did have a small chain issue near the end, but put it back on and was on my way. From there I followed the route over to the large intestines, and crept up t the sketchy drop-in. I thought about it a lot, and realized that this would be my only chance to ever conquer this obstacle. In a matter of hours, it and the surrounding trails would be bulldozed. After two false starts, I went for it. I hit the edge with a little speed, got my butt back over my rear tire, and rode it down. I had a tiny dab all the way at the bottom as I tried to make the turn, and then rode it out from there.
I had planned to ride back out of the small canyon and hook up with the trail that went over toward the golf course. But I saw a small offshoot trail that would take me back up to near where the drop-in was, and I saw an opportunity to do it again, this time with no dabs and no hesitation. I rode (with a tiny HAB) up that trail, and headed back to where the drop-in was. On the way back to the drop-in, I spotted another somewhat hidden trail that led into the small canyon, and filed that away. I hit the drop-in without hesitation, cruised down it, used a little body english to negotiate the turn, and finished the section with no dabs.
My curiosity and confidence had risen by that point, and again took the off-shoot back up to the trail near the drop-in, this time with the intent of riding down the other route into the canyon. I took that "trail," which ended up essentially being a rutted-out mess, but negotiated it successfully and headed back up for one final trip down the drop-in.
This time I was a little cocky, and got off balance in the rut just after I dropped in. My speed was still relatively low, and I went sideways over the bars and rolled a little. With no injuries other than to my pride, I picked up the bike and finished the section, heading back out of the canyon toward the singletrack that went toward the golf course.
I made it to the spot Jeff and I had stopped at before, and elected this time to check out the trail that rose and fell into the distance toward the course.
I shot down the rocky trail, used my speed to climb another short rise, and ended up...pretty much on a tee box. The trail just dead ended right into the course, near what appeared to be the 15th tee. Satisfied with my exploration, I rode back up the trail toward where I had come from, planning on calling it a day. Instead, as I rode back, I saw that there was another trail that went down and to my right. I had a hunch where it went, and decided to take it. Sure enough, it hooked up with an equestrian trail that I had ridden months ago during that same ill-fated search for the tunnels. I rode the equestrian trail for a short distance, then turned around and rode it back up towards the main fire road.
By that point, I had basically ridden every trail I could find on the Mesa. Several trails I had ridden multiple times. But I still wasn't ready to call it a day. This would be my last time ever on the Mesa, and the whole experience had been bittersweet. These were some really fun trails, and I was having a blast riding them. But I couldn't help but think about how many times I had ridden LPQ and not known about this awesome network of trails that were right under my nose. And now that I had explored them, they were being bulldozed. Tomorrow.
I rode back up to the fire road, and then on an impulse, rode the fire road back east towards Cobbles and the lower LPQ canyon. I knew I wasn't going to go to the Canyon floor, it was too late for that. So I meandered around the wide dirt roads that crisscrossed the Mesa for a little bit. As I rode around, I spotted two riders heading over a trail to the east end of the Mesa that I had never seen. It was near the section that I HAB up sometimes to get from the Canyon floor to the Mesa without climbing Cobbles, but shot over to the south. I rode over there, followed the riders that I had seen, and made it to the top of a steep section with an outlook that had a view of the whole LPQ Canyon. It was pretty neat.
I chatted with the guys that were up at the top and were waiting to drop into the Canyon from there. When we were done talking, I turned around and headed back to the Mesa.
I did one last lap through the small and large intestines, and hooked back up with the fire road for the short trip back to my car. I had unwittingly ended up at the perfect parking place for this particular ride.
It was an almost perfect ride. I rode some really fun and scenic trails that I'd never been on, met some neat people, overcame some fears, cleaned some tricky sections, done some fun exploring, and been one of the last to ever ride this particular trail network. But like I said before, my euphoria with the joy of the ride was tempered with the knowledge that literally hours later the entire area would not only be off limits, but completely bulldozed.
That being said, nothing can take away the fun I had today, and the memories I made. I went home extremely happy that I had been able to ride these trails at least once before they ceased to exist, and had a blast doing it.
Total Distance: 15.07 miles
Total Time: 2:40:53
Ascent: 1603 feet
Average Speed: 5.6 mph
Top Speed: 19.8 mph
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro
Map:
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