Mendocino Weekend

Everyone needed to get out of the house, so we scooted over to Mendo for a couple of days this weekend to enjoy the mild weather and put some miles on the mountain bikes.

We headed off early Saturday morning and were riding our favorite loop – Confusion, Manly Gulch, Marsh Creek and Thomson Gulch – by 10AM. It was freezing out by the coast, we all added layers as we rode, there were a couple of times I couldn’t feel my fingertips! I think we all had three layers – one of which was a thermal – by then end of the adventure. But it was a great ride all the same, we didn’t see a single other cyclist and the moisture in the dirt it made for some awesome descents. A personal note for Lisa when she looks back on this sometime down the road: she thinks it will likely be the last time she can climb Thomson Gulch faster than her seven year old son! He rode the entire climb out of the seat in his second-to-top gear.

Packing all the camping gear for a single night out on the coast seemed like a bit of a daunting task, so instead we spent Saturday night in a basic little cabin at Jug Handle Creek Farm just above Jug Handle State Beach. There are a handful of campsites on the property as well as three basic cabins, very simple but it was a dry, warm place to sleep and we didn’t need much else. We took a walk down to the beach to watch the sunset, Jug Handle has got to be one Mendocino’s most picturesque, and then enjoyed some El Taco Grande burritos (which I’d purchased the day prior) around the fire back up at the farm. It started drizzling on us just after dinner, Max and I rode it out as long as we could, but after 13 miles of singletrack (and a few beers for the adults!) we were all in bed by 8PM!

We hit some new trails early Sunday morning before heading back to Sonoma County, a mellow climb along the northern edge of Russian Gulch State Park took us to a familiar favorite: Parallel Action. We then cruised Equestrian, Confusion and climbed to the top of Gas Cap, where we started our roughly six mile descent back to the truck. The North Trail singletrack in Russian Gulch was a fun new trail on the way down, next time we’ll give ourselves a little more time so we can go via the waterfall in Russian Gulch. Such a great weekend of trails, the kids are motoring so well on their bikes, 25 miles of singletrack over two days, boom!