Tales from the Damp Side: Sunny, Warm, Blue Skies. It Must Be Winter...

...In California

Before we learned that we'd be returning to Tucson this winter we'd planned another trip to Paso Robles. We settled on a vacation rental just over the hump of the Santa Lucia Mountains, a few miles commute east down the mountain to the vineyards, and 15 miles up and over the mountain west to the ocean, giving us easy cycling access to both. Our hillside cottage was situated off a backcountry road with more horses than people. As a bonus it had a long, steep driveway that made for a fun climb up to the house at the end of our rides.

Cycling Headquarters

View from the deck
Darn, another sunny day

Central California has been in drought mode for seven years and the hillsides were noticeably browner than when we visited two years ago. (In fact, as I write this a New York Times headline reads, "California Marks 2013 as Historically Dry Year"). Bad for vineyards, farmers, and ranchers but we enjoyed shaking off the moss, even if only for a week.

We repeated some old favorites and explored some new routes. Ride highlights included Santa Rosa Creek, Chimney Rock, Peachy Canyon, Figueroa Mountain, See Canyon/Perfumo Canyon, Dove Canyon, Nacimiento-Fergusson Road/Fort Hunter Liggett, and York Mountain Road. We don't have pictures of all of these rides because sometimes the photographer was lazy.

Santa Rosa Creek

Chimney Rock

Figueroa Mountain

A rest day for me. Waiting for Chris and Todd to arrive at Montana de Oro State Park via See Canyon / Perfumo Canyon

Dove Canyon

Another rest day for me. Chris does the hard work riding up Nacimiento-Fergusson Road while I relax at the coast

Nacimiento-Fergusson Road

After giving Chris a head start on his bike up Nacimiento-Fergusson I drove up and met him at the top. From there, the road drops precipitously down the other side for a few miles before leveling out and meeting up with Fort Hunter Liggett, an Army Reserve training base. Fort Hunter Liggett is occasionally closed for brief periods during tank, artillery, and other firing exercises. But Chris has never been one to let a STOP sign stop him from riding a new route.

Chris authorizes himself to enter Fort Hunter Liggett

As I sagged along in the car Chris rode on for another 20 miles or so through very pretty grasslands. We saw nary a tank nor heard any artillery. Very serene for a military base.