Being that I've always had a hard time getting anyone to join one of my rides (I know, waaaahh ) I was super stoked that 5 smiling faces showed up for this ride despite the hot Santa Ana conditions - Joe (Fat Possum) and his friend Bobby, Jim (JimmyJ), Tom (tfitz) and his friend James. The mission for the day was to explore (survive) Black Mtn. and then go ride Tunnels for awhile via the Santa Luz loop/connector and then back again. Little did I know, people were already making contingency plans involving shuttles

We started off from the Black Mtn. Community Park parking lot around 8:00 and it was already getting warm. We crossed Carmel Valley Rd. to pick up the fireroad on the other side and up to the top of Black Mtn. The climb went well and we regrouped at the cutoff for Nighthawk trail while a few continued to the summit.

Going down Nighthawk was really fun with some nice little rocky sections to keep it interesting. From there it was series of HABs to the next peak (unless your name is Joe and you like to climb everything ).

Looking back...


Looking south, can't really tell from the pic, but we could see smoke from a fire south of the border...


Rock/cairn stacking...


Unfortunately, we (I) missed the cutoff for one trail because the entrance was overgrown and another had just become impassable. Anyway, after a quick detour we picked up the East Rim Trail (aka Up and Over) and had a blast coming back down.

Looking all the way back up to the top...


Some (bad) action shots... I think Jim had already beaten me down the hill so sorry, no pics of you.

Joe


James


Tom


Bobby


After another short HAB to the top of ebony, we had a quick regroup before dropping our seats for Bushwacker. I warned everyone about the big roots and occasional rocks and somehow forgot to heed my own warning. Thankfully, I've gotten pretty good at side stepping/hopping to avoid going OTB and got some more practice here

Looking back up Bushwacker, it goes all the way to the top...


The conga line...


After narrowly surviving Bushwacker, we rode across the meadow and up to Miner's Ridge Loop. It was already very warm at this point and I think there were some reservations about another climb, myself included. I started to have some abdominal cramping about half way up (damn Thai food) but you can't survive the Black Mtn back country and not ride the "good stuff"

Looking back from Miner's...


Regroup at the top of Miner's before coming down...




Coming down Miner's was an absolute blast! A couple of the steps have eroded a bit underneath and made the drops a little bigger than I last remember. It was over too soon before we ended up back on the gravel trail and short pavement connector back to the cars.

We topped off waters, said bye to Tom, and headed off on the Santa Luz S/T towards Tunnels. I think we made pretty good time getting over there with only one real climb to speak of. It was getting kind of late though and hall passes were starting to expire so we only had about 30 minutes or so at Tunnels before exiting by the gas station. It was a kind of a shame, because Tunnels was at least 10 degrees cooler than where we had come from, not to mention comparably flat.

Anyway, we hung out at Camino del Sur for a bit while Joe and Bobby loaded up their *cough* shuttle vehicle (i.e. Suburban with 2 bike capacity) and James' wife was coming to pick him up. So Jim and I decided to take the paved road back. I quickly remembered why I'm not a roadie and Big Ring Jim gapped me pretty good Joe and Bobby were at least kind enough to meet us back at the parking lot with ice cold Coronas and lime before taking off:cheers:

Overall, I think it was a really good ride and everyone had a good time. We stopped a lot due to the heat and was nice chance to get to know the others better. If we do it again I think we'll pick a much cooler day and try to spend less time HABing and more time at Tunnels Thanks again for the guys that came out, and let's ride again next weekend

My GPS was acting a little strange but here's the final stats:
Total mileage - 20.1
Elevation gain - +3,100
Ride time - 4:43 (total) 2:50 (moving)

Great report, was looking forward to it. Man, it was hot this weeknd, kudos to all you guys for surviving this ride!

Nice ride report. I wish that we could list the tempuratures along with the pictures. I'm sure it was over 90 degrees for most of the ride. I'd do it again on a cooler day for sure!

Thanks again Brian for planning and leading this ride. I enjoyed it despite the heat. Sorry that our rack could not fit your bike and Jim's. Blame Bobby - it was his car and he seems like a good scapegoat for me! At least I brought some beers for the finish line to redeem myself.


Joe

I thought that it was a pretty good ride, overall. It was, as was mentioned before, extremely hot (and it wasn't just Joe in his tighties after the ride). I liked the trails and the new single track off of Black Mountain (it was new to me). I agree that more time could have been spent in the tunnels but I was running out of time (with a two week old, my hall pass only extends so long these days). Great company, made some new friends, found some new trails-- what more can you ask for?

Thanks to Brian for setting it all up and thanks to Joe for the recovery drinks.

AND Sorry your bikes don't fit on NORMAL bike racks, otherwise I would have driven you all back to the park.


Cheers.

+1 need to get out there next time.

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Brian,

Thanks for the ride report and for setting this up, I had a great time. I am still trying to rehydrate, it was brutally hot and dry!

I look forward to doing it again soon!

JJ

Great report of a brutal ride in brutal conditions. Cheers to all who made it.

-CHEERS

Thanks Brian for setting up the ride. This was my first ride with this group and it was a great ride. Your pictures and commentary were impressive, but next time someone needs to snag the camera and include you in the pics.

Looking forward to the next ride.