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PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:00 pm 
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I headed up to Santa Barbara a couple weeks ago for the 2022 edition of the Tour de Los Padres bikepack.


I did the "rat flu" edition of the TDLP two years ago. It was a great loop route and one I wanted to do again.

When I found out this year's route has been expanded into a long point to point visiting the length of the Los Padres National Forest from Big Sur back to Santa Barbara, I was in.



Thanks to Nancy for organizing a shuttle for many of us! 15 riders plus drivers showed up at Arroyo Seco campground ready to roll southbound. Pic by Erin's mom (I think). Good mix from Socal, Norcal, MTB, gravel bikes. No SS as far as I saw.

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And they're off, rolling around 7:45.

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The day would start with one of two major climbs, close to 2,000ft up the Arroyo Seco-Indians Rd.

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The road is cherry stemmed through the Ventana Wilderness with rugged terrain on both sides.

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Despite the name Arroyo Seco isn't dry. There was a pretty nice river running below. Some lucky campers had a tent set up on a small beach below where I took this shot. Would be a rad place to camp! We had a long way to go before we could think about that however.

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After a few miles the road started getting very primitive, basically singletrack in spots.

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Getting close to the high point and still in the shade. It was going to get hot later once we drop down the far side with a long pavement ride and then climb out of Fort Hunter Liggett.

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I was the last rider, and the only one who stopped to grab the birthday balloon.

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Despite fire a few years ago the ride was very scenic, very green. Some nice campgrounds down below in this canyon.

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And some nice swimming holes. Didn't need those yet though.

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Caught up to Brandon who had sliced a side wall on a rock and had to put a tube in

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Some cool granite slabs above the road out of Santa Lucia campground

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We rode through a really beautiful valley below that with grasslands and big oak trees. The road had been paved for a while but we caught a short detour on dirt that was a nice diversion

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Crazy flowers along the road as we got into Fort Hunter Liggett.

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I'd been hoping for a swim at one of the river crossings but signage once on the army base clearly said stay on pavement, no stopping, no swimming.

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We turned up the Nacimiento-Ferguson Rd and climbed our way out of the base. I caught up to Brandon again along with Braden, Alissa and Marin at the Ponderosa campground. Had lunch in the shade and got my swim in. Well, more of a half dunk, really. It was hot...high 80s to low 90s.


Fortunately there was decent shade on the climb up to the ridge top, but it was still hot and not a lot of breeze.

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I caught Brandon and Braden at the turnoff onto South Coast Ridge Road. Brandon was napping and Braden wasn't feeling well. I kept going and had a tough time of it the next hour or so. The first few miles went through a burn area with minimal shade and some steep climbs.

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Camping up top on the ridge was an option and promised great views, but I'd been hoping to get down to the coast or a ways along it for day 1.

It was about an hour before sunset when I caught up to Alissa before the turn onto Los Burros Rd.

There were some annoying stinger climbs toward the end and once on Los Burros, but once the road pointed downhill I took off hoping to make it to the store in Gorda before closing time. It was now golden hour but not much of the Los Burros Rd had an ocean view.


Caught the last sliver of sun dipping below the horizon lower down.

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Getting near the bottom there were quite a few people parked for sunset, or maybe trying to stealth camp. If the latter, they were not doing a great job at the stealthy part. The roads we'd been riding were all signed closed to vehicles but there were plenty driving around, so it appears enforcement is pretty lax.

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Made it to Gorda and could see the store was still open.

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I'd been warned it was expensive here but was shocked at the prices as my items were rung up (no price tags on half the stuff in store - should have known). Care to guess at the final bill for 5 items? The beer was expensive but was the only thing I considered reasonably priced.

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Ben had been sitting there eating dinner also. The store owner asked if anyone else was coming and I said Alissa should be not far behind me, so she kept the store open til 830. Alissa blew past without stopping around 815.

I hadn't been enthusiastic about riding Hwy 1 in the dark but someone pointed out that there would be minimal traffic, it would be easy to see drivers coming, drivers would have no views to distract them. Had some miles to lay down before the first possible camp spots, so we headed off in the dark to the sound of crashing waves.

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After about 7 miles on Hwy 1 we had the option to take the Soda Trail, which climbs up above the highway for a couple miles but stays below the wilderness boundary. It was a tough climb up - steep and with heavy brush on either side. I think it was more mentally tiring than anything as there was poison oak mixed in which I was trying hard to avoid. Made it through there. Erin said he was camped near the high point of the trail and heard us go by, but we didn't see him. Ben opted to camp near an old USFS cabin back down at the highway while I continued on a few miles further.

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I was feeling pretty ragged by this point but still had a little ways to go. Found my spot, got set up quick and had a bite to eat before laying down. Pretty happy about progress for day 1.

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Day 1 stats - 86mi, +10,600/-11,500


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:53 pm 
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Day 2


I was up as soon as it got light out, wanting to make progress early as there was a heat advisory along the coast. And we'd be heading inland just in time for the hottest part of the day.

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It was chilly at first, but layers soon came off once the sun appeared and there were a couple short highway climbs

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Things you don't see from a car - seals playing in the rivers below the highway

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Stopped in at the elephant seal viewing area

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Erin caught up to me there

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We picked up one of the few bluff side singletracks that doesn't have a no bikes sign. Much of the coast here is State Park land which doesn't allow bikes. Other trails exist but have too much poison oak to ride.

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More elephant seals

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Erin kept going, I pulled into a picnic area off the highway to refill water, have breakfast and dry my stuff out. I like Hershey dark chocolate bars for bikepacking, except they don't fare well when hot. Mine re-solidified overnight so I broke it up and added to instant oatmeal for breakfast.

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More side trails as we get to Cambria

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Some really nice singletrack in there too, with a few short steep climbs. I stopped in at a Mexican restaurant for tacos and to refill my water again.

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There was an optional beach ride in Cayucos that I skipped as it was not getting any cooler out. I didn't want to wear out my legs in sand right before a big climb. That next climb took us to some trails next to Whale Rock Reservoir.

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Trails there were ok until we split off on a service road that got crazy steep for a short section. So steep, my feet had trouble keeping traction. Push, hold brakes, step, slide, re-step, plant feet, repeat.

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The kicker was getting to the top and having to lift the bike over this gate. Gaps and lower fence sections had barbed wire so it was already pretty tall to lift a bike over.

This is where I found the downside of my pannier setup. Being positioned so far rearward leveraged the weight making it really hard to lift the bike. I ended up removing the panniers and handlebar bag for a minute, then it was an easy lift.

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Next up was the climb up and over Santa Rita Road to Templeton. Thankfully there was little vehicle traffic and decent shade cover. Near the top I passed another rider Eric who was bailing back down to the coast with shifter and saddle sore issues.

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The top. Super scenic hills, and all private property on both sides. There was a stream along the road a lot of the way as well, but the roadsides were choked with poison oak so I didn't notice any chance to get down to the water. I had enough water though, and a Trader Joes for resupply was not far away.

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Bought some snacks and drinks at TJs and continued on into more private property land. Tons and tons of deer. They were everywhere. I caught up to Brandon again somewhere in this area.

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The highlight of this segment were a couple cool community trails that dropped from one road down to another. Unfortunately they led to the steepest climb of the trip so far, about 700ft in a mile on pavement through a new home community. Gotta love paved hike a bike!

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Lights came on during that steep climb, and there was more neighborhood riding to go before we hit a few downhill miles on busy Highway 41. It was a good thing that section was downhill, we made good time to Cerro Alta campground.

My goal for the day was to get to the top of the Cerro Alta climb to catch sunrise, but we were both beat. It was Friday night and the campground was full with lots of noise so we had no choice but to start up the trail. I've done this climb before and didn't remember it being so steep. There were even a few hikers coming down who must have hit the peak for sunset. We were looking for any spots wide and flat enough to sleep but not having much luck. Finally found a spot that Brandon took. I kept going and found another spot a few turns further up the trail.

Done and out after a bite to eat.


Stats day 2 - 81mi, +5,800/-4,500ft.


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:36 am 
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Beautiful photos and great narrative Evan, as we’ve come to expect from you. I have been thinking about doing a small piece of the TdeLP for a few years now, but this TR opened my eyes to some sections I hadn’t thought about. Thank you. I’m going with $22 for the highway robbery, close? When you caught up to Brandon, did you say “let’s go Brandon?”. Must have been tempting.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:29 am 
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Thanks Dan!

Definitely get out there and ride some of it. You could do shorter loops on a number of different areas. The Arroyo Seco to South Coast Ridge and back on PCH and Carmel Valley Road would be a pretty good one. There are lots of side roads to explore up top of the ridge and amazing views. And biker/hiker spots at campsites along the coast hwy.

What's funny about Brandon is I kept thinking it was Brendan. Even typing the TR I kept typing that, so no there was no let's go Brandon callout. lol

I think the snacks were $27. Of note the coke was $5. The beer was $8 which wasn't as shocking. I think every other snack food item in the store was $4 each - small bag of chips, chocolate bar, etc. The biggest annoyance of it was a lot of things didn't have price stickers. I was too shocked when I saw the prices to put them back on the shelf.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:30 am 
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Day 3


I didn't sleep well. Battled random cramps all night depending which way I tossed and rolled. Finally got up before 5 walk off a quad cramp and figured I might as well walk it off with some hike a bike. It would be another hot day today, so better to get as much out of the way this morning as possible.


Green hills and mist slowly appeared out of the darkness as I pushed uphill toward Cerro Alta peak.

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So peaceful and quiet

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Sun came up just as I hit the summit. Perfect.

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Had some breakfast while I walked around checking out the views

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Dropping off the summit I soon found Erin, Ian and Ben packing up camp. I kept going along West Cuesta ridge knowing they'd catch me.

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Stopped to eat the last of my breakfast burrito as everyone rolled through

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The trails were fun and a nice change from the rolling fire road on the ridgeline

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I got ahead of the others as they took a wrong turn, possibly intentionally

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And then they were back.

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Can you tell which way the wind was blowing here?

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At the bottom we picked up a rail trail that would link us around to Santa Margarita. I was really slowing down by this point. It was getting hot and the riding along the railway kinda sucked, especially after crossing under Hwy 101. Made it into town and caught the others just as they were leaving a local cafe. Brandon caught up there too so we ordered a bit of food and topped up electronics.

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Wasn't really looking forward to the paved miles over to Rinconada trailhead, so just took it slow and kept moving.

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Rinconada was pretty nice, at least the trailhead was shaded. Took a bit of a break there before continuing up the trail.

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I thought Rinconada was a moto trail, turns out it is hike/bike/horse and was pretty nice for the most part.

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Took a couple breaks in the shade, otherwise kept the slow and steady pace up to the top. Views were nice up there, and thankfully some breeze.

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Dropped down the road on the far side, snacked and filled up water at a ranger station. Then more paved miles across to Turkey Flat OHV

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Brandon stopped at the trailhead to make dinner. I wanted to keep going far as I could til dark. The route notes mentioned this next section would be sandy, and boy was that true. Think 6" of sand and silt on a steep grade. The going really sucked for well over a mile.

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Up next was Howard's Bypass moto trail. It was getting cold and windy and I didn't really want to keep going, but wasn't finding any good places to camp. Ended up doing about half the moto trail before my headlamp went on. The end of the trail had some very steep pushing.

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Ended up riding the whole moto trail. Finally found a somewhat sheltered place to camp on a side road. Made quick dinner and then tapped out. Wasn't feeling terrible but also not great, just really tired from the heat and previous long days' efforts. Despite it being a fairly easy day the miles hadn't clicked over very fast. I figured an early sleep would get things back on track.

Stats day 3 - 54mi, +7,750/-6,350 ft


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 1:06 pm 
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Day 4


Had a much better sleep this night despite the wind. I was up before sunrise again and climbing soon after. A mile or so of dirt, then a bit of pavement to get to the top.

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Fernandez Trail is one of the segments I was really looking forward to and part of the reason I wanted to stop where I did the night before was to be able to ride it in daylight.

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It is around 5 miles of sweet backcountry singletrack.

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Riding it in the early sunshine and cool temps was pure bliss.

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Until the poison oak showed up. It had been avoidable until now. But no way we were getting through this section without some contact.

I caught Brandon a short distance before this, and he found a stick for me. PO tends to have a weak stem that is easy to break off if you hit it with a solid stick. I went to work whacking the oak back. After a couple minutes we had clear passage. Sounds like others who rode through in the dark weren't so lucky.

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Back on dirt road we headed for Navajo Flat staging area where there are bathrooms and picnic tables.

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This was my planned brunch spot for the day. I had some leftover instant mashed potato that I wanted to try in a wrap with tuna. Turned out the potato is a really good complement to the tuna.

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Brandon was faster on the gravel bike and soon disappeared. Thought I'd see him refilling water at Queen Bee camp but found out he didn't stop there. I missed the spigot but found this tank a couple hundred feet below the campsite with clean water pouring in from the tap.

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Old mine entrance guarded by poison oak

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It hadn't been a tough climb up to La Panza Pass, which also meant there wasn't much payoff on the descent to Hwy 58.

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Lots of paved miles ensued. After a couple miles climb up to Carrizo Plan the road became flat and straight. My least favorite kind of riding. After refilling at a Cal Fire station I soon crossed into the National Monument.

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We had to navigate around the south end of (dry) Soda Lake. Kept seeing small twisters off in the distance.

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Soon enough I was back on dirt with just a short climb up to Elkhorn Rd, which traverses the monument from north to south. Took a break in the shade of this water tank.

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I leapfrogged with a convoy of SUVs and sprinter for a while. It was the van owner's first time out and he was being super extra cautious (meaning - driving painfully slow) on the dirt road. Finally they pulled into what appeared to be the suckiest possible spot to camp I'd see all day, and I was on my own after that.

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Didn't need a lot of water but I figured I'd filter a couple bottle full from this tank that Erin had found. Not the nicest looking water but I tasted it after filtering and it seemed ok. Using it for cooking later a nasty taste came through more, and it pretty much ruined my backpacker dinner. Yuck. Poured the rest out.

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20-some more miles to go before I'd get to a stretch with no legal camping.

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At one point I scared up a blur of fur on the side of the road which turned out to be a badger. Cool to see!

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Sunset wasn't looking promising but some nice color appeared in the end.

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I spotted a couple other bikepackers way off the side of the road near last light, but turns out they weren't doing the same route.

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Continued on in the dark, crossing Soda Lake Rd again and continued onto a pipeline road. Conditions kept changing from blasting cold wind, to still wind and warmer temps up high, to frigid cold down in a canyon. I decided to camp up near the next high spot hoping it would be warmer again.

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Passed Brandon sleeping off the side of the road around 10pm and found a spot around the next corner. I couldn't spot a road where the GPS track showed us to go but figured the road I was taking would reconnect just around the corner.

Day 4 turned out to be a pretty good one and I was pretty much caught up to where I wanted to be at this point. Happy to finally get to see Carrizo Plain as well, although I still need to check it out during a peak bloom.


Stats day 4 - 87mi, +5,750/-5,000 ft


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:14 pm 
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Day 5


Up with the sun. It was a bit windy and chilly out but not terrible. I rolled out after a quick bite to eat.

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A short climb past a couple water tanks brought me to the top of the hill.

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The descent down to the valley was chilly. Hands were soon frozen.

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The dirt road became more primitive the further it dropped down, eventually crossing and then joining a stream bed before teeing into a fence line with agricultural farmland on the other side. Highway 33/166 was tantalizingly close with easy access straight across, but that wasn't where we were going.

Instead we followed the fence line east and the doubletrack continued to fade until it disappeared completely. Bushwack time, following the line on the GPS down into this steep gully, over the pipe and up the other side. A farm worker in a truck had been watching me hike a bike up to this point and was probably scratching his head wondering where I was going.

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Soon back on pavement, but this whole section had taken a couple hours, longer than expected. Rode 20 miles of pavement into New Cuyama. The burger place was open so I ordered lunch plus a breakfast burrito to go. The market next door is the last resupply on the route, so I stocked up on snacks and food for the final 100 miles.


Apparently there was a faint double track through here. All I could see were the tracks of those ahead of me.

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Mid day is not when you want to be rolling out of New Cuyama. It is normally 90F through here, as riders doing the shorter tour version of TDLP found a few days before. But with the cool weather today it was pretty nice.


The cattle in that field chased after me a bit in 2020. No such excitement today.

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Instead I got a low altitude flyover by this plane. Not sure what the deal is, maybe a fire water tanker? It flew right over, then along the mountain range and back down the middle of the valley. I would see it the next day as well, flying down the valley above the Santa Ynez River.

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It is a solid 3,000ft climb from the highway up to Sierra Madre Ridge, two thirds of which is on dirt. Much of that is on the Aliso Trail. You can ride some of it, but it's pretty short so I hiked most of it.

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Pretty nice trail. It was got dark around this point last time, so I was happy to check out the views today

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Caught up to Brandon on the climb. This had become a pattern. He'd get ahead on road sections being on the gravel bike, and I'd catch up on the descents, singletracks and hike a bikes.

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Forecasts before the trip were showing up to 60% chance of rain in the area for Sun/Mon/Tues. It was definitely raining in the distance. Fortunately, we were heading south and this storm was heading north/east.

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Lots of flowers out on the Sierra Madre ridge

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First time seeing this view in daylight. Painted Rock campground is on the left just out of sight. It was still early afternoon so we won't be stopping today except to get water.

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There is a water tank behind this old cabin which is the last reliable source until we get to Bluff Camp on the other side of Big Pine Mtn. So I stopped in to fill up.

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No need to filter spring water coming out of the tap, but it was a little hard to access. Glad I had a plastic water bottle with me.

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These rock formations are super cool. I'd like to come back and explore the area on foot some day.

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No time for that today. Pedaling on. The road for quite a few miles was extensively post holed by cattle and sucked to ride. A bit of respite here passing these rock formations

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Shadows from clouds made the views up top even better

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Leap frogging with Brandon again, caught him here for a pic. One more descent coming up before the big climb to Big Pine Mtn

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Flowers a bit past their prime here, but still pretty

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Climbing into the pines. Normally i'd say cool pines. But with today's weather it was downright chilly. Forecast called for low along the ridge of 30, or 15F with windchill and gusts up to 55mph. Fortunately the climb was keeping us warm for now.

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This road is cherry stemmed between Wilderness areas and isn't maintained for vehicle traffic. Lots of rockfall and debris on the road.

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It was a dark and stormy night.... Big Pine Mtn is the highest point on the route. We had already climbed into the clouds, and as we neared Big Pine the wind kicked up and we felt rain drops. This could get interesting. Or just very, very cold.

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More layers went on at the top including the rainjacket I was now glad I carried all this way. Long pants as well. Slow steady rain continued for a little while but stopped as we descended out of the clouds.

The goal was to get off the mountain and drop 2,000ft to Bluff Camp where we would hopefully find better shelter from the wind. Only 5 miles to go.

I'm a much faster descender on rough terrain like this road, but we agreed to stick together on the descent for safety. Being stuck on your own up here in this weather with an injury or mechanical would not be a good thing. Riding slower would also help keep my hands from freezing, so I had no problem with the slower pace.

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The descent seemed to take forever but finally we got there. Unfortunately the wind seemed just as bad at Bluff Camp as it had been higher up, with heavy gusts that were really cold. There is a cabin at Bluff Camp I was hoping we could sleep in, but it is a USFS cabin for admin use, and was locked. No dice. But it did have a front porch that was partially walled in with enough room for each of us to have our head behind one side of the wall for a bit of protection. So that was us for the night. I had hot ramen noodles and then straight into the bivy. Not a great night to sleep as the wind gusts kept up all night long. But with all my clothing on, I was warm enough.


Stats day 5 - 73mi, +8,500/-6,600 ft


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:16 pm 
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Day 6


With cold wind gusts continuing to blow it was tempting hang out in the warm bivy. But we also wanted to finish today, so we had to get moving.


Deluxe accommodations at Bluff Camp

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Chilly. I kept my water filter in my sleeping bag with me overnight so it wouldn't freeze

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Bluff Camp is down below. I'm surprised it wasn't more sheltered from the wind.

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Brandon all layered up. It seemed calm and looked warm but the sun wasn't doing its job and cold gusts of wind continued to hit us

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The road below Bluff Camp is more travelled, mostly by MTB so there was a line through the debris.

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Looking east over the Dick Smith Wilderness

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The first ten miles from camp is a series of uphill/downhill. I was just past the last climb when I spotted a long tail and booty running down the road ahead of me. In a split second, it disappeared off the road. Mtn lion. Cool to see!

A few corners later I came across a USFS dozer crew working on the road. They were headed to Bluff Camp that night which is as far as they would go. They said another crew normally comes in from the opposite side but that wouldn't happen this year. So the road will stay in its current rustic state.

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There is a singletrack heavy option to the route that includes Little Pine/Santa Cruz Trail, Matias Trail, Gibralter Mine and lower part of North Cold Springs Trail. I wanted to ride these but also wanted to finish today. The compromise was to hit Santa Cruz trail since I was already up high, and then rejoin the main route after that. I could ride the other trails on a day ride. Doing Santa Cruz today made sense as it would avoid a 2,000ft climb back up when I was already here.

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Sweet singletrack

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Santa Cruz trail is notorious for steep slopes and exposure. It was heavily damaged in the Thomas Fire and has mostly been rebuilt by Sage Trail Alliance and Los Padres Forest Association. This slide section is all that remains to be fixed, a couple hundred yards with slope falling away from broken and burned out supports. It is crossable with careful steps.

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I was fortunate to meet a hiker at the Cliffs of Insanity here who took a photo for me. Really glad to get back on Santa Cruz. It's a killer backcountry trail with outstanding views.

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After a climb up Nineteen Oaks trail and a mile up Buckhorn Road I rejoined the route at the top of Old Camuesa Rd. This was one of the most pleasant surprises of the trip. A fast rip down flowy OHV road gone back to singletrack.

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The road got more primitive with more washouts and stream crossings the further I went. Really glad I was able to check this out.

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I was making pretty good time but there were still many unknown miles between me and a familiar part of the route. So my finish time was still a question mark. I wanted to hit Little Caliente hot spring since I was nearby, but also wanted to finish in time for food at the Brewhouse. I didn't know if skipping the hot spring would make enough difference. Worst case, if things took longer than expected, I'd catch the sunset from Romero trail which would also be pretty cool.

So, hot spring soak it is. I didn't stay long but the water was nice and helped relax tired legs.

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More nice forest road followed.

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There were a few steep climbs and descents, but I was able to keep a good pace

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There are some really nice campgrounds along the route. It would be an awesome weekend bikepack to ride from Santa Barbara, camp down here and hit the hot springs

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I hadn't seen a rattler yet this year, and figured I would on this trip. This one was tiny, but I guess it counts.

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By the time I reached the bottom of Romero Camuesa Rd it looked I could make the Brewhouse in time if I kept moving with minimal stops. Made it to Romero pass at 6:10. Thinking the Brewhouse was open til 8 that should be plenty of time.

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Quick stop to rest my hands on the descent

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There were quite a few after work riders climbing up, and a few hikers at the bottom. Romero is a great way to finish the route

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Some road miles, a neighborhood trail and a bit of bike path brought me to the beach. Just a few more miles to go!

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Made it to the end at 7:45, pretty much 5.5 days on the dot. Brandon had finished a short time before, and he a friend were there eating. Nice riding with you dude, good job!

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It turns out the brewhouse was open until 9 and had a nice saison on tap. Perfect, I'll take two! Killer burger and fries hit the spot as well.

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Stats day 6 - 60mi, +6,500/-10,840 ft



Aside from a few spots that have reportedly been updated already, I really liked this route. The shuttle logistics were a bit of a pain but it's hard to beat traversing such a large part of the state, and visiting such a variety of landscapes. This is an awesome springtime route. There wasn't a great bloom this year but the flowers were still pretty awesome in places. Everything was green, and water was not much of an issue. It would be a lot drier in fall. Too hot in summer.

I was well prepared for the ride overall. I failed to throw in warmer gloves which sucked the last couple days. I brought an ultralight camp chair as a luxury item, and that was very nice to have when legs were tired. My micro pannier setup was also new for this trip. I give it mixed reviews. It is convenient to have and is billed as a setup ideal to carry heavier weight items. It carried things well, but it does not help you when steep hike a bike is involved. Because the weight sits lower on the frame the pannier makes it harder to lift the front end or push the bike up very steep grades. By comparison without panniers, the dry bag sitting on top of the rack alone is high enough that it acts as a counter balance whose weight actually helps lift the front end of the bike. I'll probably leave the panniers behind on something like CO trail and bring them on other trips with less steep hike a bike. Or just carry bulky but light items in them. Aside from that, it was a solid setup. The spur rode great as always.

I'll be back again to do this route if I can get the time off. If not, I'd like to do more exploring of Big Sur coast and the Sierra Madre ridge area. Both are really cool areas worth visiting.

Big thanks to Erin and a few others for putting this route together!


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:25 pm 
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More to come next week!


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evdog wrote:
More to come next week!


Thanks so much evdog for yet another fantastic TR. You really take us along with the pics and comments.
Take care and ride on :cheers: :hello:

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:35 pm 
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Thanks for the great TR evdog! Really enjoyed it, super interesting and impressive daily stats. I am home recovering from parathyroid surgery and am bouncing off the walls. This gives me a bit of bike fix as the Doc is saying no heavy exercise for a month so post up the TR's and the longer the better!


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Thanks for another photo-rich, detailed TR! Very impressive! :thumbsup:

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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2022 6:26 pm 
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My own tour of Los Padres continued for another week. I camped up above SB on East Camino Cielo and did a couple rides from camp after taking a full day off to relax and recover.



The view from my ridgetop home

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It was very windy the night I first drove up, and pulled into this spot after noticing the brush wasn't getting blown around. It was well protected by hills on either side. Score.

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The first ride was to check out singletrack from the optional ending to the bikepack route which I had skipped.

Started off with a few miles on pavement heading west. That trail you see down the ridge is Tunnel Trail. Kinda hard to pass that up! But I kept going.

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Made my way over to the top of Arroyo Burro Trail

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It was a good one. Fast and flowy up top, then some chunk down below. Only stopped to rest my hands once or twice. You can loop this one using the adjacent fire road.





From the bottom of Arroyo Burro I climbed back up to Matias Trail. It is rolling singletrack with some berms and jumps that is pretty fun, aside from some steep climbs. It links into North Tunnel.

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A bit of Matias and North Tunnel:





From there I turned down Devil's Canyon, a pretty fun and lightly trafficked descent.





If you ever wonder how I deal with poison oak on the trail, I beat it back with a stick until I can pass without getting tagged. It's rather satisfying.





Stream near the bottom of Devil's canyon. Nearly stepped on a rattlesnake just after this crossing. That definitely got the old heart pumping.

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Devil's Canyon dumped me onto a fire road just below Gibraltar Dam. I climbed up and then traversed around the reservoir.

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Stopped for lunch just beyond the dam. For some reason I had a sudden urge to jump in and go for a swim.

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A bit further along. The road had narrowed down almost to singletrack at this point. Awesome scenery back there.

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The abandoned Sunbird Quicksilver (mercury) Mine

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The Gibraltar Mine trail was recently rebuilt. Pretty nice ride!

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Here's a bit of it:





That was about as far as I'd planned my ride. Rather than continue on toward the hot spring again I opted to climb up North Cold Spring trail and hit Forbush and Blue Canyon Trails. Seemed like I'd have time to fit those in before sunset.

Pretty cool, lush trail.

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It was an 800ft climb to Forbush Tr. Cold Spring was mostly hike a bike going this direction.

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There was a short descent on Cold Spring down to the Forbush turnoff. Trail looked to be in decent shape so I dropped in. Pretty fun trail with lots of exposure and sharp switchbacks. In decent shape though.





Los Padres has a lot of trail camps along its trails. That isn't unique but the fact they are named is apparently unusual among National Forests.

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Blue Canyon Trail started off pretty nice but soon became overgrown as you could see in the vid. Lots of PO. I knew I was getting tagged by it repeatedly. Not much you can do when there's this much. Just avoid what you can and do a thorough wipe down of bike and skin after the ride. Fortunately I came out of it with minimal rash.

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Aside from being overgrown Blue Canyon was in decent shape except for a few washouts and stream crossings that had to be walked.

This landslide had taken out the trail but a bypass was built around the top of it.

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Some big trees in these canyons.

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Near the east end of Blue Canyon the brush finally gave way where the trail had been worked on.

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It still shows light traffic but not having to watch for PO was a big relief.

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The last half mile or so became technical and rocky. I usually like that sort of riding but I was pretty beat, and still had a five mile climb up Romero-Camuesa Rd and another 6 miles back to the truck along East Camino Cielo.

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Made it almost to the pavement before turning lights on. It got pretty chilly along the ridgetop with clouds moving in. Great ride but was pretty happy to get back to the truck.

39mi, +/-7,600ft


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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2022 6:39 pm 
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Second day of riding was Cold Springs, one of the four main descents on the Santa Barbara front side.


The trail was about 3 miles east of camp on Camino Cielo. Nice views to the north from the road

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Spotted this little hut on the ridgeline, had to go check it out

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Here's a good chunk of the descent. Saw one hiker near the top, and a bunch down at the very bottom.





Great view of the ocean and adjacent ridgelines. Very green everywhere right now.

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Took a break to rest hands half way down in the shade

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This waterfall seemed to be a popular destination, lots of people around here

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Climbed up the West Fork of Cold Spring Trail to Gibraltar Rd. Maybe 1000ft in a couple miles. Better than doing it on pavement. Trail was pretty nice, much more rideable uphill than I expected.

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View from Gibraltar Rd higher up

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Nighttime view with clouds rolling in

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Fun ride. 13mi, +/-3,100ft


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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2022 6:44 pm 
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3rd day. Rain.

Woke up to rain and spent some time in the camper reading. Every time it seemed like it had cleared up I'd start to get moving and it would start raining again. Went on like this til mid afternoonish.


Finally cleared up for good. Not enough time left to do one ride I wanted, so I decided to hit up another trail I'd been eyeing.



View from camp with rain clouds

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Made the drive across Camino Cielo to check out other camp sites. Lots of boondockers and then there was this guy.

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Clouds still burning off

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Start of the climb

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The grade provided a brisk climbing pace but very rideable the whole way up. Perfect climbing trail IMO

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Very lush, very green as well being on the north facing slope

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Didn't know banana slugs existed this far south. Wikipedia tells me they have scattered populations as far south as Ventura County and even one isolated population somewhere up on Palomar Mtn.

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Top of the ridge. 2,400ft climb in 90 min. Not bad!

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Views up top were pretty good in all directions.

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90min up, 20min down. Fun trail.





Vid came out a lot darker uploaded to youtube than the original file. :(


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