The Holy
Grail discovered:
Devil's Canyon via Rocky
Peak Fireroad
Saturday
11.05.2005
Columbus wanted to find a route to the
Orient, Magellan wanted to find a route that circumnavigated the globe, and I
have long wanted to find the route that connected Rocky Peak Fireroad and
Devil's Canyon. Although I had travelled this route on night rides in
my long ago youth, I could no longer remember how the connection was
made until Saturday when, along with 7 other RCYers, the long sought-after route
between the fireroad and the canyon was rediscovered. I was
ecstatic! I had found the Holy Grail!
But back to the beginning--Eight of us
showed up at the pink shopping center off Kuehner Road and promptly set off to
pedal around Mt. Sinai Memorial Park to the base of the Chumash Trail.
There we decided that, rather than climb Chumash, we would take the Las Llajas
Fireroad which we had also discovered a few weeks ago. The climb was very
pleasant as we pedalled thru the oak lined canyon. Also the ride was made
easier because the patches of sand and loose soil were no longer in evidence,
having either been washed away by rain and wind or having been compacted by
heavy equipment.
The Group at the top
of the Las Llajas climb on a beautiful day:
Ali, Steve, Nelson,
David, John, Rod, and Joe. That's me behind the lens.
While John looks on,
Nelson is seen pedaling between a couple of grazing
cows
John along
with a bevy of bovines gaze over at the the photographer....and that's
no bull.
It was here at the junction of
Las Llajas and Rocky Peak Fireroads that we met a couple of other riders--the
Johnson Brothers (who, being both knowledgeable and wise, have since signed
up on the RCY Web site)--and it was thru them that we learned how to find the
long-lost passageway to Devil's Canyon. Instead of turning right on Rocky
Peak FR to head towards the top of Chumash ST, we turned LEFT and followed the
Rocky Peak Road to it's apparent terminus at the "headwaters" of
Devil's Canyon (if you follow the dotted yellow line, you can see our
route on the map created by our master cartographer David's GPS and posted by
webmaster Rod at http://rcy.wwtrails.org/images/Topo/Devil_Canyon05Nov05.JPG ).
Rod commencing to
pass thru The Holy Gate to Devil's Canyon
The initial part of the ride
thru Devil's Canyon was thru shady, beautiful, treelined fireroad.
Eventually it turned into sections of doubletrack and singletrack and also
many watercrossings. But unlike last
weekend's ride at Wildwood where the watercrossings were few but deep, this ride
had probably upwards of 2 dozen shallow watercrossings. So our bikes got
muddy but our spirits soared as we sailed and maneuvered down the long
fun-filled gorgeous canyon! The canyon reminded some of us of the early
days of riding thru Sullivan Canyon.
Rod riding into the
deep forest
David riding thru
one of the longer creek crossings
The bottom of Devil's Canyon
brought us out to Topanga Canyon Boulevard and the 118 Freeway. We pedaled
down Topanga to Santa Susana Pass Road which we climbed to the top.
The view from near
the top of Santa Susana Pass looking back towards the San Fernando
Valley
{scroll to see the whole photo which is a composite of 4
separate photos}
At the top of the pass we said
good-bye and thanks to Bill and Brad (I think?) Johnson for leading us to and
thru Devil's Canyon. Also we broke up into a couple of groups, Ali, Joe,
and David riding down the pavement while the 5 remaining intrepid (soon to be
seen as stupid) riders decided to try riding the recently burned StageCoach
Trail just west of the top of the pass. Well, the always tough and
challenging trail proved to be even more so after the fires and rain had washed
loose soil and rocky debris onto much of the steep hillside trail. We
managed to hike and bike as best we could.
Steve walks a steep,
loose, narrow ribbon of a trail.
He renamed the
StageCoach Trail--The Stupid Trail.
John and Nelson
glance back on the narrow trail as they lean against the steep, loose
hillside
Rod at a dry creek
crossing with Steve descending behind him
We made it back to the cars
from here relatively unscathed--Steve got banged up a little from an endo on The
Stupid Trail. All in all, I'd have to say it was a most successful ride
and I was pleased as punch with having found the elusive connector to Devil's
Canyon.
John's bottom
bracket area displays the results of our
wonderfully fun ride
thru Devil's Canyon!
Until next time,
Humbly yours,
Robco Baggins
______________________________________________________________
RCYMountainBiking.com
