Sullivan Canyon via Encino
Hills Drive
Saturday
11-19-05
A nice turnout of nine RCYers showed
up at the far east end of Dirt Mulholland (at the top of Encino Hills Drive) on
a beautiful November day for the ride down Sullivan Canyon. We started
pedaling west on dirt Mulholland towards the Sullivan Firegate.
Riding thru (no, I guess that would be around) the firegate, we pedaled
down to the threshold of the descent into Sullivan
Canyon. Hearts thumped and chains rattled as we dropped excitedly
into Sullivan.
Ali pedals over the
rocky bottom of Sullivan Canyon
Reuben and George
'blurred' past me before I had climbed onto my step
stool
SteveK movin' down
Sullivan....I was on a very short step stool
DavidS negotiates
the rocky terrain
Joe handles the
rocky canyon bottom
DavidR watches as
John changes a pinch flat deep in the canyon.
Lately,
John seems to have a
quota of at least one mechanical per ride ;o)
The ride down Sullivan was not only
fun, but beautiful, what with the early morning sun filtering through
the tall sycamores and majestic oaks. The temperature was a lot
cooler down in the canyon, but that did not keep away the many runners, hikers
and other mountain bikers that we saw. At the bottom of Sullivan we decided to head down to
Mandeville for a pavement ride to the Hollyhock singletrack climb. At the
top of Hollyhock the group posed for a group photo.
From the left: Joe, DavidR,
SteveK, George, Reuben, John, Ali, and DavidS
From this point we had the option of
either heading east to the Whoop-de-doos or heading west back to the cars.
The latter was chosen and thus we rode back on both fireroad and sections
of paralleling singletrack that gave us great views of the clear San Fernando
Valley. We arrived back at the cars at 10:00 a.m. putting in a
relatively quick 12 1/2 miles on a gorgeous Saturday morning.
Robco Baggins
