Middle Earth and The Marbles
Trail
A Most Beautiful
Day
Sunday
12-11-2005
Sunday's ride was one of
those special ones for me. The
cool autumn light gave a sharp clarity to the
air. Beautiful cyan skies filled with wonderful cottony clouds
were a delight to behold. And after experiencing the rolling green
hills on the front side of Chesebro Canyon, we dropped into the magical
land of the fire-charred backcountry of Chesebro. For those who are
fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was like a quest in Middle Earth from green Hobbiton
to the darkened land of Mordor.
The day began,
however, with a couple of obstacles. Finding a place to park at the
north end of Las Virgenes Road proved challenging as a film crew was setting up
vehicles and equipment in preparation for filming an episode of the TV show
Crossing Jordan. But finally 8 of us assembled to start a climb
up the fireroad that would take us over to Chesebro Ridge Trail. Our
second obstacle appeared on the newly burned fireroad which was blocked by
a collection of tumbleweed bushes which a couple of our members took upon
themselves to clear.
Like Moses with
the Red Sea, Saints Matthew and Jamshyd open up the road to let their
people go
The view down to Las
Virgenes Road and environs was like a glimpse of a New England town with
its fall colors
A partially burned,
yet proud Oak almost hides 2 riders in the distance
Clouds float on blue
skies as riders climb
A coyote out for a
morning hunt
Atop the
eastern Chesebro Ridge Trail, a panoramic view of Chesebro Canyon, with
Rod using his 2-way radio to try & reach the Chumash (scroll
to the right)
Silhouetted
Oak
Another panorama (again, scroll to the
right) shows the climb up the Baleen Wall Fireroad
The group rests and frolicks at the top
of the Baleen climb:
Matthew "assists" Reuben
who is attempting a repair on Mitch's Blur, while Roger, Jamshyd, John, Rod
& Mitch observe
The thin, naked, charred thread of
the BrokenSpoke/GasPipe Singletrack as seen from our rest point high above
Las Virgenes Fireroad and Bell Canyon in
the distance
It was at about this point in the ride that we made
the final decision to head down the 3 Hills to the base of the Power Poles,
climb the PP Fireroad, descend to the backside and then take Marbles Singletrack
back to Las Virgenes Fireroad for the final leg back to the cars.
Descending 3 Hills, we could see the
Power Poles Fireroad climb in the distance
Climbing the PowerPoles, the connector
trail over to Shepherds Flat can be seen....
....also evidence of Mordor and The Dark
Lord Sauron
Marbles Trail seen from the backside of
the Power Pole climb
After descending the backside of the Power Poles we
made a sharp right turn to start the Marbles Trail.
Roger and Matthew head down the rugged,
scorched and desolate Marbles Trail
Mitch and Reuben walking a tough,
round-rock-strewn section of Marbles
At the end of Marbles we turned right and headed
down the Las Virgenes Fireroad back to our vehicles. I think
our distance was about 14+ miles with over 2700 feet of sometimes difficult
climbing--that's about 200 tough feet per tough mile. Anyway, tired and
hungry, yet exhilarated and happy, most of us headed for the Santa Fe Cafe where
a most gracious Mitch treated us all to a hearty lunch of mexican
cuisine. Thank you, Mitch! A
wonderful end to a most perfect day.
Still looking for Gandalf,
Robco
Baggins
