Caballero & Sullivan Canyons
07-31-05
Meeting at an early 7:00 a.m., six
RCYers left by 7:15 trying to beat the heat as we climbed up Caballero
Canyon. Actually, only 5 of us climbed the canyon as Joe "pulled a Dean" by
arriving late and so drove to the top of Reseda to meet us on dirt
Mulholland at the top of the climb. But later Dean "pulled a Joe" by having
to leave us before eating lunch at ride's end. Thus the universe managed to
stay in balance.
But I digress. At the top of Caballero,
along with Dean and Joe, DavidR, Ali, Matthew and I began pedaling towards
Sullivan Canyon. We had hoped to hook up with BrianD coming up from the
West side, but alas, cell phone messages bypassed each other and we never
met up. We had some second thoughts about heading down Sullivan. Last time
most of us had been thru it, there were many dismount sites where you had to
lower your bike down drop-offs that had been created by the fierce winter
rains. But to our delight, the trail was in excellent shape and was
great fun to ride!! Although David was able to ride the entire
trail, the rest of us had at least one or two spots that we dismounted to
play it safe.
David clearing a log obstacle in
Sullivan Canyon
(note the chain ring cuts in the
log from previous riders)
Robco, the only one to ride
under the fallen tree in Sullivan
....being short can
have its advantages.
(Actually, the first time I
tried it I got stuck as my camelback jammed between me and the tree)
At the bottom of the canyon was a bunch
of heavy earth moving equipment. They had already widened and smoothed out
the bottom section of the canyon and I must assume that, since the gas
company needs to have access to the pipeline thru the canyon, the heavy
equipment will soon destroy much of this wonderful singletrack. Thus I urge
those of you who haven't been down Sullivan lately to experience it soon,
before the present conditions are gone!
Matthew, Matthew and Joe, Joe
ride past the earth movers at canyon bottom
Matthew, Ali, Dean, Joe, and
David enjoy an Apple Break before the pavement climb
(Considerate Appleman Matthew,
although tired after having arrived home last night
from a vacation in Aruba and
the East Coast, would not let his tradition die)
After climbing the pavement out of
Sullivan we made our way down to Mandeville Canyon for the climb up
Gardenland. It was at about this point that I began feeling the heat. The
climb up the fireroad was in the sun and the fireroad was enveloped by dry,
brown grasses.
The parched trail with an
"inset" view of riders climbing the road above
Witches' Hair¹
feeding on a plant on the rocky hillside
¹
Another common stem parasite in
California is dodder or witches' hair (Cuscuta),
a member of the fabulous Morning-Glory Family (Convolvulaceae).
There are eight native species of dodder in California,
often confined to one or relatively few host shrubs. The
dodders are sometimes placed in their own family, the
Cuscutaceae. Although dodders resemble tangled masses of
orange, spaghetti-like strands (or angel-hair pasta)
twining over shrubs, they actually produce white flowers
that resemble a miniature morning glory blossom. The
orange stems of dodder are without chlorophyll and are
nonphotosynthetic. Therefore, dodder is an obligate
parasite that is completely dependent on its host for
water and nutrients. The dodder taps in on its host's
nutrient supply with a modified root system (haustorium)
that penetrates the stem tissue of the host. It has been
estimated that the total length of twining branches
produced by a single dodder plant may exceed half a mile
(0.8 km).
After the climb up Gardenland we headed
back to Mulholland and eventually our cars. I had a pinchflat near the end
of Caballero Canyon that Ali and Matthew helped me fix, but other than that
we had no major mechanical problems. While half the group had to leave for
various Sunday business, David, Matthew and I enjoyed a relaxing lunch
with good conversation at Greystoke Grill.
Have a great week.
Robco Baggins
