Santa Ysabel Preserve + Volcan Mtn. Recon Ride

Santa Ysabel Preserve and Volcan Mtn Recon Route

Well here we go again. John had some free time today (Tuesday), so we decided to check out some possible future rando routes around Santa Ysabel, CA. The idea was to connect routes using the dirt Black Canyon Road northward from Ramona with dirt around Julian and points south to hook up with the Stagecoach 400 into San Diego. I had plotted this route our a few weeks back but never got up to test ride it.

All looked good on the satellite map, so we loaded up the trial bikes into John's little Honda Element on a foggy morning and headed over to Santa Ysabel. The fog cleared by Ramona and the rest of the drive-in was filled with ideas of a dirt route from Ramona to Santa Ysabel, using trails south of Hwy. 78. Nice try as private land dots the whole valley there.

Santa Ysabel Preserve East Trailhead

We were off around 8:30 AM to 60F temps at Don's Market. Sun was up and it felt real good as we rode the
shoulder on the short run up Hwy. 79 to the Santa Ysabel Preserve Trailhead. Passing through the gate, we checked the trail board and the brochure maps of the trail.

Instant climbing greeted us on a farmer road, dodging the cow patties from the open grazing through the preserve. The first real climb and we were walking up the rocky, slippery slope of 15% grade. This stuff was a little nasty, with ruts and loose sections dotted with those fist size rocks making traction difficult. Ditto for the next 17% climb as we headed into the trees. Now I know why we didn't see any bike tracks around here. In fact we didn't see much of any tracks at all. The first 1.5 miles was all in the 13-17% climbing range mixed with a few lesser sections.

John checks Garmin route at trail fork.

After about 30 minutes of this, we could look westward down to Santa Ysabel and saw the elevation gain already! No wonder we were sucking air! More of this hard stuff as we came to the first trail junction. Gamin said we were on track. We pulled the maps and tried to figure out were we were in relation to the points on the map. I also discovered my Garmin was off. Earlier, guess I started it and then stopped it in short order. The trail eased up a bit as we turned northward. As we climbed around a gentle curve, there was this newly painted metal bench, facing westward. John parked his bike and sat there enjoying the view. Of course, I got a good picture of this for the record. At this point we were up to 4200' , the same elevation as Julian!

A nice rolling downhill put us in some meadows for another trail turn. The route became more enjoyable then, as we were climbing at a more leisurely grade of 4-6%. Met our first hiker walking the dog. Stocky lady with hiking boots and her camera in hand. Great downhill ahead as John used stealth mode to sneak up on another lady hiker and scared the jee-bees out of her as she jumped when he passed. Must have had the iPod cranked up?

John checks the views west at misplaced bench.

A long steep downhill followed by a muddy cattle creek crossing. Someone placed a split log bridge in for
hikers and bikers. Thank you. Next up the trail got great as it followed Santa Ysabel Creek through the meadow and then into a large oak grove. Good riding on fallen leaves as we soon wound our way to the Farmer Road Trailhead. That last section was real rando nice! We refueled there and John did a photo study on a red ant nest. Soon we were off down Farmer road southbound with more climbing for 1.5 miles to the next recon ride up Volcan Mtn.

No one parked roadside for the jaunt up to Volcan Mtn. Looks like we'll have this trail all to ourselves today. A short rocky road ride to the gate, which was located next to someone's home and small vineyard. This great wooden sign introduced us to the Volcan Mtn. Preserve and just up the trail was a unique entry point of three tall metal artwork enhanced poles, through which we had to pass. Nearly a consistent double digit climb started on good hard-packed sandstone laced with a few rocky sections. Further up on the right was a "1.2 mile hiker only trail" built with a grant in 2003 by the California Conservation Corps. No bikes allowed on that nice single track! I somehow jammed by right achilles into my pedal and that sucker was starting to throb in 4/4 time.

Kelly rides through oak grove trail.

Several sections of light rocky climbing before the trail opened up to a meadow. Good views from here as
we continued climbing with the summit in sight. Good rando riding now as we were met by a gate to end our legal route to the top of Volcan Mtn. with just 200' of climbing left! Bummer. Both wings of the gate were off limits due to heavy brush enhanced by a strong looking barb-wire fence. We pondered our options a bit, before deciding to return downhill and leaving the summit for another day. Back down at the trailhead, John met a family friend who was starting her hike to the top on some kind of a treasure hunt. What are the odds of that?

We took Farmer Road southbound and were met with some more 9% climbs before arriving in Julian. Our break was at the familiar Cozen's Station, where I promptly iced down my now golf ball sized ankle swelling. We sat around in the sun as John adjusted his seat and commented on some patrons ripped jeans denoting a tanned near butt-crack!

Nearing the top of Vulcan Mtn.

Sandwiches finished off, we soon rolled through town and were chased by a strong tailwind through Wynola at speeds at 38mph! That's real quick on a big tired bike for me! Several stops along Hwy. 78 to check out new trails from Santa Ysabel for possible future recon rides soon put us back at Don's Market and the end to the recon morning.The trip back to San Marcos was highlighted by how lousy we climbed today. OH, well, we'll see what happens on the next trail ride.

-randorides