Joe's birthday ride, AKA, Fire(place) on the mountain
Jim Mather
The home was designed in a modernist style and built on the southeast side of the mountain. Joe has a picture of the current view and an old picture of the house at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_bunik/6914384039/
The empty pool, tennis courts, foundation and fireplaces remain but everything else was dismantled in 1993 to bring the area back to its natural state.
We continued past the ruins on the trail to the park boundary. There was a small gate and a very faded sign that might have once said Private Property. The trail was obviously seldom used -- grass was growing in it and the only tracks were deer. We hopped the gate and continued down the trail heading towards Morgan Territory Road. Eventually the track looked more used and we came to a much more secure gate with lots of barbed wire. The public road was on the other side of the gate so we knew we were headed in the right direction. The gate was high, so Joe squeezed through the barbed wire fence and I lifted the bikes over to him. I then squeezed through; no one needed a tetanus shot. We turned around to see the gate sign: "Diablo Archery Club -- No Trespassing. Danger!" Good thing we didn't have our helmets with antlers. The remainder of the ride was less fraught with danger.
I have a few pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20986098@N04/6773347072/in/photostream
cheers,
jim
Smitty-A-Go-Go
Joe Bunik
Yep- I spent a most wonderful b'day out here in Rivendell Country!
with my friend and good neighbor Jim M. I've been wanting to get back
out to Green Ranch for a while, since I'd first heard about and
visited last Autumn.
For some context, I've had good fortune that 3 of my local riding
buddies here are(/were!) Legolas owners, and I was duly impressed on
test rides. I believe I'd put the phrase "if ever you want to get rid
of this..." out to each of them. In fact, way back when Riv had first
their crop of Legolai(?), it called out to me as somewhat ideal: light
OS, canti, fancy-but-not-too... One day a few months ago, my phone
rang...
So: I first heard about "Green Ranch" here (see p.3):
http://www.mdia.org/PDF%20Files/MDReviews/Review%20Spring%2005/MDReviewSpring05.pdf
... and was intrigued. A little digging pinned down the location and I
was off. It really is a fabulous trail / fire road, and I will happily
ride/guide anybody interested as circumstances permit!
The previous visit, I'd gone up there solo late one afternoon on an
ill-equipped 650B conversion with semi-slick too-narrow tires - just
too sketchy for the conditions and quickly disappearing light on the
back side of Diablo - so I turned tail and bike-hiked back out to the
road. This time was exactly the terrain and reason why I brought the
Legolas into my life. Absolutely perfect fit by my book.
That said, I won't be taking the bum steer we received from the Park
Rangers again. The trails heading out to the park boundary in fact DO
NOT continue on through to Morgan Territory Rd. Given the precipitous
drop in elevation past the Green Ranch site and the 99% humidity
conditions, we somewhat found ourselves screwed and in that rock/hard
place situation when we came to that first gate... then even worse,
that 2nd gate another 1000' lower on the mountain... I was not
relishing an encounter to find out who would win The Big Jerk Award:
property owner or bandit biker (yes, I realize this is sounding pretty
CYA) !!! Plus, I swear kept hearing Dueling Banjos in my head the
whole time.
Sadly, Legolas Buddy #3 was unable to join in the Legofest. But a
highlight was encountering a crabon fibre roadie at The Junction who
dropped-jaw upon seeing us. Actually, it turns out he races CX on his
L.! You never walk alone in Rivendell Country!
=- Joe Bunik
Walnut Creek, CA
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Manuel Acosta
not the only one that hears Dueling Banjos whenever I'm in back
country. I want to go here and bring up some chairs and a table to
play chess!
On Feb 21, 9:06 pm, Joe Bunik <jbu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ha, good bean spillin', Jim! :-)
>
> Yep- I spent a most wonderful b'day out here in Rivendell Country!
> with my friend and good neighbor Jim M. I've been wanting to get back
> out to Green Ranch for a while, since I'd first heard about and
> visited last Autumn.
>
> For some context, I've had good fortune that 3 of my local riding
> buddies here are(/were!) Legolas owners, and I was duly impressed on
> test rides. I believe I'd put the phrase "if ever you want to get rid
> of this..." out to each of them. In fact, way back when Riv had first
> their crop of Legolai(?), it called out to me as somewhat ideal: light
> OS, canti, fancy-but-not-too... One day a few months ago, my phone
> rang...
>
Joe Bunik
(snowy!!!) mountain on what I was referring to as my
freshly-overhauled "Ghetto-Legolas":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_bunik/5464362430/
I'll go up there with you any time, Manny. Many more trails to check out.
"Moist but snow-free this year"
=- Joe