6/7/2016: Bicycling Lowes Canyon

I finally bought a new bicycle.  The pavement is so bad in our area that I would rather be on the dirt roads where someone will spend a Saturday afternoon on their tractor knocking down the washboard; the city just watches the asphalt crumble.  I bought a cross bike that allows me to ride pavement and dirt.  It might be a little slower on the road because it opened up new opportunities for exploration.

My first stop was the backroad to the backroads (01/16/2016: Driving the Backroads Home).  In southern Monterey county, there are a series of parallel “canyons” but they are not all accessible by paved roads.  Some roads lead to another area (King City, or Parkfield), but others go up one valley and back on the next.  With the new bike, I rode up one of the dead end valleys, got to the sign that said “Impassable In Wet Weather”, and rode right by to see what lay beyond.

There was not a single car on the road.  I saw two pairs of does and fawns, countless hawks and other birds, and don’t know how many animals were watching me.  Exploring these roads filled in some gaps of my mental picture of the area.  It was a great ride because I was free to explore but what a contrast from last week (6/3/2015: Bicycling along the American River).  No water here.