Big Basin

Comments for Big Basin General Plan Due Soon

March 4th, 2010

Big Basin is the oldest state park in the system yet it doesn’t have a general plan. After starts and stops the Big Basin General Plan process is starting up again.

We have a great opportunity to expand mountain bike access in Big Basin. You may view drafts of some planning concepts. Alternative #1 seems to be the most friendly to expanding access for bikes.

This version of the plan proposes: “Provide a continuous trail from the ridge tops to the coast (outside of the wilderness) for bicycle access to natural areas and scenic points of interest”. We submitted a proposal to our State Parks District a few years ago which requests bicycle access to a number of equestrian/hiker only trails. We intend
to continue to ask that the trails we propose be addressed during the general plan process.

Please write comments Comments in support of mountain biking for the Big Basin General Plan are due Saturday March 6th. Please write, phone, email your comments to the following places:


California State Parks
Planning Division
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA
94296-0001

Stuart Hong, Manager
General Plans Section
(916) 653-9644
shong@parks.ca.gov


Here are a few talking points that can help you craft your comments:
  • We support Alternative #1 of the plan to expand more recreation in the park
  • We wish to have legal access from skyline road (from Castle Rock) to the coast
  • We are willing to share trail access on alternating days (mitigate trail conflict concerns)
  • Mountain biking is a fun activity for kids and an alternative to electronic entertainment good and mitigates childhood obesity.
  • Mountain biking is a healthy activity. May be easier on the knees and feet than hiking for some people.
  • Women’s participation in mountain biking has been steadily growing.
  • Brings more people out to the parks, can increase tourism revenue and create more park advocates.
  • Mountain bikers are willing to help with trail design, trail construction and maintenance.
  • Mountain biking is a global activity and brings people from all over the world to enjoy our natural resources. This provide economic opportunities for local businesses.

You may wish to relate your own personal experiences with mountain biking and why you want more access for legal mountain biking in these parks.


Both the Castle Rock Trail Plan and the Big Basin General Plan are very positive for mountain biking and if successful – they will result in the expansion of legal mountain biking trails in these parks. Expanding mountain biking in both of these parks essentially gives us a legal skyline to sea trail in the North part of the County.

However, there is no guarantee of success. There are a lot of groups who are opposed to mountain biking in Santa Cruz County and they are better funded and more organized than us.

We need to have comments and attendance from the community which support mountain biking in both of these plans. It is important to get these comments into the public record. It can be easy as firing off a quick email, making a phone call or showing up and asking questions. It’s a small commitment on your time which can pay off big in the long term.

Thank you for your support of mountain biking in Santa Cruz County!

Posted in advocacy, big basin, state parks | Comments Off

Old Skool Off Roadies

August 29th, 2007

I was looking for information on the Last Chance properties near Big Basin and I came across this gem of a website from Ray Hosler. There are quite a few pages which document these legendary “Jobst” rides from the early 1980′s. A bunch of riders including Tom Richey would do epic all day fire and dirt road explorations in the Santa Cruz mountains with their road bikes.

Check out the slide show which documents 26 years of riding in the Santa Cruz mountains. It’s neat to see some of the vistas and places that these guys took their road bikes. There are all sorts of neat nuggets of history if you poke around the site including the train tunnels in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

No helmets, CamelBaks or suspension. Definitely old school. These guys were the pioneers of the sport.

Posted in big basin, history | 2 Comments È

The Big Picture

June 26th, 2007


I’ve been spending a lot of time in Google Earth these days. For years I have wanted to catalog every mountain bike trail and large land parcels in GE so I can plan for new trails systems and look at the entire inventory of large public and private land holdings to seek opportunities for more access. I seem to have a lot of time these days so I’ve been listening to a lot of internet radio and clicking, clicking, clicking…

The image above captures the state of legitimate mountain bike trails in Santa Cruz county that I’m aware of. If you know if any other legal mountain bike trails in Santa Cruz County then please contact me. The orange and yellow lines represent dirt roads and single track respectively. The white lines represent paved roads which act as connectors within and between parks. Technically, Butano State Park is in San Mateo county but I count it as part of the Big Basin trail system.

There is a lot of opportunity for more mountain bike access in the land holdings which do not have any trails open to bikes. We are currently working on initiatives and projects to expand legitimate access for mountain bikes. If you want to help out then please contact me at http://www.mbosc.org/about.html

Posted in big basin, fall creek, gray whale, nisene, private land, wilder | 2 Comments È