I'm checking out my maps looking for some very out of the
way rides in the Los Padres National Forest. I haven't found
any info on the usual sites nor in any guide books, even
hiking books.
If you, or anyone you know (maybe from Santa Barbara or
Santa Maria), has ridden these areas please let me know.
These first ones are in the Cuyama/New Cuyama area of
northern Santa Barbara county:
#1, 26W01, up to Salisbury Potrero, NW along the top of the
#Sierra Madres
on 32S13, Painted Rock, then down 27W04. Looks to be about
10 miles of singletrack and about 3 miles of fireroad.
#2, Aliso Park, up 10N04A, Hog Pen Spring, up 27W02, NW
#along the top of
the Sierra Madres on 32S13, hit McPherson Peak, down 27W01.
Approx 5 miles of singletrack, 2 miles of jeep trail, 2
miles of fireroad.
Maybe do both of the above in one day, or use the Aliso Park
ride as a late afternoon ride.
These following possiblities are further to the west, closer
to Twitchell Reservoir:
#1, Pine Canyon ranger station, 11N04, 11N04A, 31W01, Hwy
#166. About 6
miles of dirt road, 6 miles singletrack, and 3 miles
of Hwy 166.
#2, Brookshire Springs, 31W02, 30W02, down Kerry Cyn, Lazy
#Campground,
11N04, 32W01, 31W12, 11N04, 11N04A. About 12 miles of
singletrack, 2 miles of jeep trail, and 3 miles of forest
service road.
#3, Colson Campground, 31W06, 31W17, 31W13, 31W14, 31W05,
#11N04. Looks
like 10 miles of singletrack, 3 miles of jeep trail.
#4, the grandaddy of this section: Goodchild Ranch, up La
#Brea Creek on
31W09 and then down Horse Canyon on the same trail, then
some unmarked jeep trails back to Goodchild Ranch. 17
miles of pure backcountry singletrack and 10 miles of
remote jeep trail.
These next rides are closer to the usual Santa Barbara rides
of Little Pine Mtn:
#1, P-Bar Flats Campground, up an old jeep trail/singletrack
#to Hildreth
Peak, over to 6N03 and south on it, west on 5N01. 21 miles
of old jeep trail/singletrack, 5 miles of jeep trail.
#2, this would be a point-to-point and passes right between
#the [censored] Smith
and San Rafael wildernesses for 10 miles, start near
Ventucopa, head south up Santa Barbara Cyn on 9N11, west on
the Sierra Madres, continuing south on 9N11 to Big Pine Mtn,
continue past Bluff Camp ranger station, hit Little Pine Mtn
and then descend the popular 27W09 Little Pine Mtn/Oso Cyn
singltrack. This would be about 25 miles of VERY remote jeep
trail finished with the seven miles of 27W09 singletrack.
And lastly east of San Luis Obispo:
#1, Hi Mtn Campground south of Pozo, 30S05, 15E06, M3094,
#16E06, back on
15E06, 30S05.
If anyone in SoCal would like to check these out with me let
me know. It would probably have to be soon, or in the fall
as these areas get extremely hot in the summer. They could
be mostly unridable which I would not want to do in the
middle of summer.
Thanks for reading, Greg