“Sometimes the best [fun] things in life are unexpected.”—Faith Sullivan
Bill and I decided to go to the Lexington Reservoir in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We have done this ride a great number of times. At first in was pretty uneventful, that is until we got to "Road Closed" sign, except for deliveries. So we slipped through until we hit another road closed sign that at first glanced seemed more formidable due to a large collapsed road under repair. Bill found a narrow opening closer to the canyon below. The other option was lifting our bikes over the cement barrier and make our way to the far left where there was an unobstructed way to continue our ride. I just had a dental implant the day before, and the last question I asked my oral surgeon “Can I ride my bike.” He said "yes, but be careful not to fall!” I thought to myself, when he said yes, I don’t think he was envisioning this.
We chose the narrow path. It was a radical detour to be sure. Bill took the lead to show me it was doable. Looking back at the photos Bill took of me coming through, it is hard to imagine we actually made it. As they say it was all down hill from here. We were surrounded by beauty. We enjoyed that fresh mountain air and stunning views of the reservoir from up above and at the water’s edge below. The last section however, was a bit perilous. There is a narrow section near the water’s edge. Recent rains cause it to be muddy and it took more time to navigate. Though we took it slow, our bike tires were fishtailing back and forth as we slogged through the thick muddy terrain. In fact we had encounter variable terrain: paved, gravel, rock, dirt and mud. It was clear sailing from here. As we made our way back home along the Los Gatos Creek Trail, stopping briefly to view the Vasona Reservoir.
Postscript: The only creepy thing that happened was Bill pretending to eat a banana slug he found on a muddy surface behind the cement barrier of the closed off road and pretended he was going to eat it. The banana slug which happens to be the most common slug on campus is the mascot of UCSC.
