The weather outlook has brightened considerably in soggy Northern California, but it will be a while before trails pack down for riding.
Sources from Santa Cruz to Marin have reported boggy sections of favorite trails, and even in exposed double-track, drainage continues to provide a high spatter factor. Wilder Ranch, which we rode on Wednesday (only on fire roads), re-opened yesterday afternoon after being closed due to conditions.
We tried out Arastradero regional park in Palo Alto yesterday and it wasn’t pretty. Exposed and multi-use, Arastradero is our bellwether site. Although chunks of trail are dry, numerous switchbacks and runoff sinks have been churned into goo.
On one popular spur, damage was so severe that walk-arounders have made a section hourglass-shaped. The only problem: It puts users right alongside a fresh patch of poison oak.
With little rain forecast in the foreseeable future, trails should bounce back quickly. We’ll keep you posted.