Bikepack trip 2026

4 ← and 3 nights - carrying everything we need on the bikes

then is was a pretty mellow cruise through familiar territory of santa cruz, taking it slow along the coast all the way to the next campsite. got there on another beautiful sunny afternoon and it gave us time to swim in the ocean which was a great feeling to wash off the last 36 hours of dirt dust and crust. rode into capitols for dinner and it was another early night for me, knowing the next day is the big return ride.

leaving santa cruz beside morning commute traffic and then through quiet secluded towns it was a great start to the last day. apparently even with one of us using gps and the route planner matt checking his maps, we must have missed a turn and it meant we added a few hundred extra credit feet of climbing. theres something about hearing about the route and the daily mileage and elevation that those numbers get stuck in your head. during sketchy sections of the ride or challenging climbs i keep reframing those numbers "only 15 miles left" or "just 1,500 more feet thats like one of (insert familiar climb around home here)" so when youre going up s mountain with all your gear on your bike and it was supposed to be a 2000ft climb, but it feels like s 3,500ft climb, it starts to really wear you down mentally and physically. it was actually a relief at the top of this final climb to learn we went up the wrong road, and we accidentally chose the taller one.

the downhill that rewarded us was so fast and twisty and long that by the time we stopped again, at the dam of a reservoir, i had to tighten my brake pads because they lost so much bite from the pads being used.

los gatos to san jose was mostly on a dedicated bike path along a creek but we were in a hurry to catch a train up to san francisco so it flew by.

at the train station mikes tire blew up just sitting there leaned up against a wall, maybe it had enough. he put a new tube on while on the train and that one exploded, causing passengers to scream. luckily he had another spare tube and it did the job. from the train station through a short ride during thursday afternoon commute and over to the ferry building, then it was an unfriendly elbows out agitating challenge to stay ahead of the other passengers boarding just to have a place to hang our bikes and sit in eye sight of them. the ferry took us to larkspur, we pedaled against a headwind all the way to san rafael and that marked the end of it. about 200 miles in 4 days and got to see and enjoy an amazing bike route.

the route was basically an oval over the western bay area of

california. doing this is spring meant that weather could very

easily ruin the fun factor. doing this on bikes also meant that the success of the trip heavily weighed on how well we: mike, matt, have maintained the bikes and if we are mechanically savvy enough to fix them upon something going wrong.

so we set out on a monday morning. san rafael to half moon bay over the golden gate bridge through part of san francisco along the great american highway then up paved hills then up dirt hills and down and on and on until we got to the campsite, just after "pre dinner" german sausages and beer.

real dinner came from a late night taqueria and supplies came from a grocery store minutes before closing.

so far the weather could not be better - high 60s, partly cloudy and light winds.

day 2 included the usual "pre breakfast" at the campsite before repacking the bikes and riding to a real breakfast, loading up on necessary snacks and water and continuing. a large part of the jumorning was along a dirt path along the beach , then we cut inland through rolling hills and small towns before making it to a park ranger station that was supposed to have water refill. it didnt. to our surprise everything was closed and damaged from a 2023 fire. we followed a trail to a nearby creek and took turns using mikes water filter to fill up our bladders knowing that we had to bike into the wilderness and up fireroads to butano campground in the santa cruz mountains. tough climb. we didnt see another soul for a couple of hours of the climb and when we arrived at the campsite surrounded by redwoods there was a calfire truck and two dudes managing controlled burns to help clear individual camp areas. they wondered how we got there and what information told us it was ok to camp, but they said they were fine with us staying afterall it was getting dark and we were miles / hours from any other options. we set up tents and i was asleep before it was actually dark. exhausted.

i woke up to the smell of wildfire and the scratch of smoke and most of all a crazy sounding animal call that sounded big and close. another hour or longer of climbing slowly up mountain ridges through rough fireroad blocked by downed trees and then we had an epic descent into boulder creek for real breakfast, more stocking up now that we had access to water again and then a lot of pedaling down highway 9 to reach a trailhesd that invited us to single track trails and off the crowded road.

los gatos to san jose was mostly on a dedicated bike path along a creek but we were in a hurry to catch a train up to san francisco so it flew by.