I took the singlespeed out for a little trail love these Tuesday out at Penasquitos Canyon and the “Tunnels”. Tunnels used to be in the “secret-stash” catergory but has exploded in popularity with the destruction of Del Mar Mesa and the “Intestines” trails. You won’t find much in the way of direct information about Tunnels on the site. I have be purposely keeping it off the web due to the ongoing issues of access and trail designations in the area. Do a search online on Tunnels, Deer Canyon and Los Penasquitos Preserve and you will find lots. As far as how to get there. Go ride, Penasquitos Canyon, when you get the top of the powerline climb, Hang a right and head towards the only three trees on the mesa. Explore for hours from there, literally. BTW, you will get turned around and confused to some degree or another. Enjoy it.
I really love riding in this area. It is a true gem of a trail system. It has been here for many years and most of the network was orginally created by illegal aliens who setup and camps and trails to and from the agriculture fields. The illegals have been run out and mountain bikers are slowly but surely cleaning up the mess that was left behind.
In addition to the trails down in the tunnels there is a series of trails that run along the edge of the “fingers” of the mesa above Deer Canyon. This simply good freaking singletrack. REAL TRAILS, not the doubletrack, drive-a-camero-on-it BS pathway crap that seems to routinely tries to be passed off as trails in this county. Yep this is good stuff and the singlespeed was a great bike to enjoy it on.
I rode all around and through the tunnels until I thought I was going to run short on daylight. The Tunnels can seem quite dark pretty early in the afternoon so I ended with more of the day left than I thought. I decided to take a run up the Cobbles Trail to see the damage done to Del Mar Mesa. I had not been up here since the construction started as I really did not want to see it. Cobbles now just ends at the top and the top is a terrible thing to look at.
I could not help but think of all the ninnies complaining about the impact that we mountain bikers create on the “Tunnels” with our waffle tracks. I would like to take those people up to this spot and pimp slap them until they get “it”. These so-called “stewards of the land” need to start thinking a little more holistically and start looking into the enviroment impact on one of the most endangered species in coastal San Diego County, “The Human Trail User“.
Okay I feel better after ranting.