Santa Cruz County’s land access problem has a simple fix: Just let bikers, hikers and runners in

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Santa Cruz County has a land access problem that would be easy to solve.

Spend a Saturday at Wilder Ranch State Park, Cotoni-Coast Dairies or the trails behind the UC Santa Cruz campus, and you will quickly realize that Santa Cruz County could use a few more mountain bike trails. Like surf breaks, trail networks are popular and can get busy to the point that the risk of collisions becomes real, despite our best efforts to share. 

We are all grateful for recent projects like Cotoni-Coast Dairies, but the public deserves to enjoy more of our beautiful surroundings. 

Social media, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, caused outdoor recreation – mountain biking, trail running, hiking, etc. – to explode in popularity, and the strain on existing open spaces and trail networks is real. It’s exciting that more and more people are finding exercise, joy and peace in natural spaces, particularly now as our society suffers from an array of overlapping crises, many of which stem from or contribute to the lack of healthy fun and access to natural spaces. 

So we should be celebrating the popularity of our magnificent trail networks. But we do need to spread out more. 

Thankfully, Santa Cruz County abounds with beautiful, rural land. The problem is that not enough of it is open to the public. Unlike surfing, which requires specific weather and ocean conditions, mountain biking and trail running can happen just about anywhere. You just need a trail.

The vast networks of fire roads that traverse California’s coastal ranges are great for folks on the hunt for exercise that moves beyond the thrills downhill singletrack trails provide. All we need is permission to use them.

After the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire and subsequent flooding, many of the steep fire roads that navigate the forests of northern Santa Cruz County and southern San Mateo County, including many in Big Basin Redwoods, Butano and Portola Redwoods state parks as well as Pescadero Creek Park, have been closed to the public, due to “hazardous conditions,” which generally includes down trees and, in a few rare cases, washouts. These types of conditions can definitely be dangerous to trail users, especially those with less experience. And it’s certainly understandable that it would take several years to fully rebuild roads and clear all the debris. 

But it’s been five years, and in the meantime, why can’t folks ride these roads in an “at your own risk” manner? 

I’ve been exploring the back woods of Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties on foot and by bicycle for a little over two years, after nearly a decade split between western Colorado and San Diego County, where just about all of the fire roads stretching across its manzanita mountains are fair game. Compared to those shrub slopes, the shallow but extensive roots of coastal redwood forests hold the ground in place and limit erosion, maintaining some of the steepest grades and toughest lung-busters in California.

Many of us trail users don’t need highly curated outdoor spaces with groomed trails, fancy signage, campgrounds, bathrooms and ranger stations; we just need open roads and trails. For example, a fire road leads from Empire Grade down to Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Eagle Rock, an incredible access point that is currently closed due to “hazardous conditions.” It is unclear when these hazardous conditions will be mitigated. 

In addition, too much of the land is closed to the public due to logging or other industrial activities. If it weren’t for a logging closure on Old Haul Road in Pescadero Creek Park, a critical connection between Santa Cruz and San Mateo county trail systems could easily be made with Highway 9 at Waterman Gap, or, with a bit of effort, China Grade Road. You could ride your bike from Big Basin Redwoods to Portola Redwoods state parks. Similarly, if it weren’t for no trespassing signs on the rails adjacent to East Zayante Road, you could ride your bike from near the Zayante Creek Market & Deli to the Pacific Ocean, without ever having to ride on the road with cars. 

Land trusts can be helpful in securing the critical connections between existing public lands, but are often more motivated to conserve the land for ecological purposes and prioritize “managing” and “restoring” the land for decades. Many donors to these organizations expect that their dollars are used to open land to the public, but more often than not, donor dollars are used to purchase land that remains closed to people. 

While recreationists and land trusts have a lot of similar goals, we are strange bedfellows. 

San Vicente Redwoods is an excellent example. There, a group of land trusts has devoted over $5 million and nearly 15 years to build a small network of highly curated and controlled trails, with restrictive hours and a kiosk that sends a pass via email – in an area where many people don’t have cell service. Meanwhile, the larger San Vicente property owned by the trusts has a vast network of existing fire roads that lead down to Davenport and Cotoni-Coast Dairies, and could form a crucial connection between Empire Grade and the coast. Sadly, these roads are closed for “conservation,” “restoration” and “selective thinning.” 

In practice, this means that logging trucks and machinery tear up the landscape, but those same roads can’t be used for recreation. It is unclear what exactly is being “conserved” and “restored.” 

Ecosystems are generally very good at restoring themselves following disturbance, and fire is one of the ways in which a landscape renews itself and adapts to changing conditions. Compared to logging trucks and heavy machinery, human-powered recreation has a negligible impact. 

Signs at San Vicente Redwoods assure trail users that “30 more miles of new trails are planned.” This is amazing, but a fire road today is worth far more than a hypothetical trail 10 years from now. Life is short, and it’s happening to us right now. I hope my body will still be in good shape in 10  years, but life has no guarantees.

This property was purchased in 2011, but opened to the public only last year – this pace is wildly out of sync with the average lifespan.

All we need is permission – networks of single-track trails at Cotoni-Coast Dairies and San Vicente Redwoods could be connected instantly. Many beautiful coastal areas of California have been opened up and connected in this way: in the Santa Ynez Mountains, Camino Cielo Road connects existing mountain bike trails and provides stunning vistas of the Santa Barbara coast and Channel Islands; similarly, Coast Ridge Road undulates along the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, connecting hiking trails and offering incredible views of the Big Sur coastline.

More than highly curated trail networks, we just need permission to access existing roads and trails. The popularity of outdoor recreation has wildly outgrown the capacity of our existing trail networks and the pace at which land trusts and public agencies open up more recreational spaces. 

From an ecological perspective, human-powered recreation should be the least of our concerns compared to the damage done by cars, trucks, industry and machines. We should be encouraging folks to get outside, exercise, recreate and appreciate our surroundings, in whatever way they choose. Rather than spending all our time and money on new trails, efforts would be much better spent on connecting existing networks. 

All we need is permission. 

Mickey Rush is an environmental scientist, mountain biker, trail runner, and public lands advocate. He values clean air and water, fitness, thrift, simplicity, quiet and open space.