Black Star Revisited~~

I've been asking....when can we ride Black Star again?? When ? When? Finally, yesterday we drove, we parked, we rode! What?? 82+ degrees on a December day.....oh well, we had water and sunscreen so off we went. What I like about Black Star, out there near Modjeska off Santiago Canyon Rd, is the beautiful scenic fire trail all the way up and the wonderful views when you get there. I like the slow steady pace of a predictable climb. No big boulders, plenty of width from the edge, far away views, quiet, very peaceful, no crowds but not totally alone either. It's a medium, tough ride. On the way up, I got to play Florence Nightingale to a tough ridin' senior who must have been in his late 60's, early 70's. He was having a tough time getting his chain back on after having a spill that had left blood trickling down his knee and a scraped elbow. Geez, I always forget a good pic like that!! I was too busy pulling out my antiseptic spray and trying to get it on his wound and not all over his leg. HAHA!! He was very appreciative. He was waiting for his riding buddy who came barreling down the hill a few minutes later; another 70+ year old biker dude! We stopped a few times to rest and drink and gel then took off again. It took us about 2 hours to ride up about 1,200 feet where we stopped and feasted on our Ritz Bits and cheese sticks; our favorite trail snack...oh yeah and dessert was melted York Peppermint patties...mmmm. We had a perfect picnic spot, though it was short from the very top spot....just another 20 min ride up but I was DONE.....Riding down was so fun....10 minutes total at the most....weeeeeee all the way down.

There is a new barbed wire/electric fence along some private property that was not there two years ago when we rode through. It was creepy to see all these ELECTRIC FENCE signs and dire warnings and rolls of wire and STAY OUT signs. Alright, already, we aren't trespassers! It gave me a bad feeling about who owned this big spread. And how much they distruss people. I sure hope the birds can read the signs, and the coyotes and the deer. I guess they will figure it out before long........Oh, by the way, that's Catalina Island waaaayyy out there in the photo with my arms crossed....see it? right by my head???? Pic. doesn't show you Fashion Island and more...quite a view yesterday~~