Sanborn County Park
Camp Review
I have camped here a few different times and this park is as amazing as ever. It’s so close in terms of distance, yet it’s so far away from the city in terms of noise or the density of people.
Trail Review
We biked from our house through Los Gatos and Saratoga. In terms of large roads, we rode Almaden Expy, Los Gatos Almaden Rd, Saratoga Los Gatos Rd, Big Basin Way, and Sanborn Rd. Except for Big Basin Way and Sanborn Rd, these roads were unremarkable, though they all had really wide bike lanes.
Big Basin Way—let’s just say that the way down is much more fun than the way up. Still, even on the way up, it’s a gentle grade, so it’s not so bad.
Sanborn Rd is one I had driven before, so I knew that it was hilly, but I had not remembered just how hilly it was—the grade was so steep that Cassie and I walked the majority of it. The big positive though is that it cuts through a redwood forest, so we were surrounded by the magnificent trees (and the always welcome blackberry bushes that provided us with berries to help power through).
Big Basin Way and Sanborn Rd were almost fully shaded and quite nice. The rest of the roads were almost fully unshaded.
People get worried about car traffic on Big Basin Way, but drivers were awfully nice when we went. Lots of passing space and I never felt like we were in danger.
What I Learned
It was my first time loading my bike up with two (unconnected) panniers as well as two fork packs. Compared to a double-sided pannier, I felt that the new setup was more flexible with room to carry a whole lot more.
The extra-large panniers and fork bags allowed me to carry extra camp niceties that I regretted whenever the road got steep. Because Cassie couldn’t carry very much, I ended up carrying all the camping gear on my bike. The bike weighed 62 lbs. On flats though, it wasn’t bad at all.
Friends
Tommy, Joseph, and Ajay accompanied us on this trip. Tommy was a known entity to me—he’s an amazing guy—he’s super chill, non-judgmental, and someone who likes doing activities that I like doing. I had met Joseph on a prior climbing trip but hadn’t gotten to know him. On this trip, I learned that he’s a confident, yet quiet fellow who doesn’t seem to worry too much—that doesn’t mean that he’s reckless though. Ajay was someone new to me; I just knew him as Tommy’s friend. I learned that he’s an old soul that has had one of the most interesting lives I have ever heard of. From his stories, I found his focus on spirituality super interesting. Overall, it was a really fun group of people to camp with—our conversations were 10/10, no-notes.
Day 1 — 19.5 miles, 2 hrs and 15 mins, 1761 ft of ascent
Day 2 — 20.3 miles, 1 hr and 34 mins, 459 ft of ascent
What Happened?
It had been more than a year since I had enticed Cassie with the possibility of a bikepacking trip. But due to injuries and other adventures, we just had not found the right opportunity until this weekend—Cassie’s doctor gave her the green light to exercise a whole lot more than before, so we booked a one-night bikepacking trip to Sanborn County Park.
I then asked folks in Tommy’s biking Discord if they were interested in joining, and it turned out to be quite popular. We all decided to meet up in Downtown Saratoga around dinner time.
We initially tried to eat at the Big Basin Cafe, but when we tried to order sandwiches, we were informed that their grill closes an hour before the actual closing time (booooo). So we pivoted to our second choice, Anchors Fish and Chips. We had a great meal where Jo probably got the best bang for the buck with fish and chips, Cassie had some yummy fish tacos, Tommy carbo-loaded with a shrimp pomodoro, and I had the fancy grilled halibut. Satisfied, we rode up to Sanborn as a group—slowly but surely, we made it to our campsite right as the last bits of light faded away. And even before we could take our tents out, Ajay joined us at the campsite.
We got our tents situated and even though I think we could have fit everyone in the small hard-packed dirt patch made for tents, Ajay decided to camp underneath the trees (it looked really cozy). We then sat around the picnic table and got to know each other with great stories from our lives. Hours passed and we decided to retire for the night a little after 10 p.m.
It turned out to be a humid night and I found myself waking up quite a bit at night. However, the sleep that I found was deep, so it wasn’t bad at all. I was very warm though, so I only put a blanket over myself in the early morning hours, while Cassie slept in her sleeping bag.
In the morning, we cleaned up and talked for a little bit while Cassie plein air painted. People were thirsty for coffee and hungry for breakfast, so we didn’t linger long and headed back to the Big Basin Cafe.
At the cafe, Jo had the avocado toast while the rest of us had the delicious breakfast burritos. We sat by the window and enjoyed the ever-continuing conversations. At one point a large cycling group came by and we checked out the different bikes and their drivetrains.
All good things must come to an end, however, and we parted ways as our paths home now needed to point in different directions.
Feeling hot, Cassie and I looked for open ice cream stores on the way home, but we struck out twice—once near Los Gatos Town Hall and another near the Philz Coffee in Los Gatos. Instead, we ended up stopping by the local Safeway and getting some Häagen-Daz bars—we bought a three-pack and enjoyed two of the bars. We were going to carry the last one home, but we passed by a homeless Navy vet and shared it with him instead.
By the time we got home, it was muggy and we were both feeling very hot. Needless to say, the lukewarm shower we took at home felt oh-so-good.
