Anderson Truck Trail

Enjoying the beautiful scenery from the trail that almost took my life

Anderson Truck Trail offered skyscraping views of El Capitan Reservoir as I climbed along a cliff opposed by the gigantic face of El Capitan Mouintain.

Near the top of the cliff, views to the northern part of the lake and the eastern mountains snuck into my viewfinder. Once on top, I saw snow on peaks far to the north and east...Where was this place?

Many bikers like to park their vehicles under the bridge where the Puetz Valley Road goes under Interstate 8. I do not enjoy riding on pavement and certainly not on that narrow and curvy road, so after exiting on the Dunbar Lane Exit and going straight, I turned left under the bridges and continued up Puetz Valley Road to park near the trailhead. There is limited parking space here, so sometimes I have to drive back down the hill and park under the bridges. There was plenty of room at the trailhead this day.

Anderson Truck Trail begins right past the nursery on Puetz Valley Road. I generally like to weave in and out of some of the obstacles that lay in the trail. After I went a hundred yards or so I rounded a sharp corner and came to "The Wall". Actually, it looks like a giant bulldozer blade that someone has placed to block any four wheeled vehicles from passing. "The Great Wall of Bofus" is spray painted on the backside, whatever that means. (Everyone knows it takes more than "The Great Wall of Bofus" to stop mountain bikers!!)

Once past "The Wall" I immediately came to the main reason they put it there. Erosion had turned what used to be Anderson Truck Trail into Anderson Bike Trail. A big portion of the road/trail has collapsed into a ravine maybe 50 feet deep, leaving a trail only about 24" wide. There were a few autos down in the bottom that either didn't realize the road had disappeared or were dumped down there by non-environmentalists. The rest of the trail was in some evolutionary stage between single and double track.

The next thing I know I came to a big flattened trail juncture. I knew the trail to the left would take me down toward the boggy part of the lake. I once read on a trail review that some guy went riding down here and dropped off into a gully and broke almost every bone in his body. I am not quite sure where he went off, but I do know that I would never go bombing down an unknown trail without first checking it out.

I chose to go straight and stay on the Anderson Truck Trail.

Right around the bend from here I came to a creek crossing. This was Puetz Valley Creek. It runs almost year-round and usually has some interesting "bridges" set up. I could test my "Trials" skills by attempting to ride all 20 feet across on 2"x6" boards ... but I chose to just ride right through the creek.

The creek was flowing high ... so I got off the bike and hiked 30 feet or so upstream through the bushes. There is a nice little waterfall back there. I doubt many bikers know it exists.

Passing The Conejos Creek Junction

A couple of turns later I came to where the Conejos Creek Trail turns left from Anderson Truck Trail. The Conejos Trail used to bring me down to the shore of El Capitan Reservoir where I would ride up-lake and eventually get to where Conejos Creek empties into the reservoir. This beautiful trail has now been fenced with barbed wire and a sign forbids passing.

From the Conejos Trail junction Anderson Truck Trail begins to climb. I steadily climbed and climbed... up the side of the plateau, and my views of the lake increased.

After about 1 mile of steady climbing, near the top of the plateau, I saw a lot of bike tracks coming down off a large rock to my right. This was the finish of what I have been told is a "World Class" downhill run. The riders fly off this last rock and must land on the narrow trail I had been riding up. The tough part, it appears, is...upon landing the rider must make an immediate left turn or he'll fly off the cliff edge and land in the brush and boulders down toward the lake. Maybe in my younger days, when I was braver/dumber!!

Just past this landing spot I came upon was the bike "pull-out." From here I could see a lot of the lake below. When I looked closely at the northern part of El Capitan Reservoir and beyond I nnoticed the lake was almost perfectly straight. This "straightness" can really be seen on Google Maps. I am no geologist but it looks like there must be an earthquake fault that leads all the way to Santa Ysabel. Click on the map and check it out!

El Capitan Dam and Reservoir

Looking North from Bike "Pull-Out"

A quarter mile further up Anderson Truck Trail brought me to the very large flat area on top of the plateau. Viejas Mountain loomed directly in front of me along with some of the houses on the western side of Alpine. From here I enjoyed a 360 degree view, with the enormous El Capitan Mountain lying to the west. A couple different dirt roads all converge on this spot. I chose to continue on up Anderson which had changed back into a Truck Trail (sorta). Some stretches of the road looked fine, while others had severe ruts and channels up to 3 feet deep. One of these rutted stretches was the site of my crash in 2008... for more details see my write-up, Crash!! You Should Be Dead!

My next significant stop was in front of the first ranch to appear heading east on the Truck Trail. This was where I was flown out in the rescue helicopter after my crash. The road makes a sharp right turn there and starts a steep climb. Arriving at the top of the hill I figured I had 3 choices:

1) Ride back down Anderson Truck Trail (the way I had come).

2) Keep going all the way to Alpine on Anderson Truck Trail, ride down Victoria lane, ride through town and past...down to the bridge, then back to the truck.

3) Drop off Anderson Truck trail onto some challenging single track that has recently been created.

Since I don't like to backtrack, and I don't like riding on pavement, I took the singletrack.

The Singletrack

I found this top section of the "World Class" downhill so challenging I ended up walking quite a bit. There were jumps, dozens of jumps, separated by short pieces of trail. Most of these jumps were set up so the rider could fly off a boulder. Most of the boulders would require landing from a 3 to 4 foot drop. Many were in the 5-7 foot category while a couple must drop a good 8 feet. None of these jumps were in the range I am willing to try...the 1 to 2 foot category.

While picking my way around the jumps I came upon a young man with a shovel. He had his bike parked nearby and was working on a new jump. As I approached he looked up and I said hello. He immediately said, "You're Mr. Unden, right?" I said, "Yes, but I have no idea who you are." He introduced himself as Gabe Morocco, a graduate from the high school, where I teach. He added, "I know your daughter, Kayley...we had some classes together."

I said, "Yes, she is at UCSD now", then I changed the subject with, "This is some kind of wild track you guys have concocted here." I added, "I think it is great that you are down here making improvements. So many riders just use trails, and never think about building new ones or improving old ones." He said, "When my buddies can't ride, I like to come down here and work on new jumps...'cause I get tired of the same old ones. But I don't jump when I am by myself." I told him that was smart...then he said, "Didn't you break your neck up here?" I said, "Yes, but not by going off any of these jumps. I was just on that dirt road over there," as I pointed to the north toward Anderson Truck Trail. Then I inquired, "How do you know about my crash...that was almost three years ago." He answered, "Mr. Palmer (a young math teacher at my school) was talking about you in class...he said you were by yourself." "That's right" I concurred, "and...well I still do a lot of biking by myself...but I am a lot more cautious now." We talked about a few other things and then I went on to tackle the rest of this trail. He wished me good luck. I needed it.

The lower portion of this "World Class" downhill" is a little more tame. I rode most of it, only having to go around a few giant jumps, especially that last one...the one requiring the immediate 45 degree upon landing.

Riding back down the cliff face was a totally different ride than when I had came up. I had to be very careful not to gather too much speed...hit a rut the wrong way and I could be heading straight down to the lake.

The view was also different, as I was looking at the other end of the canyon and lake. I could see the trail descending ahead of me...the freeway in the background...the boat marina below, and... WATCH OUT!!! I almost went off the trail!!!

After passing Peutz Creek and "The Great Wall of Bofus" I found my way back to the truck. I immediately called Cindy and let her know I was back. She always sounds so relieved, especially this time... since I'd been riding Anderson Truck Trail.

To see some footage of my ride at Anderson, click the YouTube video below.

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