On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:47:17 GMT,
wrote:

Last Chance Road 25 APR 04

[snip]

Valencia Road heads inland from Aptos to connect to Day Valley road
and Freedom Blvd from which Hames Road climbs a short steep hill to
Corralitos and the sausage factory/grocery store. I tanked up and
took a spare 20oz soda pop along so I wouldn't run dry after I got to
the top of Eureka Canyon Road (1850ft) at "four corners" the junction
of Eureka Canyon Rd., Highland Way, Buzzard Lagoon Rd., and Ormsby
Cutoff. I turned up Ormsby Cutoff, now known as Ormsby Trail and
paved about half way to the top at Summit Road.

Ormsby gives a beautiful view to Watsonville in the Pajaro Valley and
Monterey in the back drop at the tip of the Santa Lucia mountains.
Vegetation o this dry slope is mostly brush, manzanita, and digger
pines. I was passed by only one pickup truck and no one gave me the
"git offa my land" routine even though there are threatening signs at
the lower end of the road where there is a permanently open gate, open
by law after the claim to a private road was tested in court. There
was no longer a gate at Summit Road (2860ft).

[crossposted this to ba.bicycles as there have been various threads
about this there as well]

Just to toss in my two cents - Ormsby is indeed a private road. I
have spent the morning on the phone with the county (Surveyor's Office
and the Dept. of Public Works). Both departments think that Ormsby is
private.

I am not saying don't ride there, I'm just rebutting the incorrect
assertion that Ormsby is a public road. It is not. Summit Road's
status is a separate kettle of fish.


-Alan