Alan Walendowski writes:

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.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess Ormsby was not included in the
court case that opened the gates on Summit. In any case, the Ormsby
folks don't seem to take individual bicyclists as a threat to their
community anymore. Maybe that's because these folks are actually land
owners and wage earners in contrast to the former trailer folk who
seemed to be squatters to me.

Jobst Brandt