The Sky line is Falling!!!

Yesterday I did one of my standard rides that circumnavigates Redwood Park in the East Bay Hills. I couldn't help noticing all the enormous blue tarps covering the hills. It looked a bit like a Christo project gone horribly wrong (one might argue if any go right...but that's a subject for another post). While climbing Skyline Blvd. I passed a minimum of 5 slides in various states of repair. The most recent started this weekend and gets press because it is threatening the homes below and the new home of Attorney General Moonbeam. However, the largest slide has been sitting idle for several months and it's hard for me to imagine a reasonable method of repair.

This summer a massive section of hill slid, undercutting the road, pulling down the guard rail, fire hydrants and a large light pole. Many of these items still dangle over the new canyon floor. As the slide has reduced the road to one lane one can assume it must be fixed at some point it clearly isn't happening soon. Filling this slide would be a Herculean task. Cutting further into the hill might compromise the stability of the hill and homes above. Stuck between two equally distasteful options, the one lane road sits there, idle.

Other slides along Skyline get more attention due to their threat to homes and roads below but everywhere there are cracks hinting at Skylines inevitable movement 'down canyon'.

After turning off Skyline, I descended Pinehurst, passing several other slides that sit ignored. This particular section of road sits on the county line, the proverbial 'ugly step child' of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Several sections are reduced to one lane. Permanently installed stop signs indicate bureaucrats surrender to the forces of entropy.

While the road conditions along the ridge deteriorate, making me long for the smooth pavement of the Veneto in Italy, this is still a classic East Bay ride that I love. Once off the ridge the route takes you through the town of Canyon which consists of a Post Office and two room school house. As the name implies, you ride along the base of a redwood, fern and moss filled canyon that feels like a trip through Middle Earth. Canyon is always a few degrees cooler than the ridge. In the summer this can be a welcome relief from the heat. While dodging clouds of ladybugs, riders enjoy the shade of the giant redwoods. In the winter the ride is more like spelunking. At this time of year the sunlight doesn't quite reach the valley floor, everything remains damp, the green moss seems to glow and lichens extend their reach on the oak bark. And while you may occasionally see a Yellow Bug you will most surely see some yellow slugs. Looking up, you can see the sunlight grazing the tops of the trees and you long if it to reach down and warm your bones.

Soon enough you climb out of the canyon again, back to the buzz of 'civilization' and the constant struggle to keep Skyline Blvd. at the top of the hill.