It's been awhile since I rode in the Swell. It was still a little warm, but in a few weeks the weather will be perfect for riding. I wanted some easy riding/exploring this weekend so I hit the Woodside Anticline area again. There are so many roads/trails in that are that I think it would take a good year or so of casual riding to hit them all.
The first trail I hit climbed up the eastern slope of the anticline, and at many places ran across bare rock and was a bit hard to follow.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9774.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9776.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9779.JPG
Once the trail reached the top of the ridge, there were some nice views.
Looking east toward Mt. Elliott:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9782.JPG
View west toward the highest point along the anticline:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9789.JPG
The trail then descended some switchbacks and ran in to the heart of the anticline:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9792.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9810.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9811.JPG
Bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9813.JPG
Another trail I rode on runs through a valley between the San Rafael Swell and the Woodside Anticline. Here you can see the Swell rise up on the left and the Woodside Anticline rise up on the right:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...818_stitch.jpg
A stone quarry in the Morrison Formation:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9823.JPG
View toward Curtis Point:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9834.JPG
A couple of interesting rocks:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9837.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9842.JPG
This is an old uranium prospect. It's marked on the USGS topo map, though the adit marked on the map is several hundred feet off, so it took me a while to find this small shaft.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9854.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/Sr...0/IMG_9856.JPG
I cut my ride a bit short because my wife was at home with a sick kid, but I'm sure I'll be back several more times this year.
Here's my GPS tracklog with some waypoints, in Google Earth .KML format:
http://castlecountry.org/geo/Woodsid...tember2009.kml
And there are a few more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.U...September2009#
