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4.24.2023

North Bay Overnighter: My First Bikepacking Trip

You have already met Bob, and you know that I have not really had a lot of experience with mountain biking, but that did not keep me from deciding to try bikepacking out as soon as the bomb cyclone had passed and we had a sunny weekend. I figured why not, since I already have a lot of backpacking and camping gear, so all that I needed was something to put the gear in and attach it to my bike and I would be good to go. I figured I could learn the rest as I went.

Bolinas Ridge Trail


What is bikepacking? It is basically the same as backpacking except instead of carrying all of your stuff on your back, you carry it on your bike. Your stuff includes a tent (unless you are going to cowboy camp, aka lay out your bedroll under the stars) and sleeping gear at the very least and can include a stove, pots, food, bike tools, extra clothes, electronics and toiletries. So, like I said, pretty much like backpacking. Usually the route consists of more trails than pavement, also like backpacking, but can be on highways, gravel roads, bike paths, logging roads, forest service roads or fire roads. 

Here is Bob, all loaded up and ready for adventure!


How did I find out about this? I have no friends who do this. To be honest, and I am a little embarrassed to admit this, I found it on YouTube. I was looking for ideas for summer hiking/backpacking and I stumbled across this channel where two regular people completed part of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) and I thought, "I want to do that!" and I started looking into it. I found a great local route that I could get to without driving and off I went. Of course, before this, I went pretty deep into a YouTube wormhole. You know how that goes. 

The route that I found can be found on Bikepacking.com and is called the North Bay Overnighter. It is an 80 mile route that goes from the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) through the Marin headlands to Samuel P. Taylor park near Point Reyes and back a different way to the GGB to finish the loop the second day. These are mostly trails that I have run on before, so I felt pretty comfortable with the route-finding aspect of the trip although this also meant that I knew exactly what I was up against in some cases, which was a little bit daunting! 

Day 1: The official route starts and ends at the Anderson parking lot on the Marin side of the GGB. However, since I live in Oakland, I decided to get there by bike rather than driving. I started off by riding my bike from my house to the BART, which I took to the Civic Center station in the city. It was pretty early in the morning and the only people on the street besides me were the homeless, the druggies and the prostitutes. This is not the most beautiful part of the city, let me just say that. From the Civic Center, I rode down to Fort Mason and then went past Chrissy Field to the end of the GGB. I crossed the bridge in the fog and wet and finally got to the official start around 8:00 am with about 9 miles under my belt already. 

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the headlands


From there, the route goes up the road to the Coastal trail, and the sun was just starting to break up the fog and I had some really nice views of the bay. I then cruised down the Coastal trail, which is a very gradual downhill, although there were a few rutted areas that made me realize that I had no idea if was best to ride in the rut or try to stay on one of the side lumps, and at one point I heard another bike behind me and I was not sure if I should pull over or get off to the side or...what the rules were! The route goes down, crosses the road and then heads back up Bobcat, which is really just one big mile and a half long uphill and is a trail I have run many times, but have never been able to run the entire uphill without walking a little. However, I rode the bike without stopping the entire time and I was so proud of myself that I stopped at the top for a snack before heading down towards Tennessee Valley. 

From Tennessee Valley parking lot, the trail goes back up the Miwok trail, which was my first experience with the hike-a-bike! Also by now it was actually getting warmer and I shed yet another layer on my way up this hill. After the uphill, Miwok is a nice gradual downhill that crosses highway 1 before going back up towards Dias ridge. Dias was my first true single-track and I had "fun" learning how to manage the hairpin downhill turns, although I did  have one slow speed fall in this section. Side note: the completely packed bike is probably about 50 pounds, which is hard to control on the curves! You live and you learn, I guess. 

Dias Ridge Trail


After going down Dias you get to Muir Beach and this is where I had to break out the GPS. The trail was hard to find, as the route takes you basically up the side of a hill in what looks like someone's backyard, but I think it is just an attempt to not make you ride on the road for that section. However, it is a little strange, as you come out at the top on the road, which you then have to ride on for about a mile and a half before you go back onto the trail again. I was a little afraid of the road as I have driven on it and seen cyclists and it seems a bit scary (it is a windy coastal road) but people were polite and the traffic was still not yet too bad. 

Getting off the road and back on the trail toward Cardiac/Pantoll


The trail takes you to Cardiac and you cross the Dipsea before heading to Pantoll, which is a parking lot, bathroom, water fountain and camping area. Apparently there is hike in/bike in camping here but I was only about 21 miles into the official 40 that I was supposed to do this day, so I kept going. From Pantoll, you ride on the road uphill for about 2 miles; again, this was with cars, but there were also a lot of bikes and the cars were pretty polite. Then came one of my favorite parts of the ride: Ridgecrest Blvd. This road was mostly downhill and is very flowy, with barely any cars AND a view of the ocean for days, and then you go into a redwood forest and it's dark and moist and magical. It is super cool! It was so SO fun. 

Ridgecrest Drive

After four miles, you turn off on the Bolinas Ridge trail, which is dirt but doesn't have too many steep ups or downs and goes on for several miles. However, the very end, when you are headed down toward the turnoff to the camping, is a lot of bumpy downhill, which was quite jarring at times. When you get almost to Point Reyes, you turn off and go to Samuel P. Taylor park, where there is a hike in/bike in campground and for $7 you can put up your tent! I got there around 5 pm, put up my tent, made dinner and then spent a wonderful few hours listening to my audiobook before heading to bed. I did this trip in January and I was the only person in the shared campsite! 

Bolinas Ridge Trail

Samuel P. Taylor hiker/biker camping

Day 2: The next morning I got up early, realized I was out of fuel, drank a cup of cold coffee, strapped on my headlamp and hit the road. Well actually it was a nice flattish paved trail at first, but very soon afterward, I went straight uphill into the fire roads again. Seriously, my first 2 miles were flat, then the next 8 miles were about 3,000+ feet of climbing. Again, I embraced the suck of the hike-a-bike, but I spent a long time wondering when the joy of the downhill was going to come. When the downhill finally came thought, at first it was not very joyful. It was very rocky and rutted and I actually had to push my bike on some of the downhills! 

View from the top of the hike-a-bike near Kent Reservoir


When I got back to the Bolinas Fairfax road, I decided that instead of going into Fairfax and then back up the hill to Tam and then down again to Tennessee valley and then up again to the start line where I would then have to cross the bridge and ride the BART, I would rather skip the extra hills and the public transportation and head back home via the Richmond bridge. So I went through Natalie Coffin park into Ross and from there I took a series of bike paths into Larkspur, where I rode out onto the Richmond Bridge. Once I got to Point Richmond, there was only about a mile of street riding before I got onto the bike path along the bay. A lot of this part of the route was on the San Francisco Bay Trail, which is a trail that goes all the way around the Bay Area. Some of it is on an actual dirt trail and parts of it are on roads and bike paths, but all together I believe there are over 500 miles! 

Larkspur bike path

View of the city from Richmond (SF Bay Trail)

Once I got to Emeryville, I had to go back onto the streets to get to Oakland, but I have to say most of them have pretty good bike paths, so it was not too intimidating. However, I was definitely ready to be done and I even briefly considered taking the BART although by this point it would not have saved me any time or even very many miles! To add insult to injury I let Google maps tell me which way to go and it took me right up a hill that I normally try to avoid (MacArthur Ave.) However, avoiding it would have added a mile probably, so maybe in this case it was really half a dozen of one and six of the other. It sure was nice to get back home though and I celebrated by taking off my bike shorts and walking around without pants for a few minutes before making myself something hot to eat. (TMI? Too bad!) 

Thoughts/What I Learned: Sometimes riding on the road can be fun. I need to bring more food next time. I am stronger than I think I am. When riding down hills, lift your butt off the seat unless you want to be sore later. Samuel P. Taylor is very beautiful. Pushing a 50 pound bike up a hill makes my arms feel like noodles. It also makes me VERY hungry. I probably need different shorts (I am wearing hiking shorts over bike shorts). A screw top water bottle is a lot of work (will bring squeeze bottle or hydration bladder on next trip). 

Comments: Bikepacking.com says that this route in 99.9% rideable with a difficulty of 4/10. I would agree with the latter, as is it mostly fire roads and there are not too many rocks or things to avoid, so even a beginner like me can do it. However, 99.9% rideable is perhaps a stretch as I don't know who can ride up the 14% - 20% grade at the beginning of day two. Maybe I am just out of shape, I don't know, but 99.9% would mean that less than a tenth of a mile is not rideable out of the entire 80 miles. 

Total Miles: 98.3
Total Elevation: 11,300 ft.
Total Time: 15 hours

Download the Ride With GPS GPX file here. I get ideas and inspiration from: Bikepacking.comRyan, Chris and his buddy Rob, John and Mira. 

Have you ever gone bikepacking? Tell me about a YouTube or internet wormhole you have found yourself deep in, and how did it turn out? 

21 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - this is incredible. Those pictures. Go Kyria! I have never done anything like this but it is so inspirational. I would love to do a long multi-day hiking trip with my husband when the kids are older; maybe somewhere in Europe?

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    1. Totally, me too! There is a huge network of biking in Europe; you should check out this site https://en.eurovelo.com/ I already have a biking bucket list started and would LOVE to take some time off and bike around Europe for a while. There are also some interesting routes in Canada too, like this one https://bikepacking.com/routes/edt2/ which are long but you could always just do a section of them! I would love to eventually ride across the US and then go back across Canada, or maybe vice versa; I think that would be the trip of a lifetime.

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  2. Kyria!!! Wow, this sounds AMAZING. I am so in awe of your strength and fortitude and courage! What a satisfying and inspirational trip!

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    1. Thanks Suzanne! I think that your post about skiing, where I AM in my element, resonated with me because there are things like this where I am not in my element but am so glad that I got out and tried because it is so fun. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is hard and I don't really know what the best way to do things is at times but that is great for character building!

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  3. Wow wow wow!!! I've never come close to doing anything like this but I love living vicariously through you! I am itching to put more miles on my bike.

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    1. You need to get Bikie out and about for sure! I have had a lot of fun both exploring the web for places and ideas and actually exploring. There are some great resources and you can always start with a small piece of a longer trip. Here are some gravel/dirt routes in Wisconsin https://bikepacking.com/locations/wisconsin/ or the Adventure Cycling does more road but has good suggestions of what roads are best to ride on safely https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/interactive-network-map/.

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  4. I am so impressed. Don't know whether I'm more amazed by you toting a 50# bike up a hill, or riding it down a rough trail. And then you say you're stronger than you thought. I am humbled and inspired.

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    1. The 50 pound bike was definitely a challenge! My arms were getting way more of a work out than expected, that is for sure! I feel pretty confident about my leg strength, but who knew I would have to do push ups to be able to be strong enough for a bike trip! And the downhills were fun sometimes but pretty hair raising at others! I have fallen while running several times and it is usually on a downhill, so I try to be cautious!

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  5. I love this! My last bikepacking trip was in 2017 and we did a the Caldonia Way in Scotland. I can't remember how many days/nights, maybe 5? It was gorgeous. We also did the Lôn Las Cymru across Wales in 2018, but we stayed in AirBnBs for that as i was pregnant at the time and not really up for carrying camping kit.

    I love your gorgeous photos. My husband and I stayed at Sameul P Taylor Park after our wedding, we had a bunch of guests visit from the UK and sorted out tents and sleeping stuff for everyone. It's such a gorgeous park! Your photos make me want to go back for more adventures - I never went bikepacking while we lived there but I think I definitely missed out.

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    1. I would love to do the Caldonia way! I also have the GB Divide on my radar, which would be a great way to see the country (countries!) and seems like such a great adventure! Actually much of my free time these days has been spent looking at and dreaming about all of the different adventures I could go on (the Jordan bike trail, Europe, Japan...the list is endless!)

      I can't believe you known Samuel P. Taylor park! I have lived in CA my whole life and in the Bay Area for much of my adult life and I had never been there before! I have gone running a lot in the Pt. Reyes area but never went to or stayed at the campground!

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  6. This is so cool! The photos you shared are beautiful! Sounds like you were close to the area where we did that hike - I think we did the dipsea trail back in 2016 when we visited you that spring.

    I have not been down any research wormholes lately that I can think of! I've google characters in a movie or show to figure out why they are so familiar to me but that's about it!

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    1. Yes, I went right through Pantoll, which we also passed through when we hiked on the Dispea trail! There are a lot of trails that do not allow bikes (like the Dipsea) but Marin is supposedly the "birthplace of mountain biking" so there are a lot of trails that DO allow bikes! The area is very beautiful and the cars are used to the bikes being on the roads. Not that they are all nice, but this definitely does help!

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  7. WOW. What a cool adventure, and I love how you were able to do it 100% solo. The photos are beautiful- I was reading this at work and one of my coworkers happened to be walking past and exclaimed over how incredible it looks. I hope you have more adventure like this so we can hear all about it!!!

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    1. The area is very beautiful and luckily we have good weather pretty much year round so it can be done whenever! Tell your coworker (and yourself) to get over here and explore; there are so many cool things to see!

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  8. What a cool trip! Very fun! Those photos are great.

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    1. It was a lot of fun, and although it was a little bit out of my comfort zone, I learned some things and went to some places that I had never been before so that is a good way to keep things exciting for me. Now I just need to plan my next one!

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  9. Wow, what an adventure. I love that you're not afraid to try new things. I have definitely NOT done bikepacking and it sounds like a hard thing (at least on this trail), but the views were gorgeous!

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    1. Well I love camping and this is like the best of both worlds; I can get further in a day and I still get to experience the same (or more) things, and then it's like backpacking after you get to camp. However, I am still trying to figure out where I can ride and how to get up the hard hills etc. But that is all part of the fun and is what keeps life fresh!

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  10. Just finished reading this post and looking at all the pictures. It looks incredible. I would absolutely love to try it but I am so weak, I probably would not last 30 minutes on the bike. I always wanted to go camping -alone. Honestly, I'd be scared to go alone. Did you get lonely at all? :) Amazing adventure.

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    1. I actually do not get lonely, but to each their own, you know? I always have books, podcasts, my camera...and I enjoy swimming, wandering around looking at stuff and just being outside, so no, I don't really find that I am lonely OR bored; I enjoy it! I would say maybe you should just book a car camping spot with a water feature and/or nearby activities, then you can relax and stare at a lake or listen to a river/the ocean, or hike or bike etc. so you are filling your time easily and you don't have to think too much about the planning aspect of it.

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    2. Thank you for responding! I would absolutely love to do something like this. We have so many nature preserves here in NJ.

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