You know its going to be a good vacation when, within 1 hour of arriving at your destination, you have gone on a 3.5 mile trail run, showered, kissed your kids, and been poured a glass of wine. So began our much-needed mini-vacay at
Costanoa - a favorite place to glamp and play and the perfect location to celebrate two birthdays and three father's days with my family.
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Cousins! and the Birthday Girl |
Part of why we love Costanoa so much - scenery, food, lodging and family time aside - is that it is such a great launching point for adventures. A
recent trip had us counting banana slugs by the tens as we biked / hiked Butano State Park. This trip we opted to explore the beach and Big Basin's
Berry Creek Falls Trail on our mountain bikes. And by "we" I mean my family (using our trailer bikes) and my rockstar parents (on their mountain bikes). And by "explore" I mean we biked 12 miles round trip on trails, placing first in the under-6 and over-60 categories.
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Girls Love Dirt |
The trail itself is a combination of duff-covered fire road and fern-lined single track - alternately criss-crossing and paralleling Waddel Creek as you make your way deep into the canyon carved through redwoods. It is gently rolling with a few short climbs and, with the exception of a couple of tight turns, it was one of the most ride-able and family-friendly mountain bike rides I have ever been on. Even more importantly, at the turn-around point of the ride there was this:
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A Little Mid-ride Fly Fishing |
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A little Creek-side Cuddle |
A magical little hobbit-land / creek for the kids to explore and play around and have a picnic next to before the return ride home. The more intrepid can even ditch their bikes for a 1-mile round trip hike to Berry Creek Falls - we were content to "fish" and throw rocks.
As we rolled back to the beach my daughter punctuated her chatting with
whooeee! every time we went over a bump. Close to the end of the ride, in a sure sign that this adventure had been a success, she offered this suggestion to the group
maybe every weekend or every other weekend we can do a long family bike ride.
Sounds great to me! I would love to know about other kid-friendly mountain bike trails though - any suggestions?
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