By J. Ben Vernazza
My Temporary Sanctuary Trail To Hike or Bike until the Santa Cruz Sanctuary Trail Is Completed In My Lifetime (?) I Am 86 Right Now.
Starting at Sumner and Seascape Blvd.:
Go north on Sumner through Clubhouse Drive and when the road starts turning right there is a turnout on the right. Stop there look carefully looking for traffic.
Map showing layout for a bike trail in the 1996 county plan.
Cross over to the path that goes down to Hidden Beach and walk your bike until you’re under and past the trestle.
In the parking lot, go turn right and go onto Cliff Drive and continue until Rio Del Mar Blvd
Turn left and go down the hill (make sure your brakes are working well)
Go through parking lot, enter the State Park, go over the bridge and continue to the Park Office .
Turn right and go up the hill to the first arterial stop and then turn left at Center Street .
Center Street has now turned into Seacliff Drive and at Mar Vista turn right and turn left on McGregor, go all the way to Park Avenue and cross over Park to Kennedy Drive.
Shortly thereafter and past the condo complex, Kennedy goes abruptly right so go right. If you passed the ShoreLife Church, you have gone to far because that has turned into Monterey Ave.
Kennedy then parallels the freeway with little traffic and then dead ends at Rosedale and turn left.
On Rosedale, bike through Cabrillo Estates until Hill Street and then turn right and go down until Bay.
Go across Bay into the shopping center and just past CVS is the trail going over the river to Wharf Road.
Ben Vernazza with his bike.
Go left on Wharf Road, and continue and go slightly right on 49th and go all the way to Topaz and turn right.
Continue on Topaz turns into Jade, then crosses 41st and becomes Brommer and ends at 7th Av (2.4 mi).
Cross 7th and continue on the Arana Gulch Trail across the bridge. When the trail splits, go left to Broadway/Frederick and turn left on Frederick and right on Windham.
At Seabright, turn left and go to Murray Street and turn right and when Murray turns to East Cliff Drive. You will see the trail leading down to the bridge over the San Lorenzo River and from the Boardwalk.
FROM HERE YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!
Have fun and good luck on the way back!
To get back, start from the bottom of the page, change all directions from right to left and left to right and then READ BACKWARDS!
If you get lost coming back, just find Soquel Drive and that will get back to Freedom Blvd.
Then cross the Freeway turn left on Bonita, right on San Andreas, right on Seascape Blvd to start of trek or Bonita, turn right on Zanzibar, go through fire trail to Ventana Way, and join Seascape to start of trek.
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Editor’s Note: When Ben posted about his biking on NextDoor for his Aptos neighbors, he heard from La Selva Beach resident Peter Stanger, who rode his bike to work to Santa Cruz almost daily, being a mailman at the Santa Cruz Post Office. Peter picked a different route, taking back streets to avoid Seabright. He’s been retied for six years, but recently he had some work to do in Santa Cruz so he has been biking over there except when it began getting dark early. Peter mapped out both routes, which we share with our readers.
- For Peter’s route go to https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34478909
- For Ben’s route go to https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34478825
Ben Vernazza has been a resident of Santa Cruz County since 1967.