First SART explorations (photos)

Some cameraphone photos from the Santa Ana River Trail exploration last Saturday.

This is next to Washington St in Colton, about where I entered.

Looking the other direction. Nobody else was on the trail during my 6-mile round trip — a handful of ATVs buzzing around in the riverbed, but that was it.

The trail heading under a railroad bridge — pretty much every flat surface had some sort of graffiti in evidence in the Colton/Grand Terrace section.

Under the La Cadena Drive bridge.

Looking to the right from the previous picture, the “on/off-ramp” for the SART from La Cadena. This is what I had been looking for via the older Google Earth imagery.

And turning around from the previous pair of photos, the lovely bike path ends. This is looking “down-river” toward Riverside, and the paved section stops…

…which never stops me, speaking of End Pavement. ;)

The temperature was alternatively comfortably cool and chilly as the sun moved in and out of the clouds.

Mid-construction. Looking good so far.

Whoops! Well, so much for that. :) Actually, it would have been easy enough to bypass, but I was about 11.5 miles from home late in the afternoon, so this was as good a place as any to turn around, about three miles from where I entered in Colton.

Ah, but what’s this? Off to the left, a promising dirt road heading into a canyon, with dozens of crows or ravens flying around. Time to explore!

Mostly heard rather than seen, dirtbikes were running here and there in the distance — otherwise, no people.

Pretty standard steep SoCal canyons, with various pathways heading hither and yon. Worth another look someday, whether on foot or two wheels.

So, a successful initial expedition, with some current and potential routes between Riverside and the east end of the San Bernardino Valley. Can’t wait until the whole trail is done from the mountains to the sea — it’ll be an awesome ride.