Aptos Trip

Max and a few of us have been contemplating an Aptos dirt jump trip. Trying to schedule a date between everyone going on summer vacations, North Star trips, and work we finally settled on a day we would let loose. Wednesday night Allen, Max and I got everything squared away for the next day’s adventure.

Thursday morning we loaded up and that’s when the adventure began. Our first stop was the famous Aptos High step up featured in various movies such as Roam and a few of the NWDs. We scoped out the spot realizing it had not been maintained in quite some time so we left not wanting to further damage the spot or ourselves. Looking for a new spot we thought of the Polo Grounds as an excellent place to warm up before heading off to the bigger spots. Much to our surprise Polo was much more fun than expected. Warmed up we headed to Post Office.

Upon arriving we found that the jumps were in rough condition. It was bone dry and overgrown in areas. Allen got straight into the jumps and started to hammer out some smooth style. Max was in foreign ground but he quickly shook that off. After two run-ins Max got the first jump dialed then the following jumps came to ease. I tried to shoot a little but the weather and lighting weren’t cooperating. We thought it’d be best to head off to Bill’s trails hoping the lighting would improve later at Post Office.

Packed up we headed off to into the dense forests of Aptos. Through the winding back roads we made it to the parking spot. Getting to the jumps with my camera gear on my dirt jump bike was a little shady at first. One brake, street tires, heavy photo bag and a steep trail made things a little difficult.

I survived to see the lush trails of Bill’s. Bill’s trails were amazing. Not only were the jumps fun to ride on but they were stellar jumps just to sit back and watch people sesh through them. Lush greenery and redwoods lined the jumps and created a shady canopy that cooled the spot from the beating sun. We left to get some food after a laid back sesh.

Heading into a gas station to pump up some lady got super aggro telling us we stole her spot to the pump. “Don’t have to be such a prick! I was waiting for that fucking spot,” she told Allen who was driving. We laughed about it while I filled up my Icee cup. We got some food at the local spots and headed to a shop to say hi to Hans Kesler.

Tired and worn out from the long day we headed back to Polo for a warm up for the Cliff Jumps. At Polo we talked to Gabe Boken who told us that the Cliff Jumps had been rebuilt and were in prime condition. We jetted over to the jumps and saw that the jumps were quite big and were built on the edge of a sea cliff with a near 100ft drop to the water. Max was the only one brave enough to try them out. After a few close calls Max again got another set down with ease. The coastal wind was playing havoc on the session so we decided to leave before anyone got hurt.

We packed up and left Aptos for home. One of the best trips to Aptos with Max and Allen. Next time I hope we can do it again with all the locs. Thanks Aptos for the good time. RIP Bill.