Bike Ride and Sam Knott Oak Park

I started my bike ride with no real plans as to where I would ride. After yesterday, spending so much time in the sun and drinking a few beers, I thought I'd see how I felt after a few miles.

Well, after riding up a not very steep hill, I decided no more hills. So I ended up riding around the Saber Springs neighborhood when I rode over a bridge and saw a dirt trail below. This trail looked interesting, so I rode around until I found the path leading to the trail.


Once on the trail, I rode slow since my bike is not a mountain bike. I encountered a few people hiking and walking their dogs. As I rode further west, I realized this trail might take me to the bike path along interstate 15.

Once I got near the freeway, I wasn't sure which path take, and ended up on two dead-end trails at the bottom of a steep, narrow path. The paths had tire marks on them, so I must not have been the only one to make this mistake. But since I had no destination or time limit, these diversions were just an adventure.


Eventually I found the trail that took me to some kind of water treatment plant, located below I15 and Poway Road. As you can see, the walls are decorated with colorful art work. Then I noticed an area with trees planted. As I walked closer to it, I saw lots of memorials next to each tree.

There was a bench that identified that this was a park dedicated to people that died as crime victims. After looking it up on the Internet, Sam Knott was Cara Knott's father, and Cara was the woman who was kill by a CHP officer in this area in 1986. Sam Knott died while tending to the park in 2000. How sad.

There was a stone path that led to a covered patio area. Many of the stones were carved like grave stones. There were names of people who died in the early 1900s all the way to the present.

I was really surprised to find this park here, because I didn't think that there was vehicle access - only walking and biking. There was a truck parked there, but I did not see any one else except some other bikers passing. There is a paved road from Scripps Poway Parkway, but it looks like there are gates that might get closed at night.

After sending about fifteen minutes at the park, I continued on my bike ride, heading back home. Overall I was gone for two hours and rode about 15 miles, three of which were on dirt trails. My speedometer broke some time along the way, so I had to use the 'ruler' tool on Google Earth to retrace my ride and get the distance.