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WILD BEAUTY Watsonville’s slough trail system meanders through neighborhoods and businesses.

Slough trail system a county gem

BY TODD GUILD

Just beyond the veneer of trafc din and mundane get-your-cofee-andgo workaday world lies a vast network of trails, which snake through Watsonville’s slough system. Discovering them takes only a brief walk from about two-dozen entrances scattered throughout the city.

But until I took a half-day, six-mile bike ride with Pajaronian photographer Tarmo Hannula on Feb. 14, I am ashamed to say I had seen very little of it. We planned to take a half-day for the exploratory trip, which included a lunch stop at one of our favorite taquerias right along the way.

During our ride we ranged from Ramsay Park to the trail that runs north of Slough Road in front of the FedEx building.

We crisscrossed the city – in many cases bypassing busy roads entirely – ofering short cuts and alternative routes that surprised even Tarmo, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Watsonville’s byways outrivals just about anyone’s. ➝ 8