I've been wanting to go back to Swanton Rd. (and Mountain Charlie and descend Felton Empire) for a while. I threw together a route that seemed doable - we ended up getting back right at sunset. :) Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make descending Felton Empire work. But I was able to meet up with Chris "Dirtdrops" Corona!!! YEAH!!! We did an impromptu photo shoot up Felton Empire and Ice Cream Grade. The day started off cold but I didn't feel cold so I was able to start without the vest and I was fine. We knew it was going to be warm at the coast and didn't want to carry extra layers. Swanton Rd. was as nice as I remembered it, even with the scars from the fires. Lots of burned trees and quite a few homes burned to the ground. :( We stopped in Davenport for lunch on the way back. Cemitas has been replaced by a new place. I don't remember the name of it. I had the Philly (Cheesesteak) and I don't recommend it at all. It was pretty meh! And because of that I was hungry towards the end of the ride. Traffic around the beach and boardwalk in Santa Cruz was pretty bad but was fine once we got passed it. After that, it was pretty much just climbing. The guys were worried about getting back before dark but I was pretty confident we would make it back with the distance left and our normal average speed. Mountain Charlie wasn't as stair-steppy or steep as I remembered it. Once we got up to the top of the ridge, it was much colder along Summit. We put our warmers back on to bomb Bear Creek. What a fun descent!