The Glory Hole

The Glory Hole is a spot I have been eyeing since I started riding, which was about 5 years ago. It has always been my dream to ride the 30 ft in diameter and almost 700 ft long full pipe at Monticello Dam, at the bottom of Lake Berryessa. Since this is my last summer here before college, I made it one of my goals to visit this place that is so historical. Well yesterday, 5 days before I leave, a few friends and I headed over to the spot to check it out. It almost didn't happen because we had no raft, but Sergio saved us with the Explorer 200 raft from Big 5 for $20! We loaded up the car and drove over to the lake, which didn't take too long, unloaded, and started the hike. Its a short, probably quarter mile hike to it, but the last 40 ft or so are cliffs, which are impossible to cross, let alone with bikes and cameras and equipment. This is where the raft gets us to the spot. We take the raft out of the box and blow it up, only to find that it barely holds a person. After a few trips with backpacks and stuff, we decided to pile the bikes on and just swim with it because there was no way we could fit 2 people. Only in underwear, we jumped into the freezing 50 degree water and swam to the hole. When we arrived, it was everything I have dreamed of and more. This place is one of the funnest places I have ridden in my whole life. Theres a huge cement area in front of it where you can chill and hang out and then there are brooms, shovels, and lots of kitty litter to soak up the small amounts of water in the bottom. Trevor and a couple of people came later and met up with us and we had a super good time. On the way back we passed a tiny little skatepark and stopped to check it out. What was planned to be a 10 minute stop ended up being a full on sesh that lasted until dark. Now that I'm done rambling, enjoy the pictures and thanks for checking my blog!

Monticello Dam from the launch point. You can see the hole peeking out in the left

Serg and Zach blowin up the raft

This is where I thought we weren't gonna make it, seeing how crappy the raft was

Arriving after a nice cold swim

Arrival

Sam trying to get around the raft idea, didn't make it

Serg carving from the inside

Trevor getting inverted

Jack going the highest out of all of us

Jack footplant way up there

Arriving back, Zach didn't wanna swim

On the way back, getting ready to freeze

Winters skatepark

It even had dirt jumps!