Navigate: Top -->South Bay Area -->Saratoga Gap Trail

Overview :

• Type of trail : Big Loop
• Distance as rode : 14.1 miles
• Total Miles (Available) : 30+ miles
• Climbing Distance : 2700 feet
• Trip Duration : 3 1/2 Hour Ride time
• Difficulty : 5 (Scale of 1-10)
• Trail Type : 70% Singletrack, 30% Fireroad
• Cardio : Strenuous

Highlights :

Note: This ride report is pretty dated, I think I did this ride back in 2002 and my skills have improved considerably. Unfortunately quite a bit of the original was lost when my site was trashed.

A good ride with lots of fun singletrack in lush forests and high meadows. If ridden following the ride guide I used it is extremely strenuous towards the end as you climb out of the Grizzly flat area and back up to the main trail. If you come from the Central Valley you will especially enjoy the cool lush forests and streams.

Probably the best thing about this trail is the variety of terrain and trail challenges. One minute you are racing down fireroads at warp speed and the next you are picking your way between rocks on a bit of technical singletrack. The only thing it is really missing is a significant amount of technical descending.

Bummer :

Following the ride guide from Roger McGehee's book and the loop suggested by the park takes you down into Grizzly flats via fireroads. I just feel that 1700 feet of descending on fireroad is not worth 1700 feet of climbing out. When I do a lot of climbing I like to have a nice fun descent either before or after it so as I suffer uphill I can ponder the reward. There is also an alternate shorter way to ride these trails without the huge climb.

Location

At the intersection of Hiway 35 (Skyline Boulevard) and Hiway 9 about 60 minutes South of San Francisco. From the Central Valley you will take the Hiway 92 across the San Mateo Bridge to Hiway 280 South. You can either stay on 280 till you hit Hiway 9 and take 9 West or you can exit on Hiway 84 West and cross over to Hiway 35 and take 35 South. In either case there is a large parking area at the intersection of the Hiways. The trailhead is across Hiway 9 from the parking area.

Links

• Mountain Biking Northern California is an excellent trail guide written by Roger McGehee. I used this guide to find this trail and navigate it. Note: The link now points to a mirror of this great resource at SingleServing.com because the original guide was pulled from the net.
• Whittmore Gulch is another excellent trail in this region. A little shorter, and it's an out and back, but a lot of fun and almost 100% Singletrack.
• El Corte de Madera AKA Skeggs Point is also very closeby and offers many fun options for mountaion biking.
• MTB.LIVE.COM has an alternate route without the huge climb.
• For those who live in the area you can reach these trails right from McClellan Road in palo Alto. I've never ridden this route but here is a description of the route from Pedal Damn It!

Right from the start this trail starts off with some fun singletrack cut into the hillsides. The first few miles of the trail sort of wind in and out of the trees and gradually go up and down the hillsides. One thing you notice right away also is that this is a well maintained and heavy use trail. If you are looking for a quite trail to get some solitude, get to the trailhead early on a weekday.

Short sections like this add spice to this trail.

No, I'm not the one who left those long skidmarks in the foreground of this image, someone apparently wanted to sample the potency of the local Poison Oak.

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