This MTB town has a new trail system
Cotoni-Coast Dairies features 9 miles of coastal singletrack
In the hills above the Monterey Bay, mountain bikers have a maze of redwood-lined trails that bolster Santa Cruz, California’s mountain bike reputation. The surf town is known for it beaches, banana slugs, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, but companies like Santa Cruz Bicycles also call the city home.
This year, trail builders with the Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship finished work on a new network of singletrack in the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument north of Davenport, 15 minutes from the edge of town. Nine miles of machine build trails bring riders through grassy coastal hills, scrub oak, and redwood forests.
It’s the latest project for the local trail group that maintains nearby Wilder Ranch and built trails like Pogonip’s Emma McRary trail and the Flow Trail in Soquel Demonstration Forest.
Up the hill from the network is an existing network of trails in San Vincente Redwoods that the group also worked on. The plan is to connect both properties in future years, allowing riders to climb up to 2,000 feet above sea level before plunging back down through the coastal backcountry.
Ride Review
The Cotoni trail system is composed of three stacked loops. The closest loop to the parking lot is a mellow, wide trail that attracts many hikers. The grade never gets too steep, and the trail provides a nice warm up for experienced riders or an easy entry point for new riders.
The second loop kicks up with a short climb before entering the forest. A mellow downhill winds through the redwoods before entering a rock garden section that keeps things interesting.
The final loop get smore remote and challening, featuring a twenty minute climb that tops out at about 700 hundred feet. Then, the trail descents down a steep ravine and encounters a drop, tight switchbacks, rollers, and high speed sections.
To get back to the trail head, a grunt of a climb takes riders back through the second loop and into the first loop.
It’s always a good thing to have more legally built singeltrack, even if it’s not the most technical riding in the world. This system adds more mileage to Santa Cruz’s inventory, and in the future will make even bigger rides possible. Those who really want to grind out some miles can combine these trails with Wilder Ranch State Park.
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