Mayfair Ranch-Longwall Canyon-Bald Peaks-Catamount

Dogs No Dogs

E-Bikes Allowed

The ride starts (assuming clockwise direction) with a singletrack climb with a few tight and steep switchbacks before turning onto the Longwall Canyon Trail. It begins with an easy doubletrack that soon becomes a very long climb up a singletrack. The ride switches back to doubletrack at the rest stop (picnic table and water for horses) at the start of the Bald Peaks Trail. One last push up before a long doubletrack downhill back to the finish.

There are multiple creek crossings. This was written in August 2018, so only a few of them had a small amount of water in them. The challenge was more the dip in the trail and the rocks in the stream.

Begin the ride on the Mayfair Ranch Trail at the parking lot, cross over Casa Loma Road and go through the gate. The climb begins with a singletrack with no obstacles, but some soft dirt and a few very tight switchbacks that you'd best pedal hard to get through. The climb takes you through a mostly shaded oak forest before a series of rollers and then a doubletrack descent.

The descent on the Mayfair Ranch Trail is doubletrack and is steep in parts with a few challenging sections where a stream or two crosses the path. These streams have been filled with rocks to minimize erosion. The Longwall Canyon Trail section begins as an easy climb up a doubletrack before getting steeper and steeper and becoming a singletrack. Most of Longwall Canyon Trail is in shade.

Emerging from the trees the singletrack becomes a doubletrack at the bottom of the short steep climb that begins the Bald Peaks Trail. There is a picnic table in the shade and water for horses. After a short downhill, turn right onto the Catamount Trail. (Bald Peaks Trail continues straight and is now open to bikes, together with many trails of Calero County Park it connects to. However, the printed map available at the parking lot has not yet been updated. The opening is reflected on the marker at the trail junction, and on the map of Calero County Park).

The rest of the ride is a predominantly a downhill, doubletrack with only one or two short, easy climbs. You emerge at the end of the trail across from the parking lot.