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Crockett Hills

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Intermediate/Difficult Intermediate/Difficult
 4.0 (131)
  1. Areas
  2. CA
  3. …East Bay
  4. Crockett Hills Regional Park
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“A grand tour of the Crockett Hills singletrack flow trails. ”

Mike Anciaux
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Map Key

13.2

Miles

21.3

KM

80%

Singletrack

758' 231 m

High

136' 42 m

Low

1,506' 459 m

Up

1,505' 459 m

Down

4%

Avg Grade (2°)

23%

Max Grade (13°)

Dogs Off-leash

E-Bikes Not Allowed

Overview

Crockett Hills is an excellent mountain biking park. There are great trails through the woods and over the hills with awesome views of the Carquinez Strait, Mount Tam, and Mount Diablo. This loop ride takes you to the the trails built in 2014 on the back side of the park - Sugar City Trail and Tree Frog Loop.

Need to Know

A new wooden bridge was installed in 2018 at the base of Sugar City Trail to cross the drainage at the base connecting to Big Valley Trail. Goldfinch Trail is subject to seasonal closure when the golden eagles are nesting.

Description

Start at the Crockett Hills Regional Park staging area off of Crockett Boulevard. At the end of the parking lot, you'll find a gate and the trailhead.

Go left at the gate for about .4 miles then turn right to go up the singletrack portion of Edwards Loop Trail". Follow the gentle, shaded singletrack ascent through the forest. At the top turn right and go a short distance to reach the tunnel that goes under the Cummings Skyway.

A more fun (in my opinion) and alternate route is to continue straight at the fork with Edwards Loop Trail and Edwards Creek Trail. Then, turn onto Wood Rat Trail, a flowy XC-style connector trail to the main area of the park. It's worth doing at least once, and it gets you prepared for the fun stuff.

Go through the tunnel to reach the grassy hill area of Crockett Hills. Go straight on the Soaring Eagle Trail. It is all singletrack. The views are amazing. Plan time to take pictures. In the summer, this trail can be very hot or very cold and windy. Plan for both. The Soaring Eagle Trail follows the contours of the hills gently ascending to a paved area with a picnic table near the intersection with Big Valley Trail.

From the picnic table, go through the gate to enter the new flow trail (Sugar City Trail). The trail descends about 500 ft with lots of bumps, jumps, berms, tabletops and switchbacks. It's safe enough for intermediate riders and exciting enough for experts, although the left switchbacks can be tight and hard to master. The trail was designed and built by the same folks who built the Tamarancho trails.

Follow the traverse out of the flow trail until it intersects the Big Valley Trail. Continue on Big Valley Trail until you reach the small farm building. Turn right on Tree Frog Loop (fire road section). This is a short, steep road that will take you to Tree Frog Loop (singletrack section) in about 1/3 of a mile.

Turn left and follow the flowy Tree Frog Loop trails bumps, banked corners and gratuitous curves to for a couple of mile until it turns into a farm road by the creek, Rumsen Trail . Watch for uphill traffic (sight lines are generally pretty good). Also, pay attention - after a steep downhill comes a jump!

Follow Rumsen Trail back to Big Valley Trail. Turn right and follow Big Valley Trail by the creek and then UP Two Peaks Trail (right fork; I've found it's easier than Big Valley Trail straight ahead) to get back to the benches. When you get back to the top, retrace your path on Soaring Eagle trail to get back to the tunnel.

Normal Route: Instead of going back down Edwards Loop Trail, go right and stay right to take Wood Rat and then Edwards Creek trail to experience yet another gorgeous singletrack through the woods. You'll end up on the last section of Edwards Loop trail that will take you back to the parking lot.

Alternate Route: Instead of going back down Wood Rat Trail, go down the switchback-filled Edwards Loop Trail. I generally like it more than the normal route, as it's more flowy and all downhill. Watch for uphill traffic though, it also is popular in the other direction.

Contacts

Local Club: Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay

Land Manager: East Bay Regional Park District (CA)

Shared By:

Mike Anciaux with improvements by Paul Miller and 2 others
Full Details

Trail Ratings

  4.0 from 131 votes

#1

in Crockett Hills Regional Park

#176

Overall
  4.0 from 131 votes
5 Star
39%
4 Star
34%
3 Star
18%
2 Star
6%
1 Star
4%
Recommended Route Rankings

#1

in Crockett Hills Regiona…

#22

in California

#176

Overall
137 Views Last Month
44,861 Since Feb 24, 2015
Intermediate/Difficult Intermediate/Difficult
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Photos

The secret is out. Crockett Hills is one of the best mountain biking destinations in the East Bay.
Jun 22, 2016 near Crockett, CA
Crockett Hills Trail - Might be Tree Frog Loop
Mar 11, 2018 near Crockett, CA
A view of the Sugar City Trail - At least 30 little jumps on the side of that hill!
Dec 15, 2016 near Crockett, CA
Tree Frog Loop has nice flow.
Aug 9, 2023 near Crockett, CA
Crockett Hills Trail - Might be Tree Frog Loop
Mar 11, 2018 near Crockett, CA
The Slab
Dec 30, 2020 near Crockett, CA

30 Comments

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 3 days ago
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Check-Ins

Nov 17, 2024
canyon steinzig
trail is in great condition. No cow holes and dirt is getting tacky. One more rain and it will be perfect 13mi
Apr 21, 2024
Jack Keovongsa
Jun 4, 2023
Sean Case
All the weeds have been trimmed back and the trail cleared. 12.2mi — 1h 11m
Feb 10, 2023
Ben GH
Some avoidable muddy spots, but otherwise pretty soft nice dirt. Just road 1/4 mile past the tunnel. Tracked some mud on ride back to the lot.
Dec 18, 2022
Yunlu Yang
2h 30m
Oct 11, 2022
Mark Loftin
13.3mi — 2h 30m
Oct 7, 2022
Kevin Endo
10h 00m
Aug 28, 2022
Aria G

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