Best Mountain Bike Trails in California
Downieville, Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Bishop, Big Bear. Our team's California MTB picks across four distinct regions.
California MTB isn't a single scene — it's four scenes that barely talk to each other. Santa Cruz is tight, rooty, and wet; Tahoe is big alpine granite; the Eastern Sierra (Mammoth, Bishop) is high-desert endurance riding; SoCal (Big Bear, San Diego) is chunky DH and sunbaked singletrack. Jake raced Downieville in 2022 and says the full descent is 5,000 ft of the best ride of your life. Mia keeps moving back to Santa Cruz because she can't quit Flow Country and the Demonstration Forest network. Owen has Bishop on permanent rotation.
Season: the mountain stuff (Tahoe, Mammoth, Downieville) is July–October. Santa Cruz rides year-round. SoCal rides best October–May before it gets genuinely hot.
By region
Sierra (Downieville/Tahoe/Mammoth)
Alpine granite + loamy shade. Summer only. Downieville shuttle is the classic.
Santa Cruz
Loamy redwood singletrack at low elevation. Wet-weather weekend escape from the Bay.
Bishop / Eastern Sierra
Desert + altitude. Lower Rock Creek is the must-do shuttle.
SoCal
Big Bear (lift-served), Santos-style San Diego chunk. Winter is the season.
When to go
Plan a ride in California
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Common questions
- When does Downieville open?
- Shuttle opens late June, runs through mid-October. Check yuba-expeditions.com.
- E-bikes?
- Allowed on most SoCal and Tahoe multi-use trails. Not allowed in wilderness or many Santa Cruz parks.
- Which tires for CA?
- Coastal/redwood = grippy + mud-shedding (Magic Mary, Assegai). Eastern Sierra = faster rolling (Rekon, Aggressor).