Rufudufus said:
Heading south for the holidays and thinking about totin' the HT along. Any good trails to hit around Ventura, or maybe Ojai while the ladies are shopping? The first MTBer I ever saw was a guy riding a cruiser down from Two Trees, but I believe that area is off limits now.
I've found bringing a bike to family gatherings makes me a much happier camper.
Lots of great biking, depending on what you are looking for.
If you are looking for an area that is nothing more than XC, to include lots of fireroads and some fun but intermediate at most singletrack, I would recommend Sycamore Canyon. In addition to being pretty easy to navigate, it is one of the few places you can put in 20 miles without beating yourself up and not to mention, nice ocean views from a trail called Overlook (~3 mile fireroad climb).
you can start from either the Newbury Park side off of the 101 freeway. In this case you would take Wendy Dr to Lynn Rd, turn right on Lynn Rd and about a mile or so you will see the park entrance on the left. take till it ends at the parking lot. This essentially will drop you right off on Sycamore Canyon Rd (see map).
or you can start from the ocean side as noted in the map. both are fine. some people do not like to start on the Newbury Park side cause there is a relatively steep paved asphalt hill you will need to take at the end of your ride but it is not really a big deal.
the map below highlights one route but you can put whatever you want together.
the best singletrack is the Guadalasca Trail which you enter off of Wood canyon Fire Road. Easy to get to regardless of which side you start from.
Another great, but shorter singletrack, is the Backbone trail. Not on this map but it may be what is meant on this map as the Wood Canyon Vista Trail. As you can see, it would start right where the 3 trails intersect; Guadalasca, La Jolla Valley Fireroad (referred to as hell Hill by locals), and the Wood Canyon Vista Trail (ie, backbone trail).
