San Diego Mountain Biking

The Best Trails My Home Territory Has To Offer

Writing a page on San Diego Mountain Biking is easy for me ... I live in Lakeside, which is a suburb of San Diego. Lakeside lies amongst some foothills about 20 miles inland from the city of San Diego. Our weather permits us to mountain bike our trails year round.

I have ridden trails on Christmas Eve Day, New Years Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, and pretty much every other day of the year (except Easter Sunday and Christmas Day, which would be frowned upon around this household).

San Diego mountain biking is only limited by the hours your job, wife (husband/girlfriend/boyfriend), and sleep will allow. For instance, August 26th (Cindy's and my anniversary) has not been a big mountain biking day for me ... and the time I had a flat and Cindy came for me in the middle of cooking Thanksgiving Dinner ... well, I don't want to talk about that. Now let's talk about the trails I know the best.

The Best Mountain Bike Trails In San Diego

A 30-minute drive east of Lakeside puts me in our local mountains (50 miles east of San Diego City), which top out at about 6,500 feet. It is in the Laguna Mountains that we find San Diego's best mountain bike trail, Noble Canyon. I ride Noble canyon in conjunction with some of my other favorite trails and roads and call it the Noble Canyon Loop (the link here takes you to Pine Creek, the first leg of the loop).

There are many quality mountain bike trails in the Laguna Mountain area, and you can really have a good time here. For more of the best trails in San Diego though, check out the map below and read on.

Cuyamaca State Park, which lies about 25 minutes east of Lakeside, also offers several different types of mountain bike rides. I have written about my experiences on two rides in the area. The first one I have named the Cuyamaca Loop. The Cuyamaca Loop is a collection of my favorite trails in Cuyamaca (and a little corner of Anza Borrego) State Parks.

The East Mesa Loop travels up Green Valley, parallels the Sunrise Highway, then works its way back to East Mesa. The East Mesa Loop might be San Diego's best kept secret.

Anderson Truck Trail, the site of my major mountain bike accident, is just 10 minutes east of Lakeside right next to the town of Alpine. It offers scenic views of El Capitan Reservoir, El Capitan Mountain, and a "World Class" downhill area with many large jumps and drops.

For short "spur of the moment" treks I usually go to Sycamore Canyon north of Santee (a suberb of San Diego) or Spring and Oak Canyons, which lay mostly in Mission Trails Park, to the west of Santee.

Another fun ride (except for the rattlesnake) that didn't cost too much in gas was Sweetwater Reservoir.

Reflecting upon the San Diego mountain biking trails has caused me to realize that we do have many nice places to ride here in the county. If you're from out of town, you might be wise to consider a mountain bike vacation here in San Diego. And if your a local, well what are you waiting for? Let's get out and ride!

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