Aptos
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Description: Nisene Marks contains one long fire road with low technical difficulty and a section of single track trails with very high technical difficulty. This section covers the low technical difficulty portion. For the high technical difficulty portion see the “Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Aptos Rancho Trail / Vienna Woods” section.
Nisene Marks Aptos Creek Fire Road offers a long climb, miles of fire road, and nearly 100% shade in a redwood forest. Even on a very hot day, it can be cool and moist in Nisene Marks. The redwood forest is beautiful and there is a giant old growth redwood right on the trail near the top. The trail itself is a fairly bland dirt road and, except for a 1.3 mile section called the “incline”, it is not very steep, making Nisene Marks a relatively easy intermediate ride.
There are 25 miles of fire road, but they are not in a loop. The entirety of the recommended rides are on primarily one road, Aptos Creek Fire Road, that climbs 12 miles into the park from the main entrance to 2500 foot elevation. If you would like to explore another trail, take the Hinkley Basin Fire Road from the Sandy Point Overlook, which is 9 miles up Aptos Creek Fire Road. Hinkley Basin is an odd 5 mile descent to San Jose-Soquel Rd. that seems to go through private lands and includes three stream crossings that can be deep in winter.
There are three restrooms along the lower part of the trail, each at a parking lot, with the last one 2.8 miles into the ride. There is nothing after that.
The park was famous in the early ‘90s for great single track, but all the single track trails in the park are off limits to bikes now. The trail closures should be viewed as a good rule for nature that needs to be respected, not broken. The local hikers hate mountain bikers for poaching the hiking trails. Nisene Marks gets many hikers, orienteers, and hordes of runners. There is no room on the single track for bikes.
In the Wet Season: Trails are open.
Directions: State Park Exit from SR1 in Soquel. South 1 mile on Soquel Rd. A link to the parking location in Google Maps is here.