Winter MTB Ride at Chabot

Hey I've written about Anthony Chabot Regional Park before. I like the mountain bike riding, hiking, fishing, and just hanging out there. The trails in the summer can get hot and dusty. A week after a good rain in the winter is a good time to load up the mountain bike and ride. So Wednesday with blue skies and temps nearing the 70's I hooked up with a buddy and brought my dog for a Mountain bike ride. Here's the report.

Want to ride a good loop? A little outta shape? Want to bring your dog? Read on.

2 kinda outta shape 40 something guys on an old GT LTS 3000 (me) and a Jamis Dakar (buddy).
1 dog that is a half breed black lab and basset hound (heart of a lab, speed of a basset)

A 6 mile loop at Anthony Chabot Park. Whee!

We started at the Redwood Road Bort Meadow parking lot.



The casual ride down Brandon to the Stone Bridge was dry and always fun. At the end you ride under some impressive redwoods. That's always cool.



The dog got a water break from her backpack, and we continued on the Chabot Bike Loop left at the stone bridge and up Brandon. It wasn't muddy, and seemed about perfect. It had been a while since I had done this climb and I could tell. Most of the time the dog and I do the loop on Grass Valley back to the parking lot. But the 3 of us carried on. A couple of guys passed us, and we kept riding until short Deer Canyon trail. It got pretty muddy there and we turned left and hiked it up the hill. Squish squish. Close to the top we rode a little and got to Red Tail turned left and crossed at Marciel Road. So now we were at the top. We rode some of the all too short singletrack on Red Tail down to the Marciel Gate staging area of Redwood. Time for the dog to get another water break.





Ok now it is fun fun mostly downhill. We exit the parking lot and pick up Red Tail again. A little more single(+1/2)track and purrfect trail conditions.



Rock and Roll with some mild uphills and more downhill to Grass Valley (still a little muddy in spots, Brandon doesn't get nearly as muddy if you want to aviod it) and back to the Bort Meadow parking lot.

We were all pretty tired, but had fun. I got a bad case of chain suck in my small chainring, it is really wasted. So time for some new parts, then we'll all hit it again.

It is a fun loop, about 6 miles. It wears me out pretty good, most people, probably not so much. Good for taking the dog, (bring water for them) mine has good trail manners, and I carry a leash with me all the time. Weekdays it is pretty empty.

PDF maps
North section

South section