Mountain Biking the Santa Cruz Flow Trail

Ok I admit it, we are singletrack snobs. Having lived in Colorado for so long we’ve ridden some of the sweetest trails in the continental US. Areas like Crested Butte, Fruita and even Moab are less than 3hrs away. So it seems every year when we haul our MTBs out to California we are disappointed with the trails here. But that all changed when we discovered Santa Cruz. The marquee (legal) trail here is the Santa Cruz Flow Trail in the Soquel Demonstration Forest.

This trail is pretty much a 3 mile downhill pump track. The berms are big and the jumps are smooth as butter.

I’ve ridden a few flow trails and I can honestly say this is the best I’ve been on. I can’t imagine the time in work it took lay this trail out and build it. The 3 mile section is broken down into 6 segments, each segment has a “sponsor”. You see this as you enter the segment.

Getting There

The Santa Cruz Flow Trail is in the Soquel Demonstration Forest about 40 minutes from Santa Cruz. To get there, take Rt 17 for about 14 miles and turn right onto Summit Rd. Take Summit Rd. to Highland Way until to the parking area on the right. There will most likely be a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. I’m not 100% sure why they park out there but I think it’s for safety and break-ins although we’ve always parked in the parking lot without issues.

The Santa Cruz Flow Trail Stats

Miles: 3.2 miles downhill that is broken into 6 segments (Flow 1 – 6)
Elevation gain: Less than 20 ft
Elevation loss: Around 1,300
Best for: The entire family ( but they must like climbing)

The Flow trail is broken up into 6 segments which is perfect for kids because you can rest and regroup at the start of each segment if you need. Once to the top you can coast the entire 3.2 miles without pedaling, this is a true flow trail! There’s also some opportunity to get air and a few minor tech spots so more advanced members of your family will still have a blast.

Now let’s talk about the climb up. There are a few ways to climb up to the flow trail.

Climb 1

Highland Way to Buzzard Lagoon Road to Aptos Creek Road to Ridge Trail. This climb is 5 miles and around 1,000 ft of climbing.

The ride starts on Highland Way at Soquel Demonstration State Forest parking lot – ride 2 miles toward South East on Highland Way (all on the pavement), while climbing gradually – turn right onto dirt fire road called Buzzard Lagoon Rd. ride 1 mile, climbing gets steeper through here – right turn on Aptos Creek fire road, ride 1.5 miles while the trail climbs atop a ridge and rolls along the ridge – right turn into Soquel Demonstration State Forest onto the Ridge Trail (look for trail map on the right), continue on the Ridge Trail for 2 miles with varied and rolling singletrack terrain – right turn onto the Flow Trail (look for the picnic table on the left at the top of the Flow Trail), continue down hill on the Flow Trail for a fun flowing mountain bike specific ~4 miles of singletrack – 4 mile climb begins at the end of the Flow Trail on Hihn’s Mill Fire Road, continue back to parking lot.

Family Shuttle Option: Because we have to take turns riding (need to watch Lars) we shuttled the first 4 miles of road/dirt climbing. This basically dropped us less than a mile from the start of the single track.

Climb 2

In 2022 we had Lars (8) with us and decided to try another way to the top. From the parking area, we took Hihn’s Mill Road > Sulphur Spring Road > Ridge Trail. This is a 2 mile climb with around 900 ft of climbing. The start of this climb is a rolling downhill on the fire road leaving the parking area (Hihn’s Mill). When you get to the intersection of Sulphur Spring you go up an it’s STEEP! It’s tough but it’s also much shorter than Climb 1 so I’d personally pick this way again when riding with kids. You can tow them for most of this for a really good workout. This is also a good way to climb if you want to ride the Braille DH.

Braille DH

If you want more tech and less flow than the Santa Cruz Flow Trail there’s the Braille DH. Braille DH is steep tech, naturally raw but with features like drops and jumps. Sulpher Spring Road is a good way to lap with trail and the flow trail to get the most out your visit.

Hopefully this post gives helps you plan a ride on the Santa Cruz Flow trail! If you want to learn more about riding in Santa Cruz be sure to check out our Santa Cruz Destination Guide.

Have questions? Have you ridden out at Soquel Demonstration Forest? Leave a comment below.