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Braille Trail Descent

Bay Area

A technical descent harkening back to the days of old school freeride.

Mountain Biking Severe

Distance
2.2 km
Ascent
0 m
Descent
308 m
Duration
0-1 hrs
Low Point
324 m
High Point
633 m
Gradient
10˚
Braille Trail Descent Map

Soquel Demonstration Forest, or "Demo Forest" for short, has long been one of the must-ride trails in California. The classic Demo Forest trails can be best characterized as old school freeride descents.

Description

While most of the built-up features can be bypassed, these trails are steep and technical. Optional kickers, log rides, and wallrides abound in the deep forest. Steep, loamy singletrack is the complete opposite of the modern sustainable trail building techniques of today.

According to BayAreaRides.com, "the Braille trail does get seriously steep in its descent in a number of places, but even if you're not an advanced rider, you'll hardly be caught off guard by any of these. You'll always have a chance to stop and walk down the trickier parts, unless you're really not paying any attention. Still, definitely be extra cautious at least during your first ride down Braille Trail."

Due to the old school freeride nature of the trails, the features are a bit blind with short sight lines. According to an article on Singletracks.com, "this place should be progressively more fun each time you ride it since you would have a chance to memorize the position of each element and learn how to link everything together into a line as you descend the mountain. Knowing the features would also be advantageous as you could learn the speed required and the amount of air that each would serve up."

Sources: https://bayarearides.com/rides/demo2/ https://calfire.ca.gov/resourcemgt/downloads/Soquel/SDSFBrochure.pdf

Difficulty

Severe

Widely variable, narrow trail tread with steeper grades and unavoidable obstacles of 15in/38cm tall or less. Obstacles may include unavoidable bridges 24in/61cm wide or less, large rocks, gravel, difficult root sections, and more. Ideal for advanced-level riders.

Medium Exposure

2 out of 4

The trail contains some obstacles such as outcroppings and rock which could cause injury.

Remoteness

3 out of 4

Little chance of being seen or helped in case of an accident.

Best time to visit

all year round

Features

  • Flow
  • Technical
  • Drops
  • Roots
  • Gap Jumps
  • Wooden Feature

Similar routes nearby

Guidebooks in this area