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Ride Number: 11

Title: China Camp State Park

Description: Notes on the trail: Most of this ride is on wide, smooth, singletrack. A few sections are lightly to moderately technical. Long and legal singletracks are rare in Marin County, and these are sweet! They were built by the state park and by the Bicycle Trails Council Of Marin as multiple-use trails. This is a good ride for those people who feel confident in their mountain biking skills and wish to venture out onto singletracks for the first time. China Camp State Park receives heavy use on weekends from mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians, but is quite empty on weekdays. The State Park has been very supportive of the multiple-use concept; please maintain the respect that has developed between mountain bikers and the State Park by riding responsibly. Do not allow your bike to startle other users by controlling your speed and by slowing down significantly when approaching blind corners. Always yield right-of-way to other trail users by getting off the trail before they feel compelled to do so. To prevent erosion, do not allow your rear tire to slide! If you cannot ride a section without sliding, please walk your bike through it. Do not allow your bike to slide in turns. Please ride or walk over water bars rather than around them. These trails are ridable for most of the year, but the lower portions become quite muddy for a few days following a heavy rain. Please avoid riding on wet or muddy trails, as it erodes them significantly! If you encounter mud, please walk your bike through it. Summer varies from cool, foggy, and windy one day, to hot, dry, and still the next. In general, summers at China Camp State Park are cooler than other inland areas but warmer and less foggy than coastal areas. My favorite season is springtime (April and May) because the hills are clothed in vivid green grasses and punctuated with wildflowers! A beautiful, forested walk-in campground is available (Back Ranch Meadows Walk-in Campground). This campground is less than four miles from civilization, but feels quite isolated. Drinking water, bathrooms with flush toilets, and an outdoor, cold shower are available at the historic site near the parking lot. (The shower feels particularly good after the ride on a hot day!) The historic site celebrates the Chinese immigrants who came to California during the gold rush, but stayed on to form a fishing village at China Camp. A small store selling drinks and sandwiches is operated by a descendant of the immigrants who still operates a fishing business. One section of the ride is narrow and rocky and exposed in places, and steep enough to allow bikes to pick up a significant amount of speed. Blind corners are common. Use caution -- both for your safety and for the safety of others! The ride: 0.0 The trailhead sign reads: "Village Trail to Shoreline Trail, 0.1 miles". This singletrack switchbacks up the hill to meet the Shoreline Trail. Notice the cow parsnips on the way up and enjoy the two sharp turns. 0.1 Turn right onto the Shoreline Trail. Enjoy the views of San Pedro Bay to your right and the large yellow flowers of mule ears on your left. 0.4 Arrive at the ranger station. Water and maps are available. Look across the paved road and you will see the continuation of the Shoreline Trail. Get ready for two tight turns as the trail switchbacks up the hillside. 0.5 You will be returning to this trail junction toward the end of the ride. I prefer to ride this loop in the clockwise direction. In order to do this, make a sharp left turn onto the Peacock Gap Trail. 0.6 Bear right, onto the Oak Ridge Trail. The sign reads "To McNear's Fire Trail, 0.6 miles". Get ready for three more tight turns. 1.2 Cross the dirt road (McNear's Fire Trail) on the top of a ridge. The Oak Ridge Trail continues on the other side. You may want to stop shortly to enjoy the views of the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, the Oakland Bay Bridge, the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, the city of San Francisco, and San Francisco Bay (This is a great place for a lunch break!). This is also a wonderfully narrow and smooth section of trail. Watch for deer, as they are quite abundant in this area. 1.7 Cross an old paved road (McNear's Fire Trail) and continue to climb slowly on Oak Ridge Trail through a dense forest on the other side of the ridge. Don't let the rubber water bar frighten you, as it will bend easily out of your way as you pass. Oak Ridge Trail will deadend onto Miwok Fire Trail. 1.9 Turn left on the Miwok Fire Trail and pedal and/or push steeply uphill for a few yards to the start of the Ridge Fire Trail. Turn right onto the Ridge Fire Trail. Watch for loose gravel on the short descent! 2.2 The sign reads: "Bayview Trail to Back Ranch Fire Trail, 1.2 miles". Bayview Trail is a wonderful, gentle climb through a thick forest of bay, live oak, and madrone trees. (The madrone trees have reddish, peeling bark.) 3.4 It is tempting to ride straight through this trail junction and continue on the singletrack, but this quickly becomes an eroded and steep dirt road (Back Ranch Fire Trail). Instead, turn left and climb up a short steep section of eroded dirt road to a continuation of the Bay View Trail. 3.5 You are situated next to a powerline tower, and the sign at the beginning of the singletrack reads: "Bayview Trail to Shoreline Trail, 2.4 miles". Before leaving, check out the view of San Pablo Bay to the north. From now on, many views of San Pablo Bay will be encountered; just be sure to come to a stop before enjoying the view! The next section of trail climbs steeply over loose rocks, reaches the "high point" of this ride, descends on a narrow and sometimes exposed singletrack, and traverses through a grove of coast redwoods. Be aware that there is an extremely blind corner at the end of the grove! 4.1 Take the right fork just after the wooden bridge to continue on the Bayview Trail. Watch out for the short but steep and rocky downhill section, and the sharp right hand turns after the wooden bridges. (If you have the time and energy, you might want to take the left fork to a view area and return. The left fork extends for about a quarter of a mile to a closed paved road. Head up the paved road for another quarter of a mile to arrive at an old NIKE missile site, and a view of the entire North Bay! Warning: This is a 500 foot climb!) 5.0 Take a sharp right turn to continue on the Bayview Trail. Several more sharp turns await you. 5.6 Turn right onto the Powerline Fire Trail for a few yards and then turn left onto a continuation of the Bayview Trail. 5.9 Make a sharp right turn onto the Shoreline Trail. The sign reads: "Shoreline Trail to Back Ranch Fire Trail, 0.7 miles". If you need water or if you want to bail out to the paved road, continue on the Bayview Trail for another one-quarter of a mile to its terminus. 6.7 Cross the Back Ranch Fire Trail and continue on the Shoreline Trail. This trail loops around the campground. 7.4 You have circled around the campground, and can look across the meadow and parking lot to see where you were at mile 5.9! Wasn't that a lot better than just biking across the parking lot? 7.6 Shoreline Trail contacts North San Pedro Road at this point. Continue on Shoreline Trail. The sign reads "Shoreline Trail to Miwok meadows, 0.8 miles". 7.9 The Bullethill Trail joins from the left. Continue on the Shoreline Trail along a small stream, through a dense live oak forest, over a small bridge, and to the parking lot for Miwok Meadows Group Day Use Area. 8.4 The sign near the rustic outhouses reads "Shoreline Trail to Miwok Fire Trail, 0.3 miles". Take this dirt road to the next intersection. 8.7 Do not take Miwok Fire Trail to your extreme right. To the left of you is a marsh -- a good place for bird watching! Take the Shoreline Trail to your right. The next two miles is one of my favorite sections of trail! It climbs and falls, winds back and forth, passes through open slopes with good views and through dense forests and over small bridges, and makes one feel good to be alive! 10.5 All too soon one arrives at the intersection where we began the clockwise loop. Bear left to the ranger station and continue on the Shoreline Trail. 11.1 Turn left to return to the trailhead. If you want more singletrack or if you were having so much fun that you missed this turnoff, the Shoreline Trail continues for another 0.6 miles to the State Park boundary. You may then return to this intersection or travel back to the parking lot on the paved road. 11.2 Trailtail! Now wasn't that worth the drive? Don't forget to visit the village if you have time. If it is a hot day, I suggest taking advantage of the cold drinks at the store and the cold shower near the bathrooms.

How to Get There: Access: Approaching San Rafael on U.S. Highway 101, take the "North San Pedro Road" exit east. Follow North San Pedro Road east along the edge of San Pablo Bay for 5.5 miles until a sign for "China Camp Village" is encountered. Turn left into the upper parking lot and park. The trailhead is located across the road from the entrance to the upper parking lot.

Submitted by: Jose Diaz pastordiaz@netscape.net

Date Submitted: 6/15/2001

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