Pearson-Arastradero Preserve is one of those city-run small open space preserves that are much more generous in their proportion of bike-legal singletrack in its trail network than many preserves that are much larger in size. All trails in this park are open to mountain bikes. That earns my respect
There are no long climbs at Arastradero. So, it could qualify as a good place to bring a beginner mountain bike rider, especially if you want to include some singletrack in the mix. That doesn't mean that you won't have to pay attention to your route choice, though. While the total amount of climbing is not significant, some short sections (mostly on fire roads) are pretty seriously steep and may present some unnecessary challenge to an out-of-shape new rider. Still, those can always be walked by beginners.
Even for experienced riders, there's quite a bit of fun to be had here. If you could string together a route that traverses all of the trails here without repeating any, you'd end up with something like a 10-mile ride. More likely, though, you'd be riding just your favorite sections of the park, while repeating or reversing some segments of your route. Since there are plenty of short interconnected trails here, it lends itself well to improvization.
Notice that there are at least two spots where you can park along Arastradero Road to enter this park. The one I'm showing as the suggested parking here is a roadside parking area with space for only five or six vehicles. The reason I usually prefer this one is that I usually do weekday morning rides at Arastradero before going to work, and the main parking lot sometimes happens to still have its gate locked at the early morning hour at which I show up. So, if you like, you can first try the main parking lot and only use my suggestion if the main lot happens to be locked.
There isn't a single characteristic route in the park that I can think of. The route represented on this page is, therefore, simply one of many possible suggestions. I can point to a few highlights that are worth checking out, though: "The Bowl" in the westernmost extreme of the park is a huge flat-bottomed excavation in the ground (an old quarry?) that provides opportunities for blasting down one end of it and trying to make it out the other steep end. A nearby "playground" may also enable you to spend a few fun minutes. There are some ramps and "jumps" there, though it's been aging lately. You can string these two together by following Bowl Loop Trail. And, finally, Acorn Trail, Woodland Star Trail, and Woodrat Trail are all nice singletrack trails that are (naturally) more fun in the descending direction, but are almost as enjoyable to climb.
One important thing to watch out for when it comes to biking at Arastradero is that the trail conditions become terrible when it rains. The soil here seems to have high clay content and, even after modest amounts of rainfall, it quickly sticks to your tires and accumulates until progress becomes almost impossible. You've been warned.
Local Trail Association
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (www.openspace.org)Comments
We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!
Create a FREE account to view route comments and much more.
Trails in Route
719 ft | |||||
1,253 ft | |||||
984 ft | |||||
3,238 ft |
Details
-
Riding area
-
Primary ActivityMountain Bike
-
Difficulty ratingGreen
-
Route TypeLoop
-
Bike typeAM
-
DirectionOne Direction
-
Physical ratingModerate
-
Ridelogs
More Stats for Arastradero Looper mountain bike route
-
Avg time1 hr 31 min
-
Altitude min399 ft
-
Altitude start399 ft
-
Altitude end404 ft
-
Grade max-39%
-
Grade min33.2%
-
Distance climb3 miles
-
Distance down3 miles
-
Distance flat3,228 ft
- Unknown
- Snow Groomed
- Snow Packed
- Snow Covered
- Snow Cover Partial
- Freeze/thaw Cycle
- Icy
- Prevalent Mud
- Wet
- Variable
- Ideal
- Dry
- Very Dry
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
- > 96%
- > 90%
- > 80%
- > 70%
- > 50%
- < 50%
- bi-directional trail
- no data
- < 2 days
- < 1 week
- < 2 weeks
- < 1 month
- < 6 months
- > 6 months
- Downhill Only
- Downhill Primary
- Both Directions
- Uphill Primary
- Uphill Only
- One Direction
- Description
- Photos
- Description & Photos
- Videos
- most popular
- popular
- less popular
- not popular
- mountain biking recent
- mountain biking (>6 month)
- hiking (1 year)
- moto (1 year)
- Downhill Ski
- Backcountry Ski
- Nordic Ski
- Snowmobile
Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.
SavePhotos
Videos


Recent Trail Reports Along Route
- By timalot
& contributors
- #30956 - 743 views