Baldwin Loop

Rode this trail from the top down to online bluff trail (the entire downhill section) on 7/9/22. When you get to the lower portion there is a tree down blocking the trail so you have to dismount, put your bike over and step through. Otherwise trail is riding great. I loved it and it can be ridden hard and fast. It’s not too overgrown right now but the Lower section does have some prickers reaching out which are unavoidable. Highly recommend long sleeves and of course gloves.

Enough hate. This is an awesome trail if you do it right. There are blooming costal lupin, tom turkeys showing their tail feathers, astonishing ocean views, and a cool ocean breeze. Kindly allow me to dispel some BS I see here.

I am a Santa Cruz native and have been riding these trails for 30 years. Here's the thing: December through June is high tick season in the Empire Grade / Bonny Doon / Wilder Ranch area. I live at the top of Wilder Ranch / Gray Whale, and have two dogs, so I'm very aware of the tick situation. There are some pockets in this area where ticks are CRAZY bad, and one of them is lower Baldwin Loop. I agree with other comments here that you want to avoid lower Baldwin Loop completely: the ticks are awful, it is overgrown, and most importantly, it's logistically difficult to incorporate into a fun loop.

Here's the trick. Do not vary from this and it's a great ride: Ride Baldwin Loop counter-clockwise from the top of Enchanted Loop down to Eagle Cutoff. Take Eagle Cutoff. Do a tick check at the top of Eagle Cutoff, and then ride back UP Baldwin Loop. That is the only sane way to ride this: If you skip Eagle Cutoff, you end up in Lower Baldwin Loop which is overgrown tick hell and you are going to regret it; if you decide to ride down to the coast after Eagle Cutoff, you'll get stuck having to cross HW1 and ride along confusing and annoying farm roads for an hour to get back to Wilder Ranch proper, and you will regret it.

I rode this today, and it was simply delightful. No ticks, no stinging nettle, no overgrown trails. Baldwin Loop was nice hardpan with occasional super bumpy cut-rock flats (like upper Zane Gray) and some very bump descents: I would not want to ride this without full suspension. Nothing was not overgrown; while Eagle Cutoff was thick with brush, it was not overgrown. Also, no other people anywhere for miles. It's not a very technical ride. An intermediate rider will be fine on these trails, but I would not take a newbie simply because of the sustained long bumpy sections that require a lot of focus and hand strength.

The trail is very narrow in some spots. Despite that, I had no issues with overgrowth hurting me/my bike and no encounters with bugs. Pretty fun descent overall.