3,307 ft
Distance
225 ft
Climb
-48 ft
Descent
00:09:24
Avg time

Finch Trail Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • E-Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
  • Riding Area
    Waterdog Lake & Open Space
    Belmont, California
  • AKA
    The Switchbacks
  • Difficulty Rating
    Blue rate
  • Voted Difficulty
    Black Diamond (2 votes)
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Bike Type
    XC
  • Direction
    Both Directions
    Popular direction shown
  • Climb Difficulty
    Blue
  • Physical Rating
    Hard
  • Trail Visibility
    Always easy to follow
  • Season
    Jan-Dec
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • eBike Allowed
    Yes up to Class 1
  • Global Ranking
    #3651 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • #8495 in Trail Running
    • #10234 in Hiking
  • Local Popularity
    100 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 100 in E-Biking
    • 90 in Trail Running
    • 90 in Hiking
  • Land Owner
    City of Belmont Parks & Recreation

One of the quintessential climbs in Waterdog, Finch Trail features 18 (depending on how you count them) switchbacks of varying width and tightness. The trail can become rutted after rains, and changes a bit from year-to-year, adding to the challenge of clearing all of them. When ridden as a climb, it leads to a confluence of trails, meeting up with Rambler Trail and Ohlone Trail at the uphill end.

Use caution when descending—while fun, it is a popular trail and several of the corners are blind.

Local Trail Association
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for Finch Trail multi-use trail trail
  • Altitude change
    177 ft
  • Altitude min
    492 ft
  • Altitude max
    714 ft
  • Altitude start
    510 ft
  • Altitude end
    689 ft
  • Grade
    5.3%
  • Grade max
    -12.2%
  • Grade min
    25.5%
  • Distance climb
    2,162 ft
  • Distance down
    735 ft
  • Distance flat
    410 ft
  • Avg time
    00:09:24
  • Avg reverse time
    00:10:54
  • view trail stats
Status:
on May 14, 2025
Ideal
Avg: 4.29 (12 votes)
Your vote: 0

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Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Partial
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
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  • > 90%
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  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
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Radar Time
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Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.
  • mountain biking recent
  • mountain biking (>6 month)
  • hiking (1 year)
  • moto (1 year)
Activity Recordings
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  • Downhill Ski
  • Backcountry Ski
  • Nordic Ski
  • Snowmobile
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      Directions to finch-trail-54151 trailhead (37.500100, -122.292920)
      update trails status or condition

      Finch Trail Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      May 14, 2025 @ 5:25pm
      May 14, 2025
      		 reporter
      Apr 28, 2025 @ 3:34pm
      Apr 28, 2025
      		 reporter
      Apr 14, 2025 @ 1:37pm
      Apr 14, 2025
      		 reporter
      Mar 3, 2025 @ 10:34am
      Mar 3, 2025
      Jan 27, 2025 @ 3:03pm
      Jan 27, 2025
      		 reporter
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 10 rides
      • 8 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 180 rides
      • 9 miles avg distance
      All
      • 1,532 rides
      • Last: Jul 12, 2025

      Photos

      more »
      60 |
      Jul 22, 2022 @ 6:45pm
      Jul 22, 2022

      Routes with this trail

      more »
      titledistance
      Waterdog Complete Loop featured7 miles
      Waterdog with LoL Trail7 miles
      The Waterdog Tour10 miles
      Full loop from the very top8 miles

      1 Review & Comments


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      Videos

      more »
      Finch Switchbacks (Descending)
      2:06 | 458 | Sep 18, 2020 , Belmont

      Nearby Trails

      Waterdog Lake & Open Space

      • By b0bgTF Pro & contributors
      • #54151 - 2,619 views

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