If you live in or near Simi Valley and want some basic fire road and singletrack mountain biking then you might want to give the trails in Wood Ranch a go. Keep in mind that there is nothing too exciting about these trails but it's good if you want to just get out for a ride or want to do a ride that's not too strenuous or technical. Most of this area is fire road so if that's your thing then you are in luck. You can also connect to other trails such as the Albertson Fire Road, China Flats and even Chesebro Canyon. There are a couple of sections that are singletrack trails where you can get some speed but they are fairly short but worth checking out. |
|
|||||||||||
Wood Ranch Video
Wood Ranch Trail Review
Overall Wood Ranch is more of a beginner's type of place to ride with no real exciting or challenging trails. If you like riding uphill for your exercise then you can stay on the fire roads because some of them can get pretty steep. Then again on the way down the fire roads you can get going pretty fast which can be fun. During the summer it also gets very hot in the area and you have rattlesnakes to worry about as well.
Like mentioned before there are a few singletrack areas and if you choose to ride down them they can be a little challenging for the beginner because of the rocks and ruts but that's about as technical as it gets. And if you do ride down them then you will most likely be stuck having to ride up a fire road to get back to where you came from or even come out further down on Long Canyon Road and have to ride the street back up to the parking lot. On nicer days there can be a lot of hikers out there but there is usually plenty of room for bikers and hikers so you don't really have to worry about running into anyone but you should still be aware that a hiker can be around any corner.
Wood Ranch Trail Pictures
Directions
View Wood Ranch in a larger map
There are a couple of ways to get to the Wood Ranch trails but it's easiest if you just park in the parking lot at the trailhead itself. It's a decent size parking lot but can get pretty full on a nice day so you may want to go early and carpool if you have multiple riders going. To get to the trailhead parking lot you can either take First Street out of Simi Valley west towards Thousand Oaks and continue on it until it turns into Long Canyon Rd and follow it to the end and the parking lot will be right there on the left. Or if you are coming from Thousand Oaks you can go down Madera Rd into Simi Valley but take a right on Wood Ranch Parkway and follow it until it ends and the parking lot will be on the right. Long Canyon Rd and Wood Ranch Parkway both end at the same place.
When you get ready to ride there are a couple of ways you can get to the main trails. There is an uphill singletrack that will take you right in there but it's not the easiest trail to ride up since it's rocky and a little steep. It can be fun to come down though on your way back. Most people ride down Bannister Way and around the gate and head up that way. Just stay to the left and you should be able to find where you are going.
