Explore the best rated trails in Gorman, CA, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Omer Rains Coastal Bike Trail and Fillmore Bike Path . With more than 20 trails covering 172 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
This short trail is a bit of an engineering marvel. Smooth pavement, beautiful scenery, and because it is within feet (separated by an impressive and artistic barrier) of Highway 101, very LOUD. Good luck if you're trying to have a conversation with a fellow rider.
Nice small capacity parking lot at the southern end. Very safe for a family outing, though a bit of caution will be needed in the one street crossing in La Conchita. At the northern end there is a beautiful park, suitable for picnics, and with nice ocean overlooks.
I ride about 20 miles/day, and found the trail a bit short, and a bit too noisy. One of my brothers, who doesn't ride at all on a regular basis, and who is less sensitive to noise than I am, found the trail "perfect". And there you have it!
Traveling by car through the Central Valley over a hundred times during the past fifty years, I've never paused to ride a bicycle in Bakersfield. Mistake! The Kern River Parkway Trail is a way above average opportunity to take a break from the monotony of Highway 99 or I-5, get in a good ride, and get back in your car with the invigoration that a two-wheeled adventure virtually always brings.
I did the length of the trail in two parts. Daty 1, headed south to SoCal on 99, I parked at Yokuts Park (plenty of parking, easily accessible off 99) and rode east. The trail itself is wide, and smooth, well maintained, and without safety concerns. Specifically, though homelessness has been mentioned in previous posts about this path, no encampments encroached onto the path, and homeless folks numbered less than ten over the roughly sixtteen mile round trip. I got a bit confused at Manor St. : stay right, look for the narrow tunnel that goes under the street. The hills mentioned in the official description and previous posts are not steep, easily negotiable by even a mildly fit rider. I did not ride the streets to the disconnected far east portion of the trail, but will next time
On my return trip headed back home (Merced) on 99, I parked again at Yokuts Park, and headed west for a 28 mile round trip ride to the western end of the trail. What a delight! Again, the trail was wide, clean, traveling largely along water, safe, for all ages and levels of riders. Previous postings about tumble weeds....didn't see any. Again, no street crossings, as the path uses underpasses for all roads, a marvelous piece of engineering. If you're a birder, bring your binoculars, you'll be travelling along extensive wetlands. The trail drops about 400 feet in elevation over 14 miles, hardly noticeable going either downstream along the Kern, or upstream on the way back. My sense of public safety seemed to be confirmed by the many families that I encountered on foot or on bikes. The speedster bicyclists were polite, and the width of the path made it easy for the tortoises and the hares, the pedestirans and the dog walkers to get along.
This path is a beauty, an achievement of forward thinking and an excellent investment in the public good. It's easily accessible from either I-5 or Highway 99. If you're passing through Bakersfield, you'll be richly rewarded by pausing to try it out. I rode it in January (58 degrees), for summer riders, be well prepared for the heat, which can be lethal.
Nice trail but when I rode it this summer a large section was still covered in gravel from last winter's rainstorms and mud/rockslides. Not sure if it's been cleaned yet but if you are on skinny tires be prepared.
I have ridden this trail all the way. It is a very good trail,but from Enos Lane to Buena Vista Lake, it needs the tumble weeds cleaned up and from Hwy 119 to Buena Vista Lake all the broken glass and trash cleaned up to bring it up to par.
This is a nice rail-with-trail for getting around locally in the Lancaster/Palmdale area. A word of caution though - when going north and crossing Sierra Highway from west to east at Technology Drive (1/2 mile south of Rancho Vista Blvd/Avenue P) be sure to wait for the WALK signal, and don’t just rely on the green traffic signal for the cars. This is because traffic from the right (northbound traffic) doesn’t stop when the light is green for the traffic on Technology Drive.
From the southern end of the trail you can also connect to the Avenue S Bike Trail. This is a nice trail (which is not a rail-trail) that extends for several miles in an east-west direction (with a few gaps). There is also a gap of about 1.5 miles between the two trails.
We have used this trail several times. We have not gone on the entire trail but we have ridden 35 miles. We prefer to go west on it as it is more scenic and there are not any homeless or sketchy areas. If you go east you will encounter many homeless people and the area doesn’t seem safest. We have not been bothered by the homeless, it is just a little uncomfortable seeing some using drugs, as we have a teenage daughter. Overall this trail is well kept. You can tell the city cares deeply about this trail. It’s in our top 10 in the country!
It was an awful trail path for walking or biking. Too many people taking up the whole path, too many unleashed dogs, and Fillmore residents loitering on path as well as off to the side of path creepily watching girls and woman while drinking beer. I felt extremely uncomfortable. Trash left all over and people don’t pick up after their dogs. I can tell you for sure that I will not take this oath trail again.
On 06NOV2022 I chose to attempt a 7(ish) mile run along the LA river starting at the trail's terminus in Long Beach. The run took me from Golden Shore up to about Willow. Nearly as soon as the trail turns north from the trailhead the nature of this trail becomes apparent - This is not a safe trail for pedestrians. There are multiple campers, addicts, feces (human and otherwise), and piles of garbage all along the trail. It is an absolute human rights atrocity. Some of the campers have built decent sites off of the trail but most have built castles of garbage and some have built literal fortresses out of the riprap that is used along the river wall. Some of the people along that route were friendly enough and said hello as I passed. Others were not welcoming and a couple were down right threatening including one that tried to block my path and stop my run. This brings up perhaps the most dangerous part - there is no way to escape the trail should trouble happen. There is a high chainlink fence that runs between trail access. If a person finds themselves being chased or assaulted they cannot get away. This portion of this trail needs to be avoided if on foot. There were a lot of cyclists and perhaps this is an option if you are moving quickly, but even then this should only be attempted if part of a large group.
This trail has the potential to be awesome, but the current issues make it downright intimidating and dangerous.
The trail itself is nice enough and the benches to the side are a major plus, but the little loose plant thorns on the trail made one of my tires flat. This path also had me crossing the street but there was no dedicated stop light for drivers and just had to wait for no cars to be around. Overall, won't be finding myself on this trail in the future.
TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!