Explore the best rated trails in Helendale, CA, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Santa Ana River Trail and Cactus Trail . With more than 6 trails covering 94 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.
We are at the northern section on of the trail that stands alone. Will be great if ever connected to the longer southern section. We are staying at Rancho Jarupa RV Park (great place). You can ride 2 miles right out of the park along a peaceful street/turn right at the signal on the sidewalk of the bridge over the river to the dog park. From there you can go 10 miles to the south end of the trail. It does follow the river but lots of areas need clean up of dead trees etc but still a great ride. (Not much bothers us). Some homeless camps by the water in one area but no bother.
I away used to ride this trail ever since a couple months ago
New experience after all these years of cycling and blading. Went with family to ride bicycles. We start behind county records located at 222 Hospitality Ln. Too many homeless with dogs. A white dog chased us on the bike trail between county records and industrial buildings next door. It's worse on the weekends. Apparently, the homeless know that there is no security at night and on the weekends. Do not leave your car there.
We parked on the western end in the Metro train parking lot at 1st and College in Claremont. Lots of free parking. Rode a few blocks down First and picked up the trail. This trail is in beautiful shape. No trash, no graffiti, no homeless camps. Part of it has a beautiful separate parallel dirt trail for horses and runners. Not too much shade so would be hot in summer. There’s a nice park about 10 miles in on the trail. The downside is the number of street crossings. Only a few of the streets were busy. But the fun part is that in addition to street crossing buttons for bikes they have high up buttons for those on horses.
I've lived my entire sixty-eight years in the Inland Empire, the last forty-three in Rancho Cucamonga, and I must say I was absolutely stunned to recently discover that the black top running alongside the flood control channel is now on TraiLink and is called Deer Creek Bike Path (even though there are absolutely no signs anywhere designating that name to the path).
Since no one had yet to submit a review or photo, I felt compelled to do so in the hope some naive bicyclist does not set their sights on this path.
First of all, this is/was essentially a service road for the flood control channel, but the city slapped some yellow paint down the center of it and decided to call it a bike path. OK, Rancho, kudos for the thought and semi-effort, but this trail leaves quite a bit to be desired as a "bike path". Deer Creek Concrete Flood Control Channel Pedestrian Path might be a better name. I was the only person on a bike (for good reason), and in terms of pedestrians/dog walkers I only encountered four on the entire 9.6 mile round trip.
Most of it is not practical as a bike path because of the many interruptions caused by busy major thoroughfares. As a result, you then have to get on a sidewalk or that busy road to get to a traffic signal in order to safely cross and then double back to the trail. (Check out the map and you'll see what I mean.)
I would say this path is most practical for and appreciated by the residents north of Church Street as it provides a couple miles of recreational opportunity thanks to paths connecting their neighborhoods to the trail. From my experience, that's primarily dog walkers and residents getting their steps in.
North of Base Line Road it provides access to The Bark at Central Park and the city's crown jewel bike path, the Pacific Electric Inland Empire Trail (which I ride a couple of times a week between Fontana and Upland). The portion of trail north of Church Street all the way to the endpoint at Highland Avenue (which is closed to cars!) is safe, but the trail has about a million filled cracks which makes for a bumpy ride.
South of Church Street, FUGHEDDABOUDIT! It's a joke and not worth your time as it passes behind businesses, warehouses, apartments, and the unhoused and their scattered garbage. Same bumpy, cracked trail plus debris such as sand and tree twigs, plus I didn't feel especially safe as I pedaled through the less affluent south part of town.
So bikers, don't bother! This is definitely not a destination bike ride, but perfect for the nearby residents to stretch their legs or to access the dog park or the Pacific Electric Trail (a true bike path!).
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.
It’s been a couple years since I did this trail last. It was dirty etc back then. Today I did the round trip from Waterman to the mountain parking lot and back. Just over 10 miles each direction. It was very clean and wonderful the entire way. A small encampment down by the river below the trail but the trail was awesome. Time to return more often.
I've done this trail several times. Last year in 2021 it was totally void of homeless issues. This year in 2022 I encountered several encampments and graffiti issues. I usually start in the middle and do the westbound route the first day and the eastbound route the second. I normally start at the Honda Center in Anaheim and go from there.
The trail itself was nice. We started from the parking lot on Foothill, in RC and went east. Nice paved two lane trail. After a while though, you cross city streets over and over again. It kinda sucks have to stop for signals so many times.
BE CAREFUL if you park in the foothill parking lot. While we were out riding, someone drilled a hole in my gas tank to steal gas. I didn't even notice it until we got home. It was $1700 worth of damage. Because of that, I will never again go to that parking lot. Heck, I will probably never use this trail again because of that. You have been warned.
The trip starts at my house getting on PET from Campus Ave. in Upland. The distance is 17.5 miles one way from where I start. The trail goes east and at about two miles into the trip there are two brief climbs and from there on it's pretty much level. At the Foothill Blvd. trailhead there is restroom access. It's important to mention that unlike the Santa Ana River Trail,, there are many intersections you have to cross. With some short and some long stretches. After about nine miles, starting from the under the 15 fwy you will be on a mile stretch that is very bumpy with the concrete slabs. Not very pleasant at all for road bikes. This section ends with a rest area in Rancho Cucamonga. I look at this portion as the first half of PET. It's now mile 10.
The second half of PET begins across Baseline Rd. where you enter Fontana. You are now going southeast. The trail takes on a different character where you are in a community setting and many portions of the trail have a neat accent to them. There's a park at Oleander Ave. with a nice restroom right off PET to your left. Other parks and exercise equipment are alongside the trail, along with a number of historical buildings. Once you enter the city of Rialto, you see neat signs telling you you're at Rialto with numerous cement benches and water fountains. The trail ends at Cactus Ave. at mile 17.5.
I gave this trail a four because in Fontana and Rialto I noticed that the trail isn't being kept up regarding weeds growing inbetween the concrete slabs you're riding on. Those weeds often have thorns that can puncture tires. I recommend you check the weather forecast for wind. Cucamonga, Fontana, and Rialto are know as "wind tunnels" so better to be safe than sorry. On my second trip, I did notice signs of the homeless with trash and other items associated with them. It wasn't much but I suspect it's going to get worse because on my first trip I didn't see anything. That's not good. Hope it doesn't get too bad!
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