Find the top rated birding trails in Ukiah, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
We rode bikes on the trail from Forestville to Occidental Road. The trail is not completely flat but the hills were somewhat shallow and steady. From where we started on Pajaro Lane in Forestville we first went downhill a little while and then had an uphill climb for a fair distance followed by some fairly flat trail then a slight downhill. There is a section of the trail that is dirt and gravel along the way but it isn’t more than about 1/4 mile. The trail was shady in most places and the short sections on roads were reasonable.
My hubby and I have done this ride numerous times. You can do 14 miles round trip. Best to avoid weekends, lots of foot traffic. Take care on the downhill run around Virgin Creek. Right after the bridge is lots of sand! Absolutely gorgeous ride! Suz
I'm obsessed with this trail - its makes for a spectacular bike ride along the Pacific ocean. Currently whales are spouting off-shore, some flowers blooming, lots of birds, the beaches are mostly empty. I like to start from the parking lot at Cypress St. and go north, continuing on to the 10-Mile Beach trail. Currently the connection through McKerricher is flooded, so unless you walk bikes across the beach there one can't get all the way to 10 Mile beach. Hopefully that will re-open later in the spring. Trail is easy biking - feels like flying. Afterwards I like to go down to Princess Seafood in Noyo harbor for beer and some grilled fish on their patio.
Do yourself a favor and skip the first half of this trail if you’re on a board. It’s pretty lame to begin with and the roads that you have to travel along are terrible. Part of the first half is also gravel and you’ll have to walk. But the second half is pretty awesome...especially the last 1/4. Go off the trail a bit and explore the back roads..there are some fun hills.
This trail has been extended by 3 miles to the south side of Fort Bragg. The new portion is nicely paved, the old portion is in sad shape but rideable.
Lots of pit toilets on new portion which can be accessed via a parking area just off Cypress street. Beautiful views and a level ride. We rode trikes doing the ride in 2 sections. Also has picnic tables along the way.
Great trail for beginners and seniors!!! Started the trail up at Fort Bragg's glass Beach. Rode haul road to Mackerricker State Park and then north the big a big sand dune area. Reached the end of the trail and headed back. Good 1/2 day trip. This is a great place to bike with kids!!!
It's an alright trail. Starting at Hazel Drive for about 2 miles there a lot of homeless people and trash on the sides of the trail. After that, it's a very scenic and pleasant. It's pretty much flat the whole way. I ride this trail every morning and am satisfied with it.
We are easterners, accustomed to long off-road rail-trails that are really away from roads. We don't like road biking because it can be dangerous and noisy. Given the dearth of options in the area, we decided to try this trail. Even knowing what it's like, we might have done it once, but we won't be back.
After reading about the trail we decided to skip the Santa Rosa area and parked at the Sebastopol Rd/Wright Road parking lot. The parking area is tiny, around 6 cars. We arrived around 9am and it was full within 15 minutes. (Though it was empty when we returned around 2pm.) The trail is carved up into nice but short rail/trail sections divided by road sections. On the way out, we went around Sebastopol on roads which were low in traffic but very hilly. There were no directional signs telling us how to get to the next section of rail-trail. The West County Trail was much better at giving you directions, but it wasn't fun for us to ride so close to (or on the road) for much of the ride. The trail itself is not paved. On returning, we decided to stick to Main street in Sebastopol, but there was no bike lane and you could not ride on the sidewalk. Till then Google maps on my iPad was invaluable in helping us find our way, but the gps went crazy in town, so we went way out of the way before finding our way back.
Bottom line is "not recommended"!
We took this trail for Mother's Day on a beautiful spring day. It has all the elements one could want for a long bike ride. Lots of safe open space biking, town venues for food and fabulous scenery. Lots of place to start and stop for families with small children and for teens/older crowd, you can go as fast as you want. I highly recommend this trail for a day ride.
Everything grows in Sonoma County; grapes, apples, redwoods, oak trees, and palm trees. When visiting Sonoma county be sure to eat out at a restaurant serving locally grown produce and wines.
The western part of the trail between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol goes through grass land with some oak trees.
I road in April the day after a big rainstorm. Many of the grasslands and wooded areas are transformed into wetlands and swamps. If you have only done this trail in the dry season, try it the day after a rainstorm.
The traillink map does not show the recommended bypass for Sebastopol. The recommended route is north east of the town on Morris St and Eddie Lane. Pick up the Sonoma County Parks map online or from the visitor information center in Railroad square in Santa Rosa. Search the internet for "west county trail sonoma county" to find the map online.
North of Sebastopol, the trail follows highway 116 for a mile before returning to the historic railroad grade. The northern section has more wooded sections along with some vineyards, and abandoned apple orchard.
Good News! There is now public access at the northern trailhead into Forestville, via a new housing development on Pajaro Lane. To access the trail from Forestville, head south on Forestville St and turn right on Pajaro Lane.
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