hidden falls regional park
I only recently heard about Hidden Falls Regional Park. It’s a relatively new park, and recently it has expanded and added over 20 miles of trails, most of which are accessible by mountain bike. Since I’m always on the lookout for new trails to ride, I decided to dust off my trusty old Bianchi Superbee hardtail and go for a spin in the park.
Since the park is pretty new, all of the equipment and facilities are in great shape. The picnic tables still look new, and all the trails and bridges are in great condition. Even the port-a-potties are still clean.
At first I spent most of my time on gravel fire roads.
Later on I found some singletrack. The sign warned that the trail ahead was very narrow with steep side slopes. This sounds like the stuff I usually ride at Salmon Falls or Auburn Confluence.
But in actuality the trail wasn’t sketchy at all. While there’s a steep drop to the creek down below, there’s nothing that would put you at risk of falling down there. The trail’s wide, and there’s no crazy rock gardens or other technical challenges on the trail.
The trails are wide because the vast majority of them are multi use trails. On these sorts of trails bikes are the lowest on the totem pole, bikers have to yield to everyone else.
Horses should be the ones to yield, in my opinion. At least hikers and bikers don’t leave their crap all over the trail. (Unless it’s an extreme emergency…)
From the various trails that I rode, I could hear the waterfall. But it wasn’t until I got to this little viewing area that I could actually see the waterfall. I guess that’s why the place is called ‘hidden falls.’
The waterfall’s not a huge one. It’s maybe 50 or 60 feet tall, but there’s not a huge flow.
The good thing about the trail network out here is there are numerous options. You can choose to ride almost all singletrack, or you can spend the entire day on gravel fire roads if you wanted to.
When I got back to my car I spotted an older gentleman who was also riding a Bianchi, which was the previous generation of my bike. He was easily over sixty, but still going strong on his old hardtail. Apparently he had driven all the way from Marin to ride these trails. I wonder if I’d still be riding on trails when I’m his age?
