Soquel Demonstration State Forest — Attraction in Scotts Valley

One of the beat places in the bay area to mountain bike. This park is NOT for new or novice riders IMO, you should have solid fundamental mtb skills.

From the parking lot, head up highland to the buzzard lagoon fireroad to the top. The ridge trail has sign in front, you can take this to the other trails. If you continue on the fireroad, you'll head down to Aptos and you probably do not want to so that...

The trails: Braille is the steepest and is filled with jumps and small drops, there are other easier lines to take.

Flow: 3.5 miles and about 90% of it is downhill. Fast and flowy with berms, jumps which you can just roll over if you scrub speed.

Corral: Fireroad with single tracks to the sides with jumps an features.

Sawpit: Singlettack with a rock garden, there is a go around to the left.

A good full suspension bike is what would suggest, but a hard tail is doable, just be prepared for a really bumpy ride.

The road, highland way is pretty beat up so take your time getting there. On a hot day, you can stop by one of the flowing streams (right hand side) on the way out to dunk you head in.

The Summit store is a good place to eat post ride, has a deli, made to order sandwiches and general grocery...

The road leading into the forest is pretty beat up so you should be careful. There is a couple of sections where the street has washed out. That said the flow trail is one of the best trail rides I've ever done. It's broken down into sections so you can break it up if you want. The real fun is bombing it from top to bottom. It's a huge flow trail where you arev winding interested in between huge trees the whole way. It's amazing. Braille is much more technical but still super fun. The climbs are pretty hard so you should have a but if physical endurance before you hit this place otherwise you're gonna struggle but the climbs are well worth it so don't let that deter you from making the trip. Down the hill a little ways there is a store where you can get drinks and snacks. Overall to was easily one of the best mountain biking experiences I've ever had. This trail system should be on every riders...

Great mushroom Hunting and foraging experience!

We took a guided tour for the mushroom hunting and had a great time here.

The terrain is very uneven so be careful if you step outside off the trails and into the forest.

Remember the directions towards the trail, offline maps and a compass app is a must. once you are inside the forest, all directions look the same.

Remember to pack a rainproof jacket and some water and survival supplies just in case.

Although the experience was fun, the guided tours can get expensive so I'm not sure if we'd do a guided tour again. These are public lands (passing one private property in between) so you can forage with hobbyists and other enthusiasts.

Always triple check a mushroom...