We saw flyers for a mountain bike race to be held at the end of the month at Susanville Ranch Park and decided to go check out the trails. Susanville Ranch Park is a 1,100-acre park property owned and managed by Lassen County and the Bureau of Land Management as a shared-use recreation area. Tired out, we did a short loop of 12 miles but it had 1768′ of climbing!
There are a couple different places to park and we picked the higher up lot. It’s a maze of trails out here and while there are maps posted around, they are difficult and really, the Trailforks app is your best bet. It’s a beautiful ranch situated at the convergence of forest, meadow, and high desert environments. Jeffrey pine, dispersed incense cedar, fir, juniper and black oak trees cover the hillsides.
For the most part the trails aren’t technically challenging but they are aerobically difficult. There is a lot of climbing, a plethora of bermed turns, many loop options, and spectacular views. We climbed up Heart Attack Hill and then continued up. The trails switchback and wind up, traverse, and then switchback and wind down. The recording of our ride is a squiggly zig zag of lines. Somewhere along our ride we did see an advanced only jump line trail for those that like that type of trail. Also, there was a short slalom course that I played around on.
We rode here on a weekday and didn’t see any other riders though we did pass a trail runner and someone walking their dog. The lower trails see more users since they are so close to town so head higher up if you want solitude.
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