Little ole Arcata, CA is home to CSU Humboldt and some mountain biking in Arcata Community Forest.
Prior to European settlement, Arcata’s forestlands were used for hunting, fishing, and other uses by nearby Wiyot Native American settlements. Wiyot villages were settled adjacent to Arcata’s forest and throughout the vicinity of Humboldt Bay. Then, when Europeans began to settle in the Humboldt Bay region in the 1850’s, native Wiyots were driven off their lands. Although the Humboldt Bay area was settled as a supply center for the nearby gold mining camps, the wealth to be made from the timber resources quickly established a logging industry. Much of Arcata’s Community forest was logged in the 1880’s. In fact, it was not until the 1930 through the1940’s that the citizens of Arcata gained title to the Community Forest for the purpose of providing water to the town. By 1955, the Community Forest was dedicated as the first municipally-owned forest in the State of California, and was to be “managed for the benefit of all citizens of the city, with attention to watershed, recreation, timber management, and other values”. Trails followed.
The trail network is kind of confusing with criss crossing singletrack and some DH only trails. We used Trailforks and put together a nice route, though it does have a lot of climbing. The trail system features a lush understory typical of a coastal redwood ecosystem with Redwoods, Douglas Fir, huckleberry, blackberry, and Salal bushes, and all sorts of ferns and vines. It gets pretty dark back in some of the areas and it was even a bit cool the day we rode there.
Several of the trails are twisty with berms and outstanding flow. Peanut Butter Trail was a fun downhill with jumps, gaps, and roots everywhere. As I mentioned, you have to climb quite a bit to get all this reward so gear down and head up!
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