Soquel Demonstration Forest

Aahh, Soquel Demonstration Forest!

Also known as Demo Forest, or even shorter, Demo. Sometimes perhaps even Demolition Forest. But what a great place it is. You’ll find here some of the best and most challenging MTB trails in the Bay Area. The setting is quite remote, deep in the Santa Cruz mountains. The Demonstration Forest borders the Forest of Nisene Marks, featuring an extensive trail system that hardly ever gets crowded. Coming from the north, you’ll usually park and start your ride at Highland Way, branching off from Summit Road that itself is reached from highway 17. But you can also bike up all the way from the coast down south if you’d feel like it.

The ride described here, which I did with mtbsh’ers Inge, Thomas and Tom, started on Highland, which we rode up a few miles until Buzzard Lagoon road. On the fireroad we met Mike and Inga, first time Demo-ers who were trying to find their way towards the amazing singletrack the place is known for – they hooked up with us and soon we were enjoying Ridge trail. Later on we decided to go for Braille trail and had a blast on the sweet singletrack and all the little log jumps, drops and stunts. Mike was loving it and showing off his impressive jumping skills – excellent material for my camera! After Braille, the long grind home was all that stood between us and a well-deserved beer. We’ll come back for Sawpit and Tractor later…