Mountain Biking Hoot Trail: Nevada City, CA
Hoot Trail // tahoefabulous.com
Check out my video of the Hoot Trail here!
If you're looking for winter mountain biking, Hoot Trail is a fun little flow trail just outside of Nevada City, about an hour drive from Truckee or Sacramento. Nevada City is low enough that it stays snow free (most of the time), and it's a great trail to ride in the winter when it's too wet or snowy to ride elsewhere. It can get pretty hot and dusty in the summer, and I think November through April is the best time to ride for trail conditions and temperature. The best place to park for the Hoot Trail is at the parking lot by Harmony Ridge Market, 5 miles east of Nevada City on the north side of Highway 20. Don't park in the market's lot, but there is parking available on either side.
From the parking, head east on Pioneer Trail, a wide double track. At about 0.7 miles, you'll make a left onto a fire road and then an almost immediate right onto Hoot Trail. After <0.1 miles of pedaling, you'll come to a trail marker showing that Hoot trail goes down to the left. Drop in here, and get ready to have fun. Hoot is a true flow trail, there's not any rocky or rooty sections, but there are jumps, berms, and whoops. None of the jumps are mandatory - the tables are rollable and the doubles have ride arounds. This is a great trail to practice jumping, as a lot of the jumps have clear, visible landings. Plus, if there's been rain recently, the dirt is as close to hero dirt as we get in the Sierra, so I love getting a little faster and rowdier than normal. The trail is definitely doable by beginners, and intermediate and advanced riders can challenge themselves by riding the optional features. It's a good trail to take a mixed ability level group on, for sure.
Hoot Trail // tahoefabulous.com
Hoot Trail // tahoefabulous.com
The Hoot Trail itself is only about 1 mile, so you'll get dumped out on Rock Creek Road at about mile 2. Turn left on the road and start heading uphill. The road climb is never too steep, and is nicely shaded for warm days. At mile ~3.7 take a sharp and steep left onto a trail. This short and steep section is the worst part of the climb, but it flattens out a lot after less than 0.1 miles. You'll ride this single track for ~0.3 miles, with one more short punchy climb that ends back in the parking area. One lap is ~4 miles and ~450 feet of climbing. Hoot Trail really feels like a lot of down for the amount of climbing, which is one of the things I love about it, and you can lap it pretty easily. See an example Strava route here.
There are several other trails you can access from this parking lot, like Scotts Flat across the street and Dascomb and Zipper further east on Pioneer. I rode Scotts Flat a couple of years ago, and there's been improvements since then. I've never ridden Dascomb or Zipper, but they're on my list! Another awesome thing about Hoot is that there's an awesome restaurant/brewery, Ol' Republic Brewery literally across the street (Check out my Ol' Republic Taphouse review). I recommend the vegetarian biscuits & gravy, challah bread french toast, Cosmic Fly By IPA, and Dead Canary Lager.