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Description: You can either cllimb up Highland Way (long route) or start across the bridge through the
fireroad. If you climb up Highland Way, continue on the road until the first fireroad off to
the right. Continue the climb into the Forest of Nisene Marks. At the sign, take the fireroad
down to the left and do a little more climbing until you see a singletrack trail to the right.
You can take the singletrack up through the woods (relatively easy climbing, with one short
steep uphill) but the fireroad will join up at the end of the singletrack run. Go left on the
fireroad for yet more climbing. Take another left onto Aptos Creek Rd and cross over the
gate for yes, still more climbing. You will eventually get to a clearing where you can take a
right onto the Ridge trail and take a glimpse at the trail map. Off of the ridge trail, you
have a few options for getting back downhill: Sawpit, Tractor, Braille, Sulphur Springs trails.
Tractor trail is a fun long singletrack downhill, well worth the climb. A little bumpy at first,
but smooths out so you can go top speed. When you spit out on the fireroad, head right for
a gradual climb back out towards the bridge where you parked. Though there is a lot of
climbing in the Demo Forest, it is mostly on fireroad and in the shade. You will be glad you
did it because the downhill really pays off!
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reviewed by Roxy&Yeti on September 4, 2011
If you are looking to have fun on this trail and you are not a very, VERY advanced rider, avoid the Braille trail. Also avoid this trail if you do not have a high quality full-suspension ride. Or if you have any problem sitting so far behind your seat you're likely to ruin your shorts razzing them with the wheel. Make no mistake that this is an extremely steep, fast, technical track. For the expert rider this is the trail you've been waiting for. You could spend a lifetime mastering harder and harder jumps and probably still never make them all (I think there was one jump off a massive stump with something like a 7 or 8 foot dropoff from top to bottom, onto very steep downhill grade and straight into a rather sudden turn). My husband and I breezed past a group of three guys who seemed to have stopped in the middle of the toughest part of the descent and were debating what to do-- if you do not have the skills, you will be marooned here. It is literally too steep to walk or carry your bike up or down in many parts. If you DO have the skills, you will find this track very, very fun. Adrenaline will be pumping hard no matter how good you are. It reminds me of Bikram yoga. While it's happening you're asking yourself, "WHY am I DOING this???," but afterward you find yourself hankering the unique benefits extremes can bring.
With that being said, the trail was a bit of a disappointment for me in terms of the length and flow of it. It has definite "legs" that stand apart from one another, and one loop really doesn't feel like quite enough. There isn't much flow, but I guess there are other trails for that. The downhill feels long while it's happening, but later seems short in comparison to the length of the uphill.
I've only done it once and I have to admit that I look forward to doing it again. I'm giving it a 4 out of 5 here, but if it was a scale of 1-10 I'd give it a 7. There is a delicate balance on great trails between challenge, fun, and good hard work. When any one of those spikes too high it sours the deal a bit. This trail is spiked off the charts on challenge, and even the hard work seems to slightly outrank the fun, because it's not fun hard work, it's mostly dirt fire roads. Like 2/3 of this trail is uphill on dirt fire roads. Lame. I'm hoping when I go back next time some of the other trails will add more balance to the equation.
Similar Trail: Slickrock at Moab if you like the extreme challenge factor. Reminds me of Corte De Madera trailset in the balance of uphill vs. downhill- lots of uphill, but the downhill is very rewarding and totally worth it.








reviewed by TrojanMonkey on July 5, 2008
Maaaan, was this fun. Climbed up the fire road, bombed down Sawpit, climbed Tractor, and flew (I do mean flew) down Braille. I've fallen off condition, so the climbing was really tough, but sooo worth the downhill. I'll admit to being somewhat skeptical as to just how good this ride would be, after hearing everybody rave about Demo, but it really is the best in the area. I need to pound out some hills and then do it again, and again, and again.
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forest of nisene marks & soquel demonstration forest mountain bike trail
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