“Is the East Bay the most anti-mountain bike place in America?” I asked in a 2012 article after spending a week attempting (and largely failing) to ride singletrack in the area. While a few trails have been built in the region in the intervening 14 years, whenever I talk to riders from the East Bay who have any exposure to riding in other areas of the country, they all agree that MTB trail access is still abysmal — especially considering the wealth of public green spaces adjacent to such a dense urban area.
The East Bay Parks District acknowledges this, saying that the local National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) teams in the Berkeley, El Cerrito, Albany, and Richmond areas have been growing quickly, but these “mountain bike teams are accumulating about 40,000 riding hours in a season on the same 30 miles of multi-use trails shared by everyone but are only permitted to ride on approximately 1.5 miles of single-track trails in these parks. “
Now, the winds of change are blowing. Last year, Jeff wrote about how local mountain bikers got involved in the San Francisco chapter of the Sierra Club which, for over 30 years, was opposed to mountain bike access.
Enter the Wildcat Canyon Mountain Bike Trail
In 2023, the East Bay Regional Park District began gathering feedback on a plan to build a new 1.4-mile flow trail in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park to help separate bikers from other trail users within the popular system. The trail would feature modern flow trail features, such as berms and rollers.
At that time, some members of the Sierra Club San Francisco chapter quickly voiced opposition to the proposal on environmental grounds before the required California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) assessment had even begun. This opposition from the chapter is what galvanized mountain bikers to get involved in the Sierra Club, and now, the Club “explicitly recognizes that bicyclists can be legitimate users of many backcountry trails and supports responsible off-road bicycling, except in designated Wilderness areas,” according to Barbara Smith, Chair of the Sierra Club East Bay Public Lands Committee.
The Wildcat Canyon flow trail is far from an overnight success, but the CEQA process has progressed in the park, and more details about the trail have emerged. If the 1.4-mile flow trail is built, the nearby Leonard’s trails would be closed to bikes and remain open to hikers and equestrians, providing dedicated trails for the different user groups.
Currently, “the district is conducting an Environmental Impact Report (EIR),” according to the Richmond Standard. “This study will look at how construction affects local wildlife, whether the soil can handle the new use without eroding, and if local neighborhood parking can manage the extra traffic.”
While the final EIR has yet to be completed, the Park District has worked from the beginning to identify “a conceptual trail corridor that avoids or minimizes impacts to sensitive plant and animal communities based upon preliminary resource surveys completed in 2022,” according to EBParks.org.
Have your voice heard
The East Bay Regional Park District is currently accepting public comments on the proposed trail construction until March 13. If you’re a local mountain biker, this is a fantastic opportunity to voice your support for this modern trail development in Wildcat Regional Park, which, if completed, would be a landmark win for mountain bikers in the East Bay.
A draft of the full EIR is expected to be released to the public in mid-2026, and a final vote by the Park District Board of Directors won’t happen until late 2026 or early 2027.
Know about a new trail project we should cover? Whether you’re breaking ground on the next must-ride destination or putting the finishing touches on a neighborhood flow trail, we want to hear about it. Drop us a line at [email protected] with high-quality photos of your build, plus details like trail mileage, location, difficulty, and what makes it special. We’re always on the hunt for the next great trail story, and there’s a good chance your project could be featured in an upcoming article.
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