Elfin Forest Reserve and Del Dios Highlands County Preserve

Review: Good place to practice your technical riding chops. Once you get to the top of the Way Up Trail there is a network of trails that you can mix and match to make rides of varying lengths. My ride: Way Up Trail > Quail Trail > Escondido Overlook > Lake Hodges Overlook loop > Witch Trail diversion > Equine Incline Loop (clockwise) > Way Up Trail.

Trails here at EF are characterized by steep technical climbs and descents, lots of switchbacks, typical SD rockiness, ruts and low to medium drops. The Way Up Trail is busy on weekends so watch out for hikers on the way down and get one of the courtesy bells at the trailhead before you ascend.

Similar Trail: Rancho La Costa Preserve

Review: Big climb. Loose small rocks in sandstone ruts. A few technical turns, and decent descends . Can be flowey if you're a beast of a climber. Take a full suspension that can climb well, don't think a hard-tail would as enjoyable. Trail is not exclusively designed for bikes, but is fun!

Similar Trail: el morro in Newport beach

Review: Loose with a lot of small rocks. Lots of climbing and decent decent. Can be flowey if you're a strong climber. Hot and exposed. Best bike to ride would be a 6 inch full suspension.

Similar Trail: el morro in Newport beach

Review: I chose the Elfin Forest as my maiden voyage on a new bike after almost 10 years away from riding MTB. It's one of those work vs reward trails - the first mile up the Way Up trail was pretty brutal, I was pushing almost as much as riding! Slightly discouraged after leaving my helmet in the truck, a short bomb down reminded me exactly why all of that work is worth it. Up on top things mellow out a bit and I kept working my way to the Lake Hodges overlook. Trails were dry but techie and super fun - for every foot of climb is a few seconds of descent right around the corner and to me, that's what kept me pushing through the tuff stuff.

Review: The way up is challenging, one on the top is nice and multiple trails to follow. Definitely a good place to ride but not for beginners.

Review: Tough start, a few breaks then tough downhill. Start from Del Dios has less traffic, but steeper too.