14 replies to this topic

[Melanie]

Anyone know of a good book or website that details Folsom bike trails? There have been a few times where I went out to try a new trail and I parked my car in a bad place and I was stuck biking on busy roads for too long. Also, can we ride over the dam? I'm somewhat new to the bike trails here in Folsom, I moved from Rancho where I used to hop on the AR trail with no problem. Thanks to Global Warming, hasn't it been a beautiful month for biking? Any help is appreciated.

[john]

Welcome to Folsom, and MyFolsom.com!

You can find a Folsom trails map here:
http://www.myfolsom....iketrails.shtml

this is a good photo-tour of the bike trails:
http://www.myfolsom....ikephotos.shtml

map of the trails around the lake:
http://www.myfolsom....ke_trails.shtml

I don't think you can get over the dam anymore. I would recommend biking by Lake Natoma, it's a prettier ride anyway. :-)

[Dan O.]

I live in Lexington Hills, and I don't seem to be able to ride my bike on the trails and get to Lake Natoma without having to ride on Blue Ravine part of the way?
The trail seems to break at E. Bidwell, and stop there, south of Creekside a ways. It goes under E. Bidwell but stops there. Any clues on how to make it work, or do I need to wait for more trail construction to be able to make it to Lake Natoma on the trail?

[Terry]

I live in Lexington Hills, and I don't seem to be able to ride my bike on the trails and get to Lake Natoma without having to ride on Blue Ravine part of the way?
The trail seems to break at E. Bidwell, and stop there, south of Creekside a ways. It goes under E. Bidwell but stops there. Any clues on how to make it work, or do I need to wait for more trail construction to be able to make it to Lake Natoma on the trail?

The city is planning a pedestrian overcrossing at East Bidwell to hook up the north and south ends of the bike trail.

[Silverado]

I live in Lexington Hills, and I don't seem to be able to ride my bike on the trails and get to Lake Natoma without having to ride on Blue Ravine part of the way?
The trail seems to break at E. Bidwell, and stop there, south of Creekside a ways. It goes under E. Bidwell but stops there. Any clues on how to make it work, or do I need to wait for more trail construction to be able to make it to Lake Natoma on the trail?

As soon as you pass under E. Bidwell, you need to jump on the sidewalk westbound over to Harrington Way (its a short trip). Turn south on Harrington, and look for a field with a dirt trail to open up on your right. Follow the trail, and it will turn into bike path which will take you all the way over to Folsom Blvd. Cross Folsom Blvd, and you're close to Lake Natoma.

[tony]

I live in Lexington Hills, and I don't seem to be able to ride my bike on the trails and get to Lake Natoma without having to ride on Blue Ravine part of the way?
The trail seems to break at E. Bidwell, and stop there, south of Creekside a ways. It goes under E. Bidwell but stops there. Any clues on how to make it work, or do I need to wait for more trail construction to be able to make it to Lake Natoma on the trail?

The city also recently applied for a grant to complete the segment from the E. Bidwell undercrossing to the Riley undercrossing along the RR tracks. That will ultimately be the more direct way to get to Lake Natoma. Here's a list of ongoing projects: http://www.folsom.ca...nt_projects.asp and the city's bike trail map is here, too. You can get a hard copy of the map form the parks and rec office or from eithetr of the bike shops in town (but call first to make sure they are not out; they are very popular).

Depending on where you start in Lexington Hills, you can also get to the Lake Natoma by being creative with city streets: Creekside is a nice parallel route to the Willow Creek Trail and will get you quickly to the Humbug Creek Trail segment off Harrington as described by Silverado. Even more direct, if convoluted, is to take the Humbug Creek Trail from Oak Ave. and Blue Ravine (just north of the park) to the aprtments on the south side of Blue Ravine. Exit the apartments onto Flower Drive. Take the first left on Stanton Ct., then the first right on Remington, then the first left onto Willow Creek (or take Flower up to Wilow Creek). Take the sidewalk thorough Ed Mitchell Park (one block on your left) to Frankwood Dr.. Straight on Frankwood to Montrose. Right on Montrose which becomes Dean. Dean to Stafford. Right on Stafford. Take Stafford past the new library and the Rodeo Grounds to a bike trail down to the eastetrn extension of Leidesdorff St. Left on Leidesdorff. Right onto a bike trail before you get to Coloma. Right onto another bike trail at the intersection of Riley and down to the histric truss bridge. Cross the bridge and turn left to go around Lake Natoma or right to go to Beale's Point. Though a bit hilly, this is actually a shorter route to Lake Natoma (or the zoo, library or Sutter St.) and the worst traffic is involved with crossing Blue Ravine (at a light) and Natoma (at a light).

In the grand plan, when the dam work is complete, the eastern end of the Hiumbug Creek Trail in Empire Ranch will cross Green Valley to a trail along Mormon Island Damaand Dike 8, over the new dam road , along the front of the prison property, behind teh zoo and city hall all the way to the historic truss. Then you'll eb able to do a copuple of grand loops (around Lake Natoma; around the canyon between the historic truss and Folsom Dam Road (which will have a Class I trail) and between these two and the Humbug-Willow Creek trail system. You should only have to wait about ten years!

P.S. Join the Folsom Area Bicycle Advocates and help makle it happen! http://www.sacbike.org/faba

[Dan O.]

Silverado & Tony:
Thanks for the input....I didn't know about the Harrington access to the trail. I'll try that. I also like the idea of getting to Rodeo park and hooking up there.

Dan O.

[Melanie]

Wow, great info! Thanks everyone. I live right off of Riley so that new trail will be awesome!

[camay2327]

Interactive Trail Map

http://www.folsomtrails.org/

Click on Interactive Trail Map

[Steve Heard]

Interactive Trail Map

http://www.folsomtrails.org/

Click on Interactive Trail Map

Great site! When and who?

[Dave Burrell]

Great site! When and who?

It is a really cool site, been checking it out and thinking about doing a nice long ride around Lake Natoma soon.... that's always fun for several hours and later picnic'ing down by the bridge

[aztransplant]

Great site! When and who?

When? Don't know when the maps or website went live. . . the org was founded in 1990 though.

Who? Friends of Folsom Parkways http://www.folsomtrails.org/?page_id=8

[Darth Lefty]

We ought to convince some Eagle scout candidate to put up wayfinding on the bike trails. They really need it.

[tony]

We ought to convince some Eagle scout candidate to put up wayfinding on the bike trails. They really need it.

Actually, the city is working on this right now. First step was naming all the trails. Friends of Folsom Parkways FFP and the Folsom Area Bicycle Advocates FABA have been assisting parks and Rec Staff in making this happen.

Interesting how much has changed in the 3 years since this thread started. Now you can continue all the way to Folsom Blvd. and Parkshore after crossing under E. Bidwell on the Willow Creek (and then Humbug-Willow Creek) Trail. But the E. Bidwell OC is still not built - but construction actually started a couple weeks ago, so it won't be long now.

[Darth Lefty]

Actually, the city is working on this right now.

That's great to know!