Review Date
October 25, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: ty1967 ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Lots of great riding with challenging single track

Recommended Route:
I like to drop in near the dam off of Tamarack Avenue and ride around the backside of the lake then head south towards the tons of different single track routes. I have been riding here since 96 and never get board. There are many different routes to take with varying degrees of difficulty. If you want a leg burner, from the dam climb up to the top of the cliff which is the highest point in the area. Someone has taken the time to build a bunch of cool bridges to ride across steams throughout the preserve. Recently the city of Carlsbad has hired a private company to manage the area and they have been closing some of the trails by putting up tape and digging to make them unridable....urrrr.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Daily Ranch, Vail Lake.

Review Date
June 8, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: Bigtime ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
This area is a lot of fun. I have been to the area every weekend for two months and find new trails to explore each time. It gets a little busy weekday afternoons beginning around 4:00pm when people get off work and go for a spin. Summer is also rattlesnake season so keep you eyes and ears open. Most of the area is hardpack with some loose grit on top. You'll also find some blue groove on the heavily used trails, some powdery sand, and rocky technical sections. Its a multiuse area in the middle of subdivisions so you'll see people out walking their dogs, hikers, runners, cyclists and even the occasional equestrian. Common trail courtesy is strongly encouraged, and I've only been met with smiles and waves. Some of the bridges near Oak Riparian cross some serious swamp water and go through some thick poison oak so use your best judgement on exposing your skin.

Recommended Route:
Just get out there and explore. Stage from Oak Riparin Park, or off Skyline, or even near College/Canon and go ride. Even though its contains miles and miles of trail, the area total area is only about 2 by 4 miles in open space so you're not going to end up like the Donner party.

Review Date
November 11, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Reviewed by: page nicol ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
I wanted to try something different and not too far inland from the coast. Most of the reviews were good and I went to another website which gave some good trail notes. Overall I really liked the area. Lots of single track, some great uphill sections,good rocky/rutted technical, some fun bmx jumps and drops, good fire roads to air out the legs. I would agree most of the area is intermediate, but there were some areas I had to get off and walk both uphill and down. They look doable but not by me. You could easily get 15-20 miles in and I'm told you can hook-up with other areas to the south to add even more miles. Lastly I went on a weekend and there were only a handful of bikers/hikers, so not too much traffic. Go out and try it.

Recommended Route:
I started at the Riparian Park Parking Lot, crossed the river and went straight towards the lake up to the top of Cerro de la Calavera. Going up was tough but not impossible. There were some pretty steep downhills on the east side, but I went back the way I came up. After this I went south towards the water tower and then finally to the east to hit the BMX area. Put in about 10 miles in 1.5 hrs.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Hodges, Daley Ranch, Black Mtn, Del Mar Mesa

Review Date
May 20, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: rockit ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Calavera's is a highly underated trail in SD county. If only sticking around the lake I can see why people are giving it a low rating. There are so many hidden gems in a around the area. Spend sometime and it will pay off. You can easily put together a 10 mile loop and never see the same area twice. Give it a try.

Review Date
February 2, 2007

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 2 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Reviewed by: etrogden ,  Racer

Summary:
Someone is building illegal trails out here. Please stop! We will lose Calavera just like we lost Flightline if this continues. Let's enjoy the existing trails and keep them open. We really need to go out of our way to be good neighbors and stewards of our last remaining trails.