Contribute  Loading...
Geography Parents Loading... Trails
| Tunnel Trail   | 
| Location: California, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 34.49140°N / 119.6981°W Trail Type: Downhill County: Santa Barbara Technical Difficulty: Hard Aerobic Difficulty: Medium Layout: Point to Point Elevation Gain: -3000 ft / -914 m Length: 4.5 Mi / 7.2 Km
| Trail Quality: | | | | Loading...
| Page By: theronmoon Created/Edited: Oct 19, 2007 / Oct 19, 2007 Object ID: 262776 Hits: 637 Loading... Page Score: 87.45% - 5 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Overview
Tunnel Trail is a historic and popular trail in the front country of the Santa Ynez Mountains overlooking the coastal city of Santa Barbara. The trail rounds to up to East Camino Cielo which follows the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains. The highpoint peak overlooking this trail is named La Cumbre Peak at 3995 feet. Tunnel is a extremely rocky trail that is a downhill only route. The trail though is very popular with local hikers sense it is less then five minutes from downtown Santa Barbara. Most riders will want to wear armor, also it is mandatory for your bike to have a cow bell to warn hikers of your approach. A good place to start car shuttles is from the area around the Santa Barbara Mission.Trail Description From the parking area on Camino Cielo find the large saddle area. A single track starts at this saddle a proceeds to drop rapidly into the lower reaches of the canyon. The trail is very rocky and has some exposure. Be on the lookout for hikers, especially at blind corners. There is numerous points in the trail where riders can jump rock gardens. As you descend hikers can become more numerous. Eventually the rocky fun ride ends and exit out onto a fireroad and back to the city.Getting ThereA Santa Barbara map will help greatly with this route. Find Gibralter Road which is above the northeastern end of the city of Santa Barbara. Take this road as it winds up to Camino Cielo. Turn left onto Camino Cielo and go about .5 miles and park on the side of the road.When to Bike & External LinksThe Santa Ynez Mountains are within Los Padres National Forest so a Adventure Pass would be required for parking. A Adventure Pass can usually be bought at most gas stations near forest roads. The remote nature of this part of the National Forest makes it pretty doubtful that rangers will be checking for permits, but it could happen.
For current conditions in Los Padres National Forest.
For current weather go to Weather Underground.
CampingFor camping in Los Padres National Forest Campgrounds.
For camping at any of the local State Beaches.
1. Gaviota State Beach
2. El Capitan State Beach
3. El Refugio State Beach
My personal favorite place to camp is El Capitan State Beach. Images |
|
