East Pinery Out n' Back -

Gallery

Access / Parking

Ride Log

Expectations for Riding the Santa Barbara Area Trails
Country trails are multi-use trails and as such are used by several thousand users each week. If you are riding downhill on these trails, expect to encounter them on your way. Your cooperation will help make everyone's experience a safe and pleasant one.

Ten things every mountain biker who rides the front country trails is expected to do:

1. Have a bike bell so other trail users know you are approaching.
2. Keep your speed down; practice riding techniques that minimize impacts.
3. Good braking means never having to skid. Do not lock up your brakes.
4. Approach switchbacks with caution and brake well before you reach them.
5. Stay on the designated tread. The front country trails are multi-use, not a race course.
6. Ride with other trail users in mind and enhance rather than interfere with their enjoyment.
7. Always assume there is another trail user around each corner.
8. Yield the right-of-way to uphill trail users. Stop and dismount if necessary to allow them to pass.
9. When approaching equestrians, dismount and ask them what they want you to do.
10. Be courteous. Smile and say something friendly to everyone you encounter.

Background

On The Ride

This easy ride goes along an excellent dirt road leading down the north side of Ranger Peak, dropping 400 feet in elevation to a loop at its end. Lush stands of Coulter pine, black oak, and a low covering of manzanita provide excellent scenery and a pleasant afternoon ride. In the fall, the numerous Kellogg oaks in the area provide seasonal color. There are a host of small niches to be found along the way, each providing a picturesque and rustic picnic site, nicer than those found at many of the established sites. 

As you coast down the road you’ll probably notice that most of the trees are almost the same size. This is due to a forest fire which burned through the area several decades ago. The wildfire started in Davy Brown Campground and burned unchecked up the north side of the mountain until stopped at Figueroa Mountain Road. Most of the trees were actually killed by the intense heat of the fire rather than by the flames, and afterward most of them were cut down and hauled away. The whole area was replanted after the salvage effort. In recent years this area burned again in the Marre Fire.

Though the trip to the end of East Pinery isn’t long—only 1.5 miles—longer rides are possible by connecting with one of several trails leading from East Pinery into Munch, White Rock, and Fir canyons. To connect with the Munch Canyon spur, follow the East Pinery road to its end (a loop). Take the right fork of the loop for 100 yards, looking carefully for the trail, which diagonals down and to the right. It is three-quarters-mile of gradual switchbacks down to the Munch Trail intersection. When you reach the saddle, Munch Trail leads immediately to the right. Fir Canyon is to the left.