Munch Canyon -

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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

The first 1.5 miles of this ride take you down Fir Canyon, a narrow gorge cut through Monterey Shale and filled with spruce, oaks, and maples. The single track is excellent, though you may want to walk some of it. When you reach the memorial to Edgar Davison, a bronze plaque set in a large serpentine boulder, look for the Munch connector on the right side of the creek. 

The trail is steep for the first hundred yards. You will have to push up this part, but after that the trail can be ridden. It is slightly more than a half-mile to the Munch Canyon Trail. 

The Munch connector trail ends at an open saddle where the main Munch Canyon Trail begins. This trail is fairly technical and overgrown in parts, but if you like single-tracking, the route provides you with another way to enjoy an afternoon on the mountain. The first mile of the ride is down through the canyon. The trail is rocky, and you may want to walk some sections. The last half leaves the canyon, turning to the left and crossing through the chaparral to intersect with the mining road. It is a half-mile down to the Sunset Valley Road. 

You can either turn left and drop down to the Figueroa Jeepway, taking this back to your car, or turn right on Sunset Valley Road and loop back on pavement. The climb is steady for 3.1 miles to Cachuma Saddle, and then even steeper for 3.3 miles up to Ranger Saddle. Though a hard ride, it is beautiful in the later part of the day as the sun nears the horizon and hillsides glow in the light. From the saddle it is two miles of downhill back to the upper Davy Brown trailhead.