Dike 8 Trail

Introduction

This trail is what I describe as fun single track. I believe it is also an excellent trail to take people on for their first experience of single track riding.

This trail is in the Sacramento area on the south shore of Folsom Lake, and goes between the Folsom Point (Dike 8) and Folsom Lake Marina (Brown's Ravine) launch areas.

Trail Description Info

These notes were taken on 9/5/98. This ride is not based on any trail description I've found in any book.

Note that linear mileages are recorded from my bike trip computer. The coordinates come from a hand-held GPS, and accuracy should be considered to around ±400 ft. The elevations (in feet) are taken from USGS topo maps with 20' contour lines, and are probably ±20 ft. The "~" symbol means approximately.

Trail Type

This trail starts out with about a mile of easy dirt road, and the rest of it is fun single track. The dirt road is in full sun, but easy riding. The single-track trail has a quite a bit of shade, which is very nice during the hot summer months.

Length/Time

This is an in-and-out ride. The ride described here is about 3.3 miles one way. We spent about 1.5 hours for the ride, with a trip computer time of 55 minutes actual riding time. However, the trail actually continues quite a few miles past Folsom Lake Marina, so you could make a much longer ride if you wanted to.

Difficulty

This is a great beginner's ride, although most of the more advanced riders I know also have a great time on this trail.

This isn't a very strenuous ride, as it largely follows the lake shore. There are certainly many short sections of up and down (the trail definitely isn't flat), but the longest steep hills are only a couple of hundred feet, and there is no significant elevation change.

In terms of technical difficulty, this is a great learning trail. Most of it is narrow, twisty single track. However, you generally have just weeds and bushes on either side of you (no cliffs or anything), so if you fall off the trail it's no big deal (which is why I think this is a great learning trail). There are plenty of sections that beginning riders will find challenging, and a few sections will probably even challenge intermediate riders. However, these sections are short, so if you do have to walk your bike, you will usually only walk 50-100 feet before you will be back to riding again (which is another reason I think this is a great trail for beginners). Because the trail is fairly twisty, the better riders have fun on this trail because they ride it faster than the beginners. However, this is a heavily used trail, and you will probably meet traffic, so never ride faster than you could see on-coming hikers/bikers (or maybe even a horse).

This is an easy trail to follow, as there are practically no intersections to deal with.

Traffic/Crowds

I wouldn't call this trail crowded, but it is well used, and you will likely meet 5-10 hikers and/or bikers on this trail, with a slim chance of even meeting a horse. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the trails. Since it is twisty single track, never ride faster than you can safely see.

Trailhead

This ride starts from the Folsom Point recreation area on the south side of Folsom Lake. Until about a year ago, this was called Dike 8. A few signs still call in Dike 8, and if you talk to a local person, they will likely also call it Dike 8. (This is also why I call it the Dike 8 trail--it really should be called the Folsom Point trail now.)

To get to Folsom Point from Sacramento, take highway 50 to Folsom. Take the East Bidwell/Scott Road exit, and turn north onto East Bidwell. When you reach Blue Ravine in a couple of miles, turn right. Travel Blue Ravine for several miles, and then turn left onto Natoma St. (by the Albertson's shopping center). (If you're cheap and don't mind a bit of extra uphill, you could park and ride from this shopping center.) After turning onto Natoma St., the entrance to Folsom Point will be on your right in less than half a mile.

Refer to Figure 1 for finding the trail head within Folsom Point. Drive up the hill and pay your fee at the entrance booth ($6 the last time I checked, unless you have a state parks' season pass). Very soon you will come to a fork in the road, and you stay right towards the picnic area. The road will go uphill and curve to the left. Park in the dirt parking here by the edge of the paved road (a short dirt road takes off to the right).

Route Map

Figure 2 shows the tracklog and waypoints for this ride. As with all the GPS data in this document, the points are fairly accurate, but there are times (especially when the GPS temporarily lost lock on the satellites) when jogs and such appear in the track log that weren't actually on the route.