Coldwater Trail #21 (Singletrack)

From the intersection with the ATV section of Trail #21, this dirt bike route continues southwest on a very rocky and challenging trail. It narrows up from the ATV trail right away, entering a forest of gamble oak and junipers, paralleling a creek. The trail becomes full of baby heads and boulders right away, with several moderate rock ledges in the beginning, and more advanced rock ledges farther into the trail. The trail is essentially a constant rock garden. Expect ledges, rock pinches, rocky stream crossings, and embedded root bands. On the northeast side, it has some fun technical parts next to the creek, where the trail crosses the creek several times with up to a foot of clear water. After about a mile and a half, there is a series of technical switchbacks to climb the hill. The switchbacks are tight and steep with embedded rock layers, followed by a few of the more advanced rock obstacles. In parts of the trail, there is a heavy layer of fallen dead leaves, which makes it more difficult to see the rocks. The trail is a constant climb for the first 4.5 miles, continuing to ride over a surface constantly covered in rocks. At times the rocks are more packed down, but other times they are loose and ping you around. The last 3 miles of the trail descend over a constant layer of rocks of various sizes – mostly packed down baby heads. You get almost no relief from the rocks for the entire 8-mile route. You can bail out at the halfway point onto 9874, which is easier, but still rocky. This trail is very physically demanding in order to ride over the rocks, and considering its length of almost 8 miles, it should only be ridden by the most ambitious dirt bikers looking for an exhausting rocky challenge. Riders should note that the trail markers were misleading because this is designated as dirt bike only on the west end of the trail, and ATV at the east entrance off of Forest Service Road 21, but it appears to switch from ATV to single track at the intersection with 9915, even though this isn’t marked, but it is clearly a singletrack starting at this intersection. The trail is too narrow and technical for ATVs throughout most of the route. It appears to only have dirt bike tracks on it as well.