Trail Overview

Santa Ysabel Truck Trail is a narrow, shelf-road trail running through a section of the Cleveland National Forest in Ramona. The trail follows along Santa Ysabel Creek and offers beautiful views over the mountains, and leads to several hiking and recreation areas. The terrain along the route is rutted and rocky but not overly technical, minus a few short sections. This route is well-maintained and well-traveled, so expect to see other vehicles on weekends and holidays. Several gates throughout the route are locked at ranger discretion during times of high fire risk or harsh weather.

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Difficulty

This trail is steep and full of shallow ruts and small rocks. There are several minor technical challenges, that are made more difficult by the fact that there are few areas to turn away from obstacles. The road is narrow, often with no places to pass. Caution should be used when passing or coming around blind corners.

Technical Rating

Jason F

May 07, 2026

Open

Tim M

Apr 29, 2026

Open

Mellow for the most part. Some sneaky sand spots in the switchbacks. A few interesting washed out sections with rocks but otherwise easy going & fun.

Edward

Apr 22, 2026

Open

Nate t

Apr 11, 2026

Open

Ed B

Apr 09, 2026

Open

Gate locked

Bryan Allbaugh

Mar 28, 2026

Open

Fantastic adventure bike trail. I went both directions and connected to the black mountain trail and had a great time. This trail is narrow and you have to keep your head up and be looking for oncoming traffic, but on a Saturday morning i only ran into 2 cars on the trail. This is a 2-3 level trail, but it's a blast to ride. There are lots of embedded rocks to jump off of if you are interested in that and plenty of views to keep you entertained if your taking it easy.

Gee b

Mar 08, 2026

Open

Beautiful weather and scenery, some people going up. And a occasional oncoming traffic. Very little space for you and oncoming traffic. Some parts are exactly for 1 car only Camping flat on the first 1/4 of the trail (pick up your trash) Lots of shade on the end (going north east)

William Mitchell

Feb 28, 2026

Open

We first ran this trail 5 years ago. It was a nice dirt road with great views. Although there still aren’t any real clearance issues for a stock 4x the trail has deteriorated due to weather down to its bones in many places. Rocky and rough requiring to air down and 4h to be enjoyable. The sister trail, Black Mountain to the summit is in similar condition. Still spectacular views at the summit so well worth the effort. Seeing more big tire rigs on the trail do to it becoming more of a challenge.

Sean Getty

Feb 26, 2026

Open

Open beautiful day. Just me myself and my taco

Carlos Palafox

Feb 13, 2026

Open

Kyle Grizer

Jan 25, 2026

Open

15 min drive from the house. Not a single person when we went in and out. 2 spots where higher clearance would be ideal. Rockier section just before the watershed on the Sutherland side. Did the whole thing in 4L because I’m riding on all season tires atm…need to upgrade to A/T. Fun two hour outing with the ball and chain. Overall, was not a difficult trail. Highly recommend for beginners just getting into this like myself.

Jackson

Dec 27, 2025

Open

Closed due to rain

Brian Koke

Dec 19, 2025

Open

Passed a couple trucks on the way out. There were a few rough spots. I got up on 3 wheels on the way back going down an obstacle. I can understand why someone said they think it’s a 4. It’s a bit harder than the other 3 trails nearby, but still pretty easy overall.

Theodor Lupu

Nov 28, 2025

Open

Nice trail, lots of scenic views. Jeep handled all of it in 2wd though I did air down for comfort. There was likely more ruts than usual due to the recent rain. There also seems to be a few picnic open spots in the valley.

Chad Pernicano

Nov 10, 2025

Open

Super fun trail! Definitely some technical parts to keep you engaged but nothing too crazy. I have a 2wd Prerunner with Auto LSD which I used a few times and a rear locker which I did not use. The only sketchy aspects is the road is very narrow with very little places to let cars pass and sheer cliff drop offs into the canyon. I only saw a couple of dirt bikers the whole time on the trail.