Mountain Bike Trail Review: Fullerton Loop Trail

I recently had the opportunity to ride the Fullerton Loop Trail so I figured I would give a trail review of my ride. I should give the caveat that I am used to mountain biking in Crystal Cove and Laguna coast Wilderness where there is plenty of hills to climb and refreshing overlooks that glance to the ocean. With that said, I was not impressed by the Fullerton Loop as a mountain bike ride. However, maybe I missed a killer section of the loop, or I did not know about the side route.

A few friends mentioned they had heard of the trail, but never checked it out. Now I see why. For locals this might be a great trail to get a quick ride in and some dirt on the tires. For those who have to drive a few miles to get there, I don't think the hassle is worth it.

Here is a single track that leads off from the main wide fire road path. Kinda fun to ride but too flat for my tastes.

The Fullerton Loop is basically a residential fire road (12 feet wide) that goes behind houses that is used by horses,  joggers, dog walkers and bikers. The trail is relatively flat and is sometimes hard to follow when it ends at a busy street and continues a block over. Some of the trail had some side wall rides (nothing major) and some built in dirt jumps (small) and some single track running parallel to the fire road. 

This side route travels under the rail road tracks

I may be wrong in my analysis about how the trail routes through the neighborhood but I was very unimpressed with the connection across streets. I ended up only doing about 5 of the 12 miles, because I got lost looking for the trail otherwise. If you do ever go check it out, get a good map of the trail before you depart.

I am glad to have checked it out, but I will not be returning. I think it's more of a local kinda thing to get out on the bike. From now on, I'll be sticking closer to home.