I'm taking my son's boy scout troop to Santa Cruz at the end of June and need to line up a low key ride for the group. There's some beginners in the troop so would prefer something that all of the kids can enjoy. Maybe 15-30 miles, quiet roads or bike paths preferred. We're camping at Henry Cowell SP near Felton. Needs to be on the road as I don't have a fat tire bike. We can easily move the bikes to any starting point in the area.

Any suggestions?

p.s. I have a Santa Cruz County bike map coming...

I would definitely plan on starting elsewhere, as 9 is not beginner friendly (too much traffic and not enough shoulder). How about heading over to the UCSC campus? It is quite bike friendly.

Thanks. It's been a while since I've been on 9 and that's what I thought. I'll think about UCSC. Almost went there actually but ended up at UCD instead.

What about the bike path near the surf museum? That's a place I think the kids would love. Could I send them up 1 north for a bit for some distance? Or?

There's the bike path paralleling Hwy 1 north of town headed towards Wilder Ranch. Heading back into town, there's West Cliff Drive from Natural Bridges to the wharf and Beach St, which goes by the boardwalk. At the other end of the boardwalk, it connects to the San Lorenzo River path. All of that should be fine for beginners. Putting it all together, it's probably less than 15 miles, though.

Thanks. I'll play with Bikely and see how this comes out.

Park at the edge of SC and ride out to Wilder. Do the easy dirt bike path along the cliffs at Wilder, very beautiful. Tour Wilder. Ride back to town and go through Natural Bridges State Park, ride West Cliff bike path. There are good restrooms at Wilder, Natural Bridges and Lighthouse field next to the lighthouse.

If you park at Wilder and ride into town, chances are you will fight a nasty head wind on your ride back out to Wilder at the end of the day.

If you want more, ride the path down and ride out to the end of the wharf, it is 1/2 mile long wharf.

It would make for a complete day with lots to see and enjoy for the kids and adults.

If you need more advice, let me know, I live a couple blocks from West Cliff.

West Cliff/Lighthouse and the wharf in the background

Thanks. This sounds like a good idea.

Great info. My GF and I are heading down there tomorrow and I was looking for an easy ride to take. This sounds perfect. We were hoping to have a little tailgate BBQ somewhere for lunch and I need some guidance on where would be a good out of the way place to park that works with the plan above.

Mmmmm, tailgate BBQ locations? I'm not sure where that would work, I doubt they would allow that in the large Wilder parking lot or Natural Bridges or Lighthouse lots. BBQ's in parking lots are usually not allowed. I'm not sure if there are BBQ's in the day use areas of Wilder or Natural Bridges, you may want to Google them and see what the park web sites say.

There are many places for a great beach picnic, or picnic on the cliffs overlooking the beach if you did not need to cook food.

Thanks for the quick reply. We're going to look around a bit once we get into town. We may just wind up in one of the Boardwalk parking lots where usually anything goes.