Sky Park Santas Village
When you think of Santa’s Village you don’t think of the best Pedal access mountain bike park in Southern California. There isn’t that many places for Santa’s Village to be stacked up against because Snow Summit is primarily lift access only unless you ride all the way to 2N10 and ride across Skyline trail which I’d say nobody really does because you still have to pay for the runs access. Santa’s Village Skypark was brought to my attention by my neighbor and I quickly searched the Internet trying to find info and there wasn’t much to find on their site or message boards. The only thing I could find was a very oatmeal explanation of trails on the Sky Park Santa's Village web site that you would think a local community would have. I noticed there were a lot of activities for the family to do but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was looking a great legal place to pedal my trail bike
My buddy Chad and I arrived to the park at 10am in the morning on a Thursday with very foggy and cold conditions not knowing what to expect. We made our way to the front office passing a giant candy cane and a building that looked like Santa’s house where we were greeted by the staff who let us know that the weather was going to force them to close down many of the wood features because the heavy mist/rain makes them very dangerous. With that being said they discounted our admission to the park from $29 to $15.
We grabbed our bikes and headed to the climb trail that would take us to the top where the four major downhill trails would start. The climb was minor and laid out extremely well taking about 7-8 minutes with fun little balance obstacles on the way up. Our first run was down Comet, which is labeled a double black diamond it was by far the most technical of all of them. It had a technical ladder turn suspended in the trees and some fun steeps and 100% single track the whole way down. The trail was laid out extremely well and was just groomed by their staff. It was for sure an expert run and my 160mm tracer was plenty of bike. This trail had some steep little pedals but you were quickly rewarded with more down hill sections. At the bottom we made a wrong turn and ended up on the XC trail system but it was a blessing because we came across the 90% complete pump track out the back. I didn’t do any laps on this time but I will when I came back that’s for sure.
Our second run was down the Neverland Jump Line, which is also a double black diamond. The Neverland Jump Line has a ton of rad wood features but they were closed like I said earlier because of the rain and the hazardous conditions. We ran everything we could and all I can say is WOW! Even though our flow was interrupted because of the wood closures on our first run the jumps flowed so well we just let go of the brakes and jumped everything. Super fun trail and I’m excited to get back up to run the entire trail with no water on the wood features.
The Arrow trail was our third trail and is labeled a black diamond. It was also very flowly with some ladder berms, drops and jumps. After crossing the access road you get more into the trees and natural riding before you make your way to the access road where you were guided back to the climb up trail. The weather was getting pretty bad and we were two of three guys riding so we decided to call it a day for riding event though we didn’t hit all of the trails. We grabbed some lunch and decided to take an hour and check out what the park side of things had to offer.
To be honest I was blown away with how much the park had to offer. On a Thursday during one of the worst weather days they have had in the last 3 months it was definitely wasn’t the day to impress me, but let me tell you I was more then impressed. The park has so many activities off the bike that the entire family would be more then happy to spend the day there. The food was great and affordable. I had the Philly cheese steak and it was great. Chad had a burger and he loved his as well. They had bicycle themed bar, Candy and ice cream shop, Coffee shop and THE BICYCLE PRO SHOP and ADVENTURE CENTER will blow your mind!!!! They had Intense Cycles for demos and more high end casual and protective gear then most local bike shops. There is no place that I can think of in California where there is something for the active outdoor family like Sky Park Santa’s Village. I felt guilty being up there with out my family and with that being said my next trip will be with my entire family.
For more info visit- Click visit Sky Parks Santa Village's site
Here is a list of things to do for the whole family off the bike:
The Magic tree Bouldering room
The Santa’s Village Mining CO.
Bike- Intense Tracer 27.5
Gear- Ride 100 Percent
Camera- GoPro Hero 5