Could Santa Clarita become the mountain biking capital of Southern California? There’s a lot of potential: The city is about 30 miles north of Los Angeles, and the terrain is a mix of sun-baked hills and scraggly vegetation. The modest community of 230,000 already has its share of dusty foot paths, and the arid topography can be beautiful, too. From a good viewpoint, it seems to spread out forever. The weather is excellent most of the year, and the city has already built more than 100 miles of designated bike routes, from dirt trails to paved paths. The semi-desert landscape and corrugated hills of SoCal have always been ripe for mountain bikers, yet Santa Clarita is miles ahead of the pack.
The Haskell Canyon Bike Park is a 720-acre MTB playground slated to open in December 2025. When completed, the property will boast 15 miles of single track, berms, and jumps, which are geared toward a wide range of experience levels. Cyclists with decent shocks will be able to roll for hours over car-free dirt tracks, cavort with fellow riders, and hone essential skills. What would you pay for this privilege? Doesn’t matter — admission will be free. The park is no small investment: The total price tag is $7.4 million, but proponents assert that nothing like Haskell Canyon yet exists in Southern California. If you’re already seeking out the most beautiful bike trails across the U.S. to add to your bucket list, you may want to pre-program 21450 Copper Hill Drive into your GPS.
The Bike Scene In Santa Clarita
Where cycling is concerned, Haskell Canyon isn’t Santa Clarita’s first rodeo. The city already has a Bike Park, out in the eastern suburb of Honby, and these pump tracks are usually busy with riders and MTB demonstrations. There are at least four different places to rent bikes in the metro area, and routes like the Santa Clara River Trail provide miles of riding through the burnished countryside. These trail systems are purely local — they don’t really connect to Los Angeles or other satellite communities — but if you can get here, you can explore the district for days on two wheels.
So why has Haskell Canyon attracted widespread attention, if cycling is already popular here? In short, this new property is very large. The current Bike Park has a total of 800 yards of track, and much of this is designed for BMXers, who specialize in acrobatics in small spaces more than covering long distances in the countryside. In contrast, the total network at Haskell Canyon will be about 30 times longer, and trails will penetrate quiet backcountry, far from the multi-lane streets and flashy housing developments that Santa Clarita is known for. There will be plenty of room for jumps and flips, but Haskell Canyon will also appeal to cross-country riders, who basically want a mounted, 10-mile-an-hour hiking experience. For bikepackers, the new park comes at an ambitious time for the West Coast; the first leg of a new “Pacific Coast Trail for bikes” has opened in Washington State, and when it’s finished, the rugged route will cut right through California.
Getting To Santa Clarita And Where To Stay
Santa Clarita has long been nicknamed the “Gateway to LA,” and the city is well known for its golf courses, active nightlife, and local Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. It benefits from the nearness of LAX, one of the best-connected airpots in the U.S., while also standing a good distance from the City of Angels’ sprawling hubbub. Santa Clarita offers a lot of outdoors activities and family-friendly attractions, such as the MB2 Entertainment complex and Top Out Climbing gym. Even if cycling wasn’t a major pastime around here, Santa Clarita would offer plenty of diversions to visitors. Haskell Canyon should add a whole new layer of excitement to an already absorbing destination…