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Hollenbeck Canyon

Hollenbeck Canyon

Hollenbeck Canyon offers fantastic and scenic trails for some fun mountain biking

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Hollenbeck Canyon near Jamul, and just 25 minutes east of San Diego offers some fantastic trails through stunning and unique scenery. A seasoned mtb’er can easily put together a fantastic 12-20 miles ( or more) ride, but just exploring all the paths, trails and tracks. From lush green meadows through fantastic shady oak groves to high and open trails with great scenery of the canyon and surroundings

Hollenbeck Canyon Trail Map.


Trail Stats & Information

Nearby Town : Jamul

Length: You decide : the trail I did was just under 10 miles

Trail Type: You decide

Skill Level: [what the books say] no info

Skill Level: [My Opinion] Technically easy. Physically moderate

Duration : My time was 02:07:34

 Elev Gain : 1,265 feet

Top Elev : 1,506 feet

Min. Elev : 761 feet

Book Description

I could not find any Mtb Trail books describing the Highline Trail, because it is not really an “official” trail, so the below descriptions are based on my personal experience :
>> Hollenbeck Canyon offers some really nice trails, both singletrack and doubletrack among scenery that will come as a pleasant surprise. Lush green pastures, shady oak groves and open trails with great panoramic scenery. Their are tons of options for the mountain biker in the canyon, just explore all the trails and tracks for a great day of mountain biking.

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My Experience

Hollenbeck Canyon came as a complete but pleasant surprise to me. The scenery from the trailhead is quite unique and different from what you might expect. I was lucky that I met 2 fellow mountain bikers at the trailhead, they had just returned from their ride, and I was able to get some very useful info on what trails to take. Even though it was January, it was hot!!, and I can only imagine how unbearable it would be in the summer.

The loop I did was very enjoyable and pretty easy going, even the climb was not too bad, but I did notice that I was drinking more than I normally do, due to the heat. The trails were compact dirt tracks, and pretty fast flowing through fantastic scenery. There are numerous very fast singletrack downhill sections, that require full concentration, because of some gnarly ruts and loose rocks on the trail.

 

Conclusion
Definitely worth riding, Hollenbeck Canyon offers some fantastic trails with unique scenery. Next time I’m in the area I will definitely spend more time exploring these trails.
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Other Info:

Traffic on Trail : Although the trail head was fairly busy, I did not see many people on the trails

Wild Life : Snake and plenty of buzzards

Scenery : Great scenery, pretty unique for this area

Getting There : Hollenbeck Canyon Trailhead : the trailhead is just off Campo Rd ( CA94) on Honey Springs Rd

Other : Take lots of fluids, in January it was hot, so just imagine what the summers must be like.

 

My Trail Rating : 8 / 10

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