Annadel State Park

Overview

Located in Santa Rosa, Annadel State Park is a mountain biking gem of the North Bay.  It’s not uncommon for riders to regularly travel lengthy distances to get a piece of it.  With over 40 miles of trails, there is plenty of room for exploration, even for the locals who ride it regularly.  New routes can be created by mixing in different trails in multiple directions.

The trails are mostly single track with the exception of Canyon, Richardson, and the top of Marsh.  Canyon and Richardson start at opposite sides of the park and lead to Lake Ilsanjo.  From there, various trails continue heading higher up to Buick Meadow and the Ledson Marsh.  The park tops out elevation wise near 1,500 ft. on Ridge Trail.  The low point of the park is 321 ft at the base of Cobblestone.  It’s possible to put in some good climbs here, but you may have to back track across the park if you want to climb more than a couple thousand feet.

Directions/Parking

Annadel SP is located on the East side of Santa Rosa off Highway 12.  The main State Park parking lot is located at the end of Channel Drive.  A parking permit is required to park there.  You can park for free on the side of Channel Drive 1/4 mile past Aleppo Drive.

Maps

Below is a version of a map I patched together from the Annadel State Park brochure. Click on the photo to open up the full size version, which can be downloaded and resized to any resolution you want, or resized for print.  If you’d like a file for a desktop background, and you have a 30 inch 2560×1600 size monitor or a 1920×1080 (1080p) size monitor, click on the resolution links to view the right size.

Suggested Route

This route starts on Summerfield Road, where there is additional free parking on the street in front of Howarth Park.  Getting to Annadel from here is a nice easy warm up ride through Howarth Park, which takes you passed Lake Ralphine and around Spring Lake.  You can either ride the paved trail through the city park around the lakes, or you can hop on some fun single track, which runs along side the paved trails.  Whatever you do, head East and South, and you’ll end up in the right place.  Look for a gravel fire road, which is your access point into Annadel.  (gravel fire road shown below)

1. Rough Go to Cobblestone.

2. Cobblestone to Orchard. (after the steep ascending right hand turn switchback, continue the trail onto Orchard, Cobblestone heads down to the left)

3. Orchard back to Rough Go. (go left at Rough Go)  Rough Go to Lake Ilsanjo.

4. Down Spring Creek.

5. Up Canyon.

6. Up Marsh to Ridge Trail.

7. Back down Marsh to Lawndale.

8. Down Lawndale.

9. Up Lawndale Rd. At the split, go right onto Shultz Rd.

10. Up Shultz to Pigflat.

11. Pigflat to Marsh. (slight overlap here)

12. Marsh to South Burma.

13. Down South Burma to Richardson. (head up Richardson)

14. Left on North Burma to left on Louis.

15. Louis to the Lake Trail to Lake Ilsanjo.

16. To end it, go down either Rough Go, Spring Creek or Canyon. This profile ended with a Canyon descent.

Here is the elevation map for this ride.

Here is a map of the route.

Photos

Canyon Trail – This pic shows a slightly rocky section of the trail.  There are a few smoother sections, but little rocks like this is what you can expect for the majority of the ride.

Here is a one of the smoother sections of Canyon Trail mentioned earlier.

After this sharp left turn, Canyon gets a little steeper.

Here is a pic of Lake Ilsanjo and the dam.

One of my favorite climbs in the park is Rough Go.  Here are a few pics of the fun.