Downieville Downhill
Downieville, Sierra County · near Downieville · Gold Country & Central Valley
Mountain Biking
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- 500 miles in the greater area · Classic Downhill is 15 miles
- Elevation
- Packer Saddle (7,100ft) to Downieville (2,800ft) · 4,500ft descent
- Best season
- June–October · Snow closes trails winter through late spring
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Mountain Biking detail
- Ride types
- downhill · enduro · xc
- Signature trails
- Butcher Ranch Trail · Third Divide Trail · Pauley Creek Trail
- Ebike
- No
- Ebike note
- Traditional mountain bikes only. The descents are not appropriate for e-bikes, and the shuttle makes the climb irrelevant.
- Intl tip
- Downieville is a 2.5-hour drive from San Francisco on Highway 49 through the California Gold Country. The town has barely changed since the 1850s gold rush — the combination of legitimate mountain biking history and genuine California frontier history makes this one of the most complete day-trip or weekend destinations in the state.
The guide
The Downieville Downhill is one of the great mountain bike pilgrimages in North America. From the shuttle drop-off at Packer Sa…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Downieville Downhill — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.5596, -120.8319