Fort Ord National Monument
Monterey Bay · near Marina / Monterey · Central Coast
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Year-round (mild coastal climate)
What is here
- Terrain
- foothills
- Amenities
- ~86 miles of trails & roads · Rolling coastal chaparral · Year-round mild riding · Monterey Bay proximity
- Best for
- Accessible, all-year rolling coastal gravel
- Features
- Vast former-base trail network · Buffed, rolling coastal terrain · Ridable year-round · Minutes from Monterey
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Some soft sand · Sun exposure (little shade) · Ticks in grass · Shared use / event traffic
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- day-gravel · singletrack · race
- Surface
- buff
- Remoteness
- 1
- Riding
- Miles of sandy-buffed fire roads and singletrack across rolling coastal chaparral on a former army base — an accessible, ridable network near Monterey with a mild year-round climate
- Terrain note
- 100–900 ft rolling coastal hills; buffed sandy roads; mild, breezy
- Camping
- No
- Intl tip
- A former Army base above Monterey Bay, now a monument with some 86 miles of fire roads and singletrack across rolling coastal chaparral — accessible, buffed (sometimes sandy) riding, ridable year-round in the mild coastal climate. Friendly and endlessly connectable (all levels), a popular gravel-event venue. Little shade, some soft sand, ticks in grass. No camping (Monterey minutes away). A mellow, sunny, all-season Central Coast staple.
- Trip lengths
- day
The guide
Fort Ord National Monument, spread across the rolling coastal hills above Monterey Bay on a decommissioned Army base, is one of…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Fort Ord National Monument — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.65, -121.75