Purisima & the San Mateo Coast
Half Moon Bay hills · near Half Moon Bay · SF Bay Area
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Year-round (drier late spring–fall)
What is here
- Terrain
- forest
- Amenities
- Redwood ridge to Pacific coast · Purisima Creek Redwoods · Half Moon Bay base · Coastal state camping
- Best for
- Ridge-to-coast riding with big descents
- Features
- Redwoods to the Pacific · Big forested descents · Half Moon Bay coastal base · Ridge-preserve fire roads
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Coastal fog & damp · Steep fire-road descents · Some highway/coast-road traffic · Poison oak, winter mud
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- day-gravel · singletrack
- Surface
- mixed
- Remoteness
- 1
- Riding
- Big descents from the Skyline redwoods to the Pacific — fire roads and quiet lanes linking forested ridge preserves with the San Mateo coast and Half Moon Bay
- Terrain note
- Sea level to 2,000 ft; forest ridges to coastal farms; fog common
- Camping
- Yes
- Intl tip
- Ridge-to-ocean riding on the San Mateo coastside — the redwood Skyline ridge (Purisima Creek Redwoods) tumbling down to the Pacific and Half Moon Bay. The signature is the big descent: fire roads and quiet lanes dropping from foggy redwoods to coastal farms and beaches. Accessible mix of buffed/rough dirt and pavement. Fog, damp, winter mud, some coast-road traffic. Half Moon Bay base with coastal camping. A scenic, classic redwoods-to-sea plunge.
- Trip lengths
- day
The guide
The San Mateo coastside — where the redwood-clad Skyline ridge tumbles down to the Pacific — offers some of the Bay Area's most…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Purisima & the San Mateo Coast — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.42, -122.35