San Juan Trail For Mountain Biking

East of Newport and northeast of San Juan Capistrano, the San Juan Trail is a popular 11 mile one-way mountain bike ride in the Santa Ana Mountains. Near the trailhead are several hot springs, and the route winds its way up to NFS Blue Jay Campground. These trails are within the Cleveland National Forest.

To reach the mountain biking trailhead from US5 in San Juan Capistrano, head northeast on SR74 for 10 miles. Just west behind the NFS San Juan Fire Station, turn left heading north on the unsigned Hot Springs Canyon Road following signs to Lazy-W-Ranch. The marked trailhead parking area is on the left at about 0.7 miles.

From the trailhead, the San Juan Trail can be ridden as an out-and-back, or a loop can be formed by riding back out to SR74, heading east on SR74 up to North Main Divide Road, and heading north on North Main Divide Road to NFS Blue Jay Campground. Then mountain bike ride back west down the trail back to the trailhead.

Overall, San Juan Trail is the 2nd most popular mountain bike trail of all 138 mountain biking rides in California. Several of the better mountain bike trails are nearby San Juan Trail including Santiago Peak - Maple Springs, Trabuco Canyon / West Horse Thief Trails, Aliso and Wood Canyons Park, Emerald Road - Crystal Cove and Indian Truck Trail.