Los Peñasquitos (PQ) Canyon Mountain Biking Guide

In this guide, I cover some of my favorite mountain biking trails in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. Along with Del Mar Mesa Preserve and Carmel Mountain Preserve, PQ Canyon offers over 86 miles of trails.
Check out the guide on OutdoorSoCal.com for detailed information on the trails in this video: www.outdoorsoc...
One of the largest urban parks in the United States, Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, or PQ Canyon as it’s called by mountain bikers, encompasses 4,000 acres of undeveloped land in Peñasquitos and Lopez Canyons.
Here I cover a great first-time loop in the main canyon, the trails of Del Mar Mesa, including Bow Tie Rim, Rim Trail, North Rim Trail, Tunnel 4, Deer Valley Trail, and Switchbacks. I also cover some trails in the Duck Pond area, including Shits and Cobbles.
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[@bgcollectors6904]

Great informative video. I’ve been on the main trail a few times but want to explore more of the technical trails. Subbed to your channel can’t wait to see more. Also been watching your Off roading videos

[@Outdoorsocal]

Glad it was helpful!

[@H2OCycling]

I grew up in PQ in the 80s. In 1985 I started mountain biking at 10 and have done so continuously for 38 years. I was part of the group who’d fight the equestrian group just to have access to the trails from my house on the very eastern side. We fought from loosing access to single track next to the creek to loosing all access. I was always considerate to horse people, but all the land rights fights made you hate horse people. In the 80s that upper land was illegal alien encampments and I’d do 40 miles on a rigid because FS didn’t exist. When they outlawed mountain bikes on single track there wasn’t a ranger that could dream of catching me as a normal ride for me was from that Canyon to the top of Black Mountain. I’d love to bring my bike out from S.C. and ride that whole system! I took my kids on a short hike in 2022, but I’d really love to ride it with a high-end bike. So cool to watch a video of a place that’s been around since the infancy of the sport. There was nothing quite like rolling through the tent villages back in the day and wondering if they’d try to rob ya. It was the Wild West!

[@Outdoorsocal]

Thanks for sharing that history. Didn't know the part about the problems between bikers and equestrian. The problem nowadays is a lot of the private land around the park is being actively developed. Sad to see the wild area get smaller. But, the trails are still fun, fun, fun.

[@michaeltaffe5956]

Great introduction to the Preserve. Thanks for posting.

[@duysmith]

Great breakdown! Gonna smash these trails later this week, can't believe all this was in my backyard??

[@Outdoorsocal]

Thanks! Get after it! Such a cool place.

[@bartmullin8018]

The ñ in the trail name is an 'enye' sound. That squiggle on top of the n indicates it's a different sound than a standard English n sound. ¡Aprender Español amigo..!

[@dj.spin787]

OMG this is a great information video Thks so much .. do you have any of them in Strava

[@Outdoorsocal]

Stoked it's helpful. I don't have anything mapped on Strava, but that's a good idea. I'll start trying to grap some data next time I'm out.

[@FloppyMusher]

So.... how do you get home? LOL Beginner here on an e-bike but have hiked those trails plenty.
I take the street to work (Sorrento Valley) and all the way to the pay lot (Mercy and BM intersect) and around to get home because of that Camino Ruiz hill.
Awesome vid! I am slowly working my skill up to feel confident enough for that hill.

[@Outdoorsocal]

Back up the hill. Took me a while to get to where I could make it up the whole way -- especially that part with the pavers. I make it about 75 percent of the time now. : )

[@FloppyMusher]

@@Outdoorsocal LOL Barely able to on a good day walking!

[@julioMartinez-fu9oy]

Great video thanks for taking the time to do it, I haven’t been there yet but I’m looking forward to do some of those trails, but do you think that someone who’s not familiar with the layout can get lost? It’s there a reference point that someone can see from the inside of the cańon like a building tower??

[@Outdoorsocal]

Hi Julio. It can be a bit confusing. The trails down in the main valley, near the creek/ranch house, etc, are pretty straightforward. The Del Mark Mesa area is a bit trickier, just because it's all low shrubs and a bit maze-like. If you bring a map though, you should be fine. I think Google maps works up there, or you could use something like Gaia GPS. There are some power lines on the mesa that serve as points of reference. But they tend to look very similar to one another, so it's hard to point out one...

[@julioMartinez-fu9oy]

@@Outdoorsocal thanks that’s all I need to know that way if I get lost I can always follow the power lines back

[@Zetler]

Great video, what are you riding on?

[@Outdoorsocal]

Thanks! It's an older Hai Bike - a German mountain biking company. www.haibikeusa.com/

[@BookerLace-d1i]

Jones Joseph Jones Jeffrey Anderson Thomas

[@bradymitch7648]

great video, showing them on the map is very helpful!

[@mbrackmann8]

Thanks for this video! Would a lot of these trails be suitable for a gravel bike?

[@Outdoorsocal]

I don't ride a gravel bike, but rhink most of them are probably fine. Tunnel 4 has loose rock at the top that might be tricky with thin tires...