City of Folsom

Folsom, CA - Citywide Bike Paths

This is the most bike friendly city I have ever seen. There are more miles of bike paths and bike lanes (per capita) than any other city I can imagine! On the map to the left, you can see the bike lanes marked in one color and the bike paths in another. (For a larger view of this map, click here.) Bike lanes on the major streets are very wide, most around six feet. The bike paths are beautiful, especially the bridges as you can see in the pictures below! Each developer building in the city completes bike paths in and through their new neighborhoods. The city is working diligently to connect all those pieces with the extensive network of paths through park and wetland areas. There are a few gaps, but they are gradually being filled in.

We have arranged the pictures below according to topics rather than specific bike paths. I guess there are two reasons for this. The first is that many of the paths are short and don't have names. The other reason is... well some of the time we weren't really sure which trail we were on! There was more than once we had to stop at an intersection on the bike path and consult our map! What a nice problem, having so many bike paths that you can't hardly keep track of them! There are other bike paths that we haven't shown on this page. On the map above, there is a slender lake on the left side. That is Lake Natoma. We treat that ride separately here. At the southern end of Lake Natoma you can also connect with the American River Path and ride it all the way into the old historic part of Sacramento. You can check out that path here.

Bike lanes on the street...

Separate bike paths...

Bridges on the bike path...

I had to throw this picture in just for fun (right). One day as we were heading up one of the trails we saw a couple of these wild turkeys! Obviously they didn't realize how close it was getting to Thanksgiving or they would have remained in hiding! :)

What an awesome place to ride! If you like bike riding, I can't imagine a better city to live in. As you can see in the map at the top of the page, the bike paths and bike lanes look like a spider web. First of all, the bike lanes. We found them to be much wider than we were used to in the Portland, Oregon metro area. Most major streets have bike lanes. This feature alone doesn't make Folsom unique. Many cities have nice bike lanes. However when you combine that with the amazing number and quality of bike paths... they are in a class by themselves. There are a few gaps in the system, but the city is working to fill them in. Once the paths are all connected, you could ride all day and not have to be on a street. The most stunning thing to me was the number and beauty of the bridges. There are many creeks and gullies along the bike paths. They have been very creative in designing a unique bridge at each location. The route of many of the paths takes you along wetlands, creeks, and nature areas that are just beautiful. The awesome trails extend beyond the city as well. You can connect with the American River Trail and ride all the way into the old historic downtown part of Sacramento. We can't wait to go back and do more riding is this wonderful place!!! :)