El Dorado Trail (Placerville Bike/Hike/Equestrian Path)

Level of Difficulty:  Easy to Moderate
(600' climbing on paved section
additional 600' climbing on dirt section)
Riding Time: 1 - 2 hours  Printable Area Map:  El Dorado Trail  (Adobe Acrobat required) Note:  this map file is a little larger (total size: 382 KB) than other maps, so it may take a few minutes to download on a dial-up modem.
Season to Ride:  All year - except coldest winter days.  Some summer afternoons may be too hot.


Description:  This is a true gem in El Dorado.  Part of the Rails to Trails program, this route climbs very gently up from Placerville to near Camino.  At the time of this writing the first half is paved, the second half unpaved.  The trail ends somewhat abruptly near Camino (we hope that in the near future it will complete it's path to Camino providing an ideal alternate to the busy Carson Road).  There are several places to jump off the trail and travel on roads to other destinations... there's so many options, it's hard to list them all... best to look at the map and decide on what route you'd like to take.  Please note that the speed limit on the El Dorado Trail is 15 mph.  

As a personal note, we use this trail constantly... it's wonderful.  :-)
Miles  Directions
0.0 Start of El Dorado Trail near Highway 50 (parking, bathrooms)
1.9 Trail reaches Jacquier Rd.  Continue (uphill) on road for 0.1 mile.  El Dorado Trail resumes at this point.
2.0 County Trailhead (parking, bathrooms).  Turn Right from Jacquier Rd onto El Dorado Trail.
2.8 Highway 50 overpass
3.1 Paved section of trail ends.  Road bikes can go downhill on Park Way Dr to Newtown Rd, while hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers can continue on the unpaved secion.
6.3 Trail ends at fence.