Explore the best rated trails in Porterville, CA, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the St. John's River Trail and Goshen Avenue Trail . With more than 8 trails covering 52 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Lovely paved , tree lined in areas, great view of river ( when flowing), and mountains. Excellent for walking or riding bikes. Nice to walk your dog, too.
Traveling by car through the Central Valley over a hundred times during the past fifty years, I've never paused to ride a bicycle in Bakersfield. Mistake! The Kern River Parkway Trail is a way above average opportunity to take a break from the monotony of Highway 99 or I-5, get in a good ride, and get back in your car with the invigoration that a two-wheeled adventure virtually always brings.
I did the length of the trail in two parts. Daty 1, headed south to SoCal on 99, I parked at Yokuts Park (plenty of parking, easily accessible off 99) and rode east. The trail itself is wide, and smooth, well maintained, and without safety concerns. Specifically, though homelessness has been mentioned in previous posts about this path, no encampments encroached onto the path, and homeless folks numbered less than ten over the roughly sixtteen mile round trip. I got a bit confused at Manor St. : stay right, look for the narrow tunnel that goes under the street. The hills mentioned in the official description and previous posts are not steep, easily negotiable by even a mildly fit rider. I did not ride the streets to the disconnected far east portion of the trail, but will next time
On my return trip headed back home (Merced) on 99, I parked again at Yokuts Park, and headed west for a 28 mile round trip ride to the western end of the trail. What a delight! Again, the trail was wide, clean, traveling largely along water, safe, for all ages and levels of riders. Previous postings about tumble weeds....didn't see any. Again, no street crossings, as the path uses underpasses for all roads, a marvelous piece of engineering. If you're a birder, bring your binoculars, you'll be travelling along extensive wetlands. The trail drops about 400 feet in elevation over 14 miles, hardly noticeable going either downstream along the Kern, or upstream on the way back. My sense of public safety seemed to be confirmed by the many families that I encountered on foot or on bikes. The speedster bicyclists were polite, and the width of the path made it easy for the tortoises and the hares, the pedestirans and the dog walkers to get along.
This path is a beauty, an achievement of forward thinking and an excellent investment in the public good. It's easily accessible from either I-5 or Highway 99. If you're passing through Bakersfield, you'll be richly rewarded by pausing to try it out. I rode it in January (58 degrees), for summer riders, be well prepared for the heat, which can be lethal.
I have ridden this trail all the way. It is a very good trail,but from Enos Lane to Buena Vista Lake, it needs the tumble weeds cleaned up and from Hwy 119 to Buena Vista Lake all the broken glass and trash cleaned up to bring it up to par.
We have used this trail several times. We have not gone on the entire trail but we have ridden 35 miles. We prefer to go west on it as it is more scenic and there are not any homeless or sketchy areas. If you go east you will encounter many homeless people and the area doesn’t seem safest. We have not been bothered by the homeless, it is just a little uncomfortable seeing some using drugs, as we have a teenage daughter. Overall this trail is well kept. You can tell the city cares deeply about this trail. It’s in our top 10 in the country!
My wife and I ride this trail quite often and enjoy the easy access from our part of town to downtown Visalia. The trail is on a north/south axis and is paved and well signed. It stops a couple of blocks short of downtown but the road is wide and an easy 3 block bike ride or walk to the east side of downtown, not far from the transit station.
The trail is in a great location, traveling behind the town, along beautiful farms. There are plenty of old growth trees providing shade on a hot Central Valley day. The only draw back are the numerous street crossings. The ramps down and up the street are covered with the large yellow bumps you see on most walkways. As a skateboarder this makes crossing the streets difficult. Without the bumps this would be a 4 star trail easy.
I have been using it for the past three years almost every weekend. I enter the trail off of Mohawk being that I live near by. Going East the landscape is more varied in comparison to going west. Each side has its own type of beauty. The trail is mostly asphalt and very well maintained. I really like the fact that there is no place on the trail for cars to cross so you do not need to stop for traffic. You can ride non-stop the whole 22 miles.
Location: Visalia, CA
Parking: Gravel lot in industrial area, west end of trail.
Trail Condition: Surface is fine and wide enough but not very appealing. Old and gray asphalt with a few old railroad track crossings at an angle…be careful crossing!
Signage: None.
Comments: The first 3 miles or so of the trail are in the industrial area of Visalia. The trail is between active track and busy Goshen Ave. Guessing the track is only occasional used, although a yard engine and a few cars did move along the track (in the industrial area) while we were on the trail. There are several intersection to cross, push button for crossing signal, at least these are spaced a good distance apart and didn’t feel like we were stopping every couple minutes for a cross road. The trail is mostly unappealing, straight and level. It is a rail-trail for sure. We encountered a single walker on the eastern end. This trail ok based trail condition, not pretty but not a bunch of cracks or roots, etc. Wouldn’t do this one again.
Location: Visalia, CA
Parking: Riverway Sports Park…lots of parking available, nice park.
Trail Condition: Wonderful asphalt trail condition, new. This is a very wide trail, wide enough for a vehicle to easily drive it and some were but not a problem.
Signage: Informational and regulatory signs but no directional signs, which aren’t really needed.
Comments: Started from the western end Riverway Sports Park. This trail is wide and nice new surface, very easy to ride two abreast with plenty of room. A couple of underpasses avoid having to cross any roads, these parts of the trail are concrete and also very wide and nicely done. After the first section of trail of being in the open and construction of a large housing development to the side it then gets into the trees and more shade. All along following beside the dry river bed. While a previous reviewer mentioned a “no-go zone”, there certainly is a part of the trail with many encampments along the river bed, we passed through during the afternoon and certainly felt safe enough. It is an unfortunate condition. If wanting to avoid this part of the trail, start at St. Johns Park off of Ben Maddox Way and travel east. From this park the trail is more scenic with a lot of trees and a few small parks along it. At the eastern end of the trail, the trail makes a small circle and implies start of this trail. We continued east into Cutler Park to the actual end, as mapped on Trail Link. On the trail we encountered walkers and only a couple bikers, this was during the middle of a weekday. Of the two trails we did in Visalia, this is the preferred trail.
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Parking: The Park at River Walk & Kern River Parkway park
Trail Condition: Excellent wide asphalt pathway. Well maintained.
Signage: No directional route signage. We did have to stop at one location and review our map. Otherwise route is mostly obvious. There is plenty of “rules” signage. Would be a nice improvement to provide directional route signage.
Comments: We rode this in two sections. First starting at the “Park at the River” and riding south to the trail end. This portion of the trail enters the open space/ground water banking area outside of town. The wide trail gets away from traffic and city noise. We spotted roadrunners, a coyote, and lots of other birds and animals along the trail. Every so far are some benches and at one time had some sort of emergency phone system but they are in the process of removing. A number of other cyclists were encountered on the trail, most offered a wave or friendly hi. Back in the urban part of the trail a number of walkers were also on the trail. Obviously a popular trail.
Section two started at Kern River Parkway park and traveled north. Trail remained mostly in good condition. Since this section goes through the main part of the city the scenery is as can be expected with housing, traffic, and shelters in the trees along the river bed. Once passed through the urban setting the trail is a little bit more “country” but isn’t nearly as long as the southern end of the trail. Plenty of folks out enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon on the trail.
Highly recommend the southern portion of the trail.
Started from the Riverway Sports Park which was very nice with much greenery for an October day. We hit the trail and as expected this newly paved trail made its way into the surrounding desert scenery. How wonderful to have such a trail in this town. There are several options to side trails along the way. Now for the bad news... the no go zones. Sprawling homeless encampments all along the St John riverbed, laundry hung out on the trail benches to dry, garbage can rummaging all along the trails. Ride at your own risk
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