Take a Family Ride

Well if you start at Banner Lava Cap and Gracie Roads then you will see the canal at the top of Gracie Rd. Hop onto the berm of the canal and head north {upstream}. The trail is dirt and about 4 ft wide in the beginning and widens to 6 to 8 ft for most the way . Continue upstream on the canal and in .3 mile you will pass through a gate that has a walking access that’s too tight to get handle bars through. At .7 miles you come to another gate that has a trail around it on the left. A short distance later you come to a view spot with great views of Nevada City and the surrounding hills. Continuing on at 1.7 miles you come to a pipe across a ravine. Hikers walk across the pipe but biker’s will want to continue up the trail around to the other side of the Banner Ravine instead, to ride around the pipe. {This is the Banner Mountain Trail Rd. and is another access point.} After passing that pipe you come to another pipe at 2.5 miles. You can either cross the pipe or drop down and cross the Little Deer Creek. The catwalk across the pipe is narrow and you will need to walk your bike upright on its back tire to walk across. After the last pipe there is a few more miles before you come to the access gate on Red Dog Rd. It’s time to turn around unless you are dropping down to Nevada City. If you do a round trip on the canal you will have had a 9 mile ride. Source