Salado Creek

The good-Rocky, rooty, technical short climbs some flowy sections. (Some very rocky section)The bad is it's chopped up with construction, they are extending the Salado Creek green belt hike and bike trails. It's for the most part an out and back trail system. Enjoyed it and got about 12 miles.

Some background: I'm 27 and have been mountain biking for about two months (so not crazy experienced). I live around McCallister Park, so that's been my primary trail system. Today was my first time along the green belt. Here are my thoughts:

There aren't any signs (or from what I saw, a designated trailhead). I just parked behind Blatman Elementary and started biking till I lucked upon some trail. As mentioned in another post, the City is expanding its concrete Green Belt System from Huebner to 1604 and beyond (eventually to Eisenhower Park), so a majority of the "trail" I rode between 1604 and Huebner was dirt being excavated for the future trail. It was pretty, but not fun to ride.

Once I went under the Huebner bridge, the trail became actual single track, but the trail had a ton of large rocks and it was tight. Either I lacked the technical skill to enjoy it or I'm spoiled by the flow of McCallister Park's Blue Loop, but I didn't enjoy the ride much. Once I reached the bridge at Blanco Rd, I took the paved Green Belt trail to Huebner and rode the excavated dirt back to Blatman.

So in sum, this was my first time on this trail, the trailhead (to my knowledge) isn't well defined, portions of trail are under construction, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy McCallister. I'll probably give it another try down the road and maybe my opinion will change.

This is an ideal trail for practicing certain technical features like rock gardens, riding over roots, some smooth flowing single track during the section in an open field heading away from Huebner towards Blanco. Isn't necessarily well marked but it travels in a linear pattern. The part between Huebner and 1604 will not be as isolated and pristine as before since they are currently expanding the concrete greenway system. I use it as practice for Flat Rock as it's close and is like a baby version of flat rock with more shade and obviously way less elevation change. Highly recommend to everyone from beginners to advanced.

Looks like the trail is behind locked gates

slicey and dicey trail.. real horror show.. but man i love riding it!!!.. it kinda backed up against a hill.. its got everything... off cambers,drops,switchbacks. ledges climbs.rocks, low trees.. this trail requires.. 100% or its a meat grinders. the rocks are jacked and sharp.. from thousands of years of water flow.. the rocks and boulder are the biggest in satx... part of it is scheduled for to be bulldozed. get this for a paved trail... blasphemy!!!

Rode the north end near the elementary school. We are visitors to the area and really didn't find good maps for the trail. Enjoyed the higher end technical nature of the heavily rocky sections, but found it hard to pick up the flow of the trail. Still enjoyed a couple of hours of exploring and looping back several sections a few times. Thanks to the builders.

The single track portion of the trail starts at Phil Hardberger park off of Blanco and extends beyond 1604. It never ceases to amaze me how you can always add a new area to the trail. The trail ranges from fire road to flow to very technical. From Huebner to beyond 1604 it is strictly singletrack and Fire road. At Huebner it merges with the Paved Salado Greenway system that will reach all the way to Rittiman (as of the time of this review). The Huebner to Blanco section does have some nice singletrack that shouldn't be missed.

The greenway connects Phil Hardberger to Walker Ranch to McAllister Park to Lady Bird Johnson (LBJ singletrack)

Really enjoyed the section from Huebner to Blanco tonight. It's just technical enough to be a step up from McAllister Park. The trail is clearly marked and in good shape as of Jul 2015.

Great trail. I like to start at Patricia J Blattman Elementary school go all the way to Hardberger park

Very nice trails, just watch out for the trail runners

Awesome trail system! San Antonio has some pretty sweet trails all with in a few miles. I hope the Emerald Greenbelt will be completed soon!

Such a fun trail! A hidden treasure in the middle of the city.

Excellent trail. Be prepared when you ride it! But well worth the ride.

Rode the whole trail without having to get off my bike. Some of the best parts are near the creek bed wall with tight tech trail, not marked we'll and hard to follow. Good exploring trail I guess

Great trail in town. Probably best techy trail in San Antone!! Not much as far as climbs but super rocky. This is a must ride in this town and is my personal favorite.

Entered through the south side of the trial via the Wurzback site which I find is more difficuld because most of the way is UP-hill. Nice track, Rocky at some points, some portions very fast. Ended up on Bitters Road. Going to try the other way next time. Portions of this track is not recommended fo beginners.

There are No Trepass signs up where you would start you ride for riding at the Salado Creek Greenbelt park. :o(

Start at the elementary school for your first time on this trail. It's easy to take a wrong turn if you start at Walker Ranch. You can enter the trail at the north end of the school's fence. Take the 4x4 trail down the hill, and directly after the first crossing 4x4 trail look 45 degrees to the right for the MTB trail head. You can also go left at this 4x4 trail and left again to go under the bridge towards the north section of the trail. It's pretty flat, but still a little technical and very fast. The section north of the 1604 bridge is newer and well designed. Salado Creek is a great local option if you're bored of McAllister Park.* Review edited 4/8/2009

We were invited by Jason, the Senior Service Manager from BikeWorld 1604 to join the BikeWorld team to try out this trail. Wow, it has a lot to offer. Quite a bit of rocky technical spots. I love the winding fast trails among the trees in the beginning. Jason and his gang were strong riders and it was hard to keep up being on this trail the first time. We are looking to go back again this weekend and ride some more. Good shade coverage overall, I assume the coverage will be much better in the spring compare to the winter. Bring water and prepare to stop for some of those technical climbs, drops, and rock ledges to ride over...

This is definitely a combination of Government Canyon, the front section of OP and parts of Mac.

Oh, we parked in the Blattman Elementary School‎ parking lot on Sunday morning and dropped into the trail from there. I heard there are other ways to get on the trail. But this is the only way I know right now.* Review edited 2/5/2009