Santa Ana River Trail
Or SART — a 110-mile trail system currently under construction, stretching from the ocean in Orange County, up the Santa Ana River through Riverside County, and into the mountains in San Bernardino County. Description from the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority SART page:
In the 1960s enthusiasm was generated by men and women in all three Counties to build a trail along the Santa Ana River corridor from the ocean to the mountains. In the 1970s this enthusiasm was translated into action in Orange County which proceeded to build most of the Trail, completing it up to Green River Golf Course. In addition Riverside County purchased the river bottom necessary to complete a majority of the Trail in Riverside County. The economic downtrend of the 1980s halted the progress of the trail, until the three Counties organized an effort to create a plan for completion of the river - the 1990 EDAW plan. Just as things were taking off again another recession caused a lapse in trail building. With the economic swing of the late 1990s enthusiasm once again brought leaders back together to complete the trail.
Trail building momentum has once again been generated under the leadership of Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA). In the last two years San Bernardino County has obtained funding for half of its remaining trail, Riverside County has funded the segment from Market to the County line and they have both built some of these segments and are working on the remainder. There are, however, several segments of the Santa Ana River Trail for which funding has not yet been obtained…
Can’t wait to ride it all the way! :) Here are some SART resources:
- SAWPA SART Project Summary PDF.
- Mountain Bike Bill describes a portion of the trail in the San Bernardino mountains, including some photos and a movie.
- Mybikesite.com description of the SART, including tips from users.
- SART photos and description, from a few years ago.
- Healthycities.com SART page, “especially San Bernardino County’s segment.”