The hook
A paved trail runs 32 unbroken miles up a river through the middle of Sacramento, one of the longest purpose-built bike paths in the country, and locals call it the city's gem.
01Why it's worth it
The Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail follows the American River from Discovery Park in Old Sacramento all the way to Beal's Point on Folsom Lake: 32 miles of car-free pavement with mile markers, water, and restrooms the whole way. What makes it more than a bike path is the corridor it runs through — the parkway is a ribbon of riparian wild threading a metro area, with deer in the cottonwoods, herons working the gravel bars, and swimming holes off the levees, so you can ride an hour and forget you're in a city of half a million. Ask Sacramento what it loves most about living there and this trail is the most common answer in the corpus. Ride the whole thing out to Folsom and back for a full day, or do any stretch with a swim in the middle.
02How to experience it
Start at Discovery Park where the American meets the Sacramento, or at Beal's Point on the Folsom end, or any of a dozen access points between. Rent a bike in town if you're carless. It's flat, paved, and marked every mile, so the only decisions are distance and which swimming spot. Pair the city end with Old Sacramento and the capital cluster.