The ride
The greener face of the LA River.
A longer, mostly channel-side ride that links Frogtown with the northern end of the Glendale Narrows bikeway. Start at the river-path side of Taylor Yard Bridge, ride north to the Riverside Drive / Zoo Drive end, and return. The attraction is the changing river corridor and a useful coffee stop, not a promise of wilderness or uninterrupted quiet.
The start pin is on the bikeway at the west end of Taylor Yard Bridge. It is not a parking entrance and the track does not cross the bridge into Cypress Park. Get onto the signed path before following the route north. Access from a railway station, rental store or street parking remains a separate journey that you need to plan.
The mapped route continues through the Elysian Valley corridor and uses the Baum bicycle bridge connection before the northern section. Remain on the upper cycling path: water, maintenance areas and river recreation access below it are not alternate bike routes. Slow down at bridge approaches and where pedestrians enter from the small riverside parks.
Turn at the mapped northern endpoint near Riverside and Zoo Drive, then return to Taylor Yard. Spoke Bicycle Cafe is an optional stop in Frogtown rather than a reason to depend on opening hours. This route does not connect through downtown to Long Beach; the broader LA River trail system has gaps that this download does not solve.
