Snyder Trail/Knapp's Castle

Look out for kamikaze mountain bikers hell-bent for leather on Snyder trail. This trail attracts some of the worst ones.

Snyder trail is a nice hike on its own, or you can make a loop with the Freemont trail. The loop is a nice car shuttle hike if you have a group of people. If not you will wind up walking on Paradise road for about a mile and a half at the end. Freemont trail is a historical trail of sorts, being an old stagecoach route. Or so I've heard. You will also get to hike to an old ruined lodge called Knapp's Castle.

Knapp's Castle can be a short destination of its own on a warm summer night to watch the sunset if you start from East Camino Cielo Rd. instead. See the map and directions to the trailhead.

You will need an Adventure Pass to park your car for either hike.

Snyder trail on its own is a little over 7 miles.

Snyder-Freemont Loop is done as a car shuttle (which means two cars - one at the start and one at the finish) is about 8 miles. Add another 1.6 miles if you don't have that second car.

Knapp's Castle Updates

Update trail conditions

Posted: April 18, 2010, 12:45 am
by: ChrisMcC

Visited for the first time today, what a cool spot! Especially for photography.

Brought my 6-month pregnant wife and 17-month old son, so we just parked close to the ruins . It was an easy walk down the dirt road to reach them.

A note about finding the trailhead: After you turn right on East Camino Cielo, there's a dirt road to the left closed off by a gate about two miles in--this is not it. The correct spot is farther down after the road gets a little rougher. It was at exactly 3 miles in on our odometer. Here's a pic of the trailhead.

This is kind of stupid, but I was a little confused because I had always assumed Knapp's Castle looks out over Santa Barbara. It's actually on the other side facing Santa Ynez!

Here's an HDR photo I took from our outing.[/img]

Posted: December 9, 2007, 9:40 am
by: BSA Troop 42

The Knapp's Castle area is in good shape. East Camino Cielo off of Highway 154 is signed for closures during road work starting 10 December 2007.

Posted: July 24, 2007, 1:07 am
by: robiwan

Easy trail fun walk took us 3 hours to go from snyder trailhead to knapp castle and back. We stopped to eat and took a couple of breaks to drink. there is a sleepy hollow type part of this trail where the trees grow over the path. its good place to stop and rest.

Posted: September 12, 2005, 6:03 pm
by: Anonymous

Knapp's castle is privately owned and recently was purchased by someone who will actually be using the property. I am friends of the new owners and I've heard there may be occasional restrictions on physically visiting the ruins. There is a good chance the new owners may be building outbuildings and have power moved onto the site.

Posted: March 23, 2005, 8:25 pm
by: Diane

Post your update here.