Almanac note · Outdoors
Johnny Cash Trail turns Folsom's prison edge into a public art walk
Folsom's Johnny Cash Trail is a paved bike and walking route near Folsom State Prison, with bridges, trail links, and a growing public art plan tied to Johnny Cash's local connection.
Folsom has plenty of trail mileage, but the Johnny Cash Trail has a different kind of pull. It takes a regular bike-and-walking route and ties it to music, prison history, public art, and the city’s historic district.
The trail was completed in 2017 as a 2.75-mile Class I bike and pedestrian route. It winds west toward the Folsom Historic District and east toward the Folsom Lake Crossing Trail. Two bridges along the way were designed with the local landscape in mind, including architectural cues from nearby Folsom State Prison.
A public art layer is growing along the route through the Johnny Cash Trail Art Experience, an $8 million-plus effort along the city’s 2.5-mile Johnny Cash Trail. The first sculpture, a bronze guitar pick called Cash’s Pick No. 1, was installed near the trailhead in Historic Folsom in 2024. That makes the trail feel alive, because the story is still being built piece by piece.
The name works because Johnny Cash’s Folsom connection is not abstract. His prison performance became part of American music memory. Here, the city turns that serious history into a public route people can walk, bike, and talk about at their own pace.
Where to see it
Johnny Cash Trail between the Historic District area and Folsom Lake Crossing Trail connections. Review Folsom trail pages and the art trail page for maps, art updates, and trail rules.
Official sources
Official source trail
Reviewed July 6, 2026
California Porch explains the path. The official source is still the place to confirm the current rule, fee, form, map, deadline, or office decision.
Use the official page before you spend money, file paperwork, rely on a deadline, or change a property.
Connected places
Where it fits on the map
Open a place page for the county layer, nearby places, and other California entries tied to that local page.
Related notes
Keep following this thread.
These are picked from nearby places, shared tags, and the same California topic shelf.
Folsom's parks and trails make outdoor errands feel close by
Folsom points residents to parks, trails, and open space, including neighborhood parks, picnic areas, paved recreation routes, and trail maps for planning.
Read next →Historic Folsom is easiest to read on foot
Folsom's self-guided historic walking tour links Sutter Street, Leidesdorff Plaza, the railroad turntable and depot, the Truss Bridge, and the American River.
Read next →Folsom Powerhouse helped electricity travel farther
Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park preserves an 1895 electric plant that helped show how power from a river could travel farther.
Read next →