https://www.strava.com/activities/561467964
So my goal for yesterday was to re-do a ride I did back in March, and tweak a couple of things. The plan was to start at Wildcat, ride over to Mahlon, then head up to Waway, and then back down to Wildcat. Last time I was blindly following a GPX file that didn't quite go where I thought it did, and I had to backtrack and hit a bunch of terrible ATV trails. I didn't really have a plan for once I got to Waway, but I figured I would ride the race course if it was marked.
I had a hard time getting out of bed, so my 7am start turned into a 7:40am start at the Bat Cave. I cross Green Pond and go behind Hibernia Auto Restoration onto some trails back there, and a hunter scared the shit out of me like five minutes into the ride. This land is (I believe) owned by the state, but leased to hunters. I thought hunting season was over and figured cutting through there was no big deal. Then I hear "Hey I'm hunting here!" or something like that, and I was like "WTF who the fuck just said that?" There's a dude in full camo just sitting next to the fireroad I was riding up with a gun. I apologized and told him I thought hunting season was over, but he informed me that Spring Turkey season is going on now. I apologized again and wished him good luck and that was that.
I duck out of those trails and take the road through White Meadow Lake, cut into some trails behind a park, cross Mt Hope Ave and get into Mt Hope Historic Park. I took the old railbed through there, then hit the one nice singletrack trail in there I know about, come out at the condos, cross Richard Mine Rd, and take the old rail trail under 80 and 15 into Wharton. I cut through Canal Park, take a little road and into Berkshire WMA. I was relieved to see no cars in the lot, as I didn't want to piss off any more hunters. Then as I'm riding up the old railbed, I see two hunters up ahead in the distance. I slow down to make sure they aren't stalking some turkeys that would be spooked by me, and then roll up and say hi. I asked what they were hunting and then feigned surprise when they told me it was Spring Turkey season. They didn't seem to mind at all, and then we talked about my crazy bike tires. I wished them luck and then continued on.
At the north end of Berkshire WMA, just before I pop out to Minisink Rd, I see BABY FOXES!!!! The mom gave me the stink eye, but they all ran away and it was all good. I previously saw a fox one time at the Tourne. Then on Saturday's ride I saw a fox, and then yesterday a fox and babies, super cool.
Anyway, take the road a few miles into the center of Jefferson and cross 15. I cut out Mahlon WMA to save time by just going down the power lines into Lake Shawnee, and then popped into the WMA briefly to get into Mahlon. I should probably do some singletrack in Mahlon next time, but I just took the railbed north, popped into the other WMA, and took the power lines down to Glen Rd, crossed to Ridge Rd, and headed into Sparta Mountain WMA. This is a long dirt road/power line trail that brings you to a memorial for Thomas Edison. From there is some pretty cool trails passing by some of Edison's old mines, and then up by 23 there are some really nice moto trails that are totally rideable. I sort of winged it in this section, hitting more of the moto singletrack than last time.
I come out and cross 23 and take a railroad to an ATV trail, cross Stockholm Rd to another ATV trail, and then I'm on the Harry Cole trail. This is an old jeep road which is nice and smooth in some spots and busted/terrible with tons of loose rock in others. This is where I screwed up last time. My GPX file turned off of Harry Cole and doubled back to Stockholm Rd. This time I used the NYNJTC map on my phone to make sure I got it right, and I came out on Cannistear Rd just north of the reservoir. I took the road up into Highland Lakes, and then popped into Waway via the western entrance on Cherry Ridge Rd.
So I took Cherry Ridge Rd in with plans to do the H2H loop. However, I didn't really have any idea where the loop was. Fortunately, I just came across the arrows on the way in and it worked out. I ended up at the furnace, and then went up to the beach lot. Then I continued the race loop back to where I started it. I took Cherry Ridge Rd back to Old Coal, and then Old Coal down to P7 at the southern end of Waway. I went down Clinton Rd a bit, and then entered some trails on the other side of the road. On my way up through there, I came across two guys with a chainsaw. I chatted with them a bit (mostly about my crazy bike tires) and they asked where I was headed. I told a partial truth because I didn't know who they were and was on my way. Come out of the trails and go down Stephens Rd a bit, and then take the less crazy of the trails (still pretty crazy and super fun though) down to Van Orden Rd by Hank's Pond.
Take the road down and across Union Valley Rd, onto some busted ass old jeep trail that heads down to 23. Cross 23 and take the railroad a bit, then Winnebago and Charlottesburg Rd down to Splitrock Reservoir. My hands were pretty shot at this point, but I still did a half loop of Wildcat in the reverse of my usual direction. At some point on Charlottesburg Rd, I thought how funny it would be if I got back to my car and then just rode past it and hit a little loop on the other side of Green Pond. So eventhough I was completely dead by the time I got back to my car, I just rode right on by and did the little Lake Ames loop.
I went home, drank a beer, ate a pound of pasta, and then drank about half a bottle of wine before I fell asleep.
