Bear Swamp Lake Rd in Mahwah - Legal?

robr1023

robr1023

New Member
Occasionally, I'll see people park on the side of the road on 202 at the Mahwah/Oakland border, and I've see guys with FS bikes turn down Bear Swamp Lake Rd.

Is there legal mountain biking there? I'm assuming it's a lot of climbing?

If so, is there a map?
 
I met a guy at Ramapo about 2 years ago who told me that he rides Bear Swamp Road. He told me that it goes all the way to the lake, which I later confirmed with a map. I've only hiked to the lake through Ramapo reservation. Riding in the res. is illegal but BS lake is part of Ringwood state park so it's OK. Just don't go into the res. You're right on the border there. As for maps, the trail conference maps are pretty detailed and there's a copy available for Maprika.
 
Oh bringing back memories of my early MTB days in the early '90's. I used to ride trails along the Rt 202 corridor from Oakland that would lead up to Bear Swamp Lake Rd. Actually shown to me by guys that worked the bike shop in Oakland at the time. That stuff is likely all gone or just trails used by fishermen along the Ramapo River.

I would occasionally park at the end of Bear Swamp Lake Rd. and ride up the road to access trails around the lake. From there, you can get to the top of Skyline Drive or Sheppard's Lake. Mostly fire roads, ATV trails, and a gas pipeline. Not much singletrack until you got closer to Ringwood. There is plenty to explore along that ridge though. Just don't expect swooping singletrack. It's just old carriage trails and the like.
 
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I have ridden my road bike with 25c tires from 202 all the way to the end of Bear Swamp Rd. Just before the lake you can pick up Cannonball, then the road dead ends at the Gas Pipeline 4 way intersection. I was recently there on my MTB ( this winter ) and that seems to be where the workers are parking. The area is messed up from constrction, but there are a lot of fire roads up there and you can easily tie it into Ringwood by Piersons Ridge. I rode to the area from Piersons by taking the old washed out fire road the drops off of Piersons just north of the pipeline. Green hiking trail paralelles most of this fire road.
 
I don't mean to dig up a few month old post, but figured this may be the best place to put it. Decided to explore Bear Swamp Lake coming from Lot C with some hike-a-bike sections up to Ilgenstein Rock and down to Cannonball to the Shore Trail. I hopped on Bear Swamp Road and rode it to the pipeline and crossed over with hopes that I would pick up Pierson Ridge Rd and work my way over to Blueberry Way, the Race Trail, etc. I somehow dropped into some seemingly endless maze of fire roads and jeep trails (saw a jeep out there today but didn't see me). I've put a link to my Garmin data for you all to check out. Where did I go wrong? Are there any trails/fire roads out where I was at worth really riding or they better suited just for the adventure of exploring? I'm amazed at the sheer amount of old carriage/fire roads in this area!!!

Ringwood Sunday
 
^ Stumbled across your post and I see it never really got answered. Anyway, the best bet is to buy the NYNJ trail conference map set for north jersey. Its got many of those unmarked "jeep roads" on there. The Ringwood map for jorba isn't really to scale and you can get thrown off as you get to the fringe up there by Cannonball Lake. Also, FWIW, most of the marked trails in that section are hiking only trails. But, all those dirt roads are fair game. As you noticed watch out for jeeps.
 
nothing in bergen county parks is legal mtbn. But the place you speak of has fantastic riding. I'd be glad to show you around if you need it.
 
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