First Wharton Experience

[WinTaper]

So I had my first experience at Wharton on Sunday. I did the big Orange Trail loop. Wow, now that's a lotta singletrack. It was quite fun - and a serious workout getting through all of it. Definitely worth the trip every now and then - I ride Allaire mostly, as I am close to it, which is totally different.

The Penn Branch trail is hours of relentless twisty-turny singletrack with no break in sight. It'll wear your arms down in addition to your legs. Dunno if it was because it was late in the season, but it was so overgrown/narrow in spots I had to remove a lot of vegetation from the bike. Some of those tree gates were pretty tight for my 720mm bar - I got a little tired of those - and I wouldn't want to ride with anything wider.

It's nice that there are no real hills to climb - but that means there are none to go down either - the result is constant pedaling. I took several breaks throughout the ride and drank copious amounts of water to compensate.

All in all a great day and great ride - I'll have to come back again.

-Dan

 

[Mountain Bike Mike]

I did two laps of orange in early spring and it became mind numbing... One lap around Orange and if you're looking for more, a small lap around blue is decent but it really is more of the same twisty singletrack.

 

[WinTaper]

Wow - I'm old and slow - two laps would've killed me.

 

[Juggernaut]

Wow - I'm old and slow - two laps would've killed me.

You're not slow, you're just deliberate.

 

[slingblade_uhhuh]

You're not slow, you're just deliberate.

When you get to the point of wanting extra milage past the 19+, or ride Batsto often enough to want to change it up some, do what the locals do and ride some of the sand roads in the loop to mix it up in sections.

The Hidden Pond Road in the NW section is one of my favorite alt. routes. Others loop in little used fairly firm packed roads for whats called a *BatJemima* loop. A side trip off the NE corner north to Devious can make a long fun ride too. A fast paced ride from the NE corner south down Sandy Ridge Road, weaving left 'n right 'round the mudholes can be a lot of big ring fun too.

Check out a topo map, sketch out a route, pack the GPS, and explore. Post up if you have questions.

 

[BigDB67]

Glad you enjoyed it! I would go more often if it was closer!

 

[WinTaper]

When you get to the point of wanting extra milage past the 19+

Actually I could have done without the last 3 miles... by that point I was ready for the trailhead. Yeah - old and slow - that's me.