High Mountain Group Rides

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
I've been down with a cold the past two days, but I'm hoping to get out and ride tomorrow. There's a 50% chance or so that I will bail on you if we make plans though. Assuming I don't feel like crap tomorrow, I'll be looking to ride around 11am or so. I will PM you in the morning and let you know if that's actually going to happen.

You could also try posting in the High Mountain group on Strava (https://www.strava.com/clubs/42272) to line up a more reliable tour. I'm sure some of the locals on there will be out riding tomorrow.

Ok well i'm beat from my ride today anyway and wifey's got other plans for me tomorrow now so we'll have to do it another time. Thanks for the offer though and feel better.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Ok well i'm beat from my ride today anyway and wifey's got other plans for me tomorrow now so we'll have to do it another time. Thanks for the offer though and feel better.

Ok, cool. I can be there most week days by 3:30pm and am usually free to ride on the weekend too. Hit me up anytime.
 

roc

Well-Known Member
What's the least challenging way to get to the top of high mountain from the circle?
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
What's the least challenging way to get to the top of high mountain from the circle?

Up Circle Switch, down Camel's Hump, up Sparrow, up Hawk, and then up the last bit of yellow.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Looking for a tour guide for after work tomorrow ~5:30, Monday 5/1. Any takers? Gonna be at TRU headquarters but can meet at any parking area that's convenient for tour guide.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Can't make it this week but more group rides will be coming soon. Hopefully, someone on the Strava group can give a tour. You could also use maprika. A good route is circleswitch-shelf-jacks-ancients. That is ~6 miles. Add twisty deer path or Indians for an extra ~mile each. There is much more but that is a good intro.

Not on Strava so did a self-guided Maprika tour (man, that app is cool!) Monday evening. Started at the circle and did the circleswitch-shelf-jacks-ancients loop you suggested and it was the perfect distance and timing and great trails. Just wish the very end of Ancients was nice singletrack all the way back to the circle instead of that fall line washout of a yellow trail. May give it another go after work Thursday.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
It sound like you may have missed the grave section of Ancients. Most of the steep fall line has a singletrack alternative. You do have to take a flat section of yellow but that section is turning back into singletrack.

Did the same loop Thurs and found the final connector from Yellow to White that cut out most of the fall line washout. Good stuff! Really impressed with this trail system and will continue to explore via Maprika. Kudos to the builders!
 

bucknejo

Well-Known Member
Did the same loop Thurs and found the final connector from Yellow to White that cut out most of the fall line washout. Good stuff! Really impressed with this trail system and will continue to explore via Maprika. Kudos to the builders!

How challenging is this loop? Can an intermediate have fun with this... and about how long does it take? I've been at HMP a few times lately but haven't hit the ancients side of the park yet.
 

roc

Well-Known Member
How challenging is this loop? Can an intermediate have fun with this... and about how long does it take? I've been at HMP a few times lately but haven't hit the ancients side of the park yet.
I think the ancients might be the easiest part of any single track at high mountain. Not saying it's easy, just the least technical section, maybe? Certainly easier than jacks or any trail heading to the top. I guess if you're riding other singletrack at high mountain, I think you'd be fine on ancients.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
I think the ancients might be the easiest part of any single track at high mountain. Not saying it's easy, just the least technical section, maybe? Certainly easier than jacks or any trail heading to the top. I guess if you're riding other singletrack at high mountain, I think you'd be fine on ancients.

Agreed. Jack's is by far the techiest part of that loop
 

bucknejo

Well-Known Member
That route has some climbing + technical terrain on Jack's. If you liked the other trails at HM, you are probably are fine. 1.5 hours would be my guess. You can also park at the circle and do an out and back on Ancients. Ancients is a really fun 4 mile trail.

Another easier optoin would be to stick to the plateau loops: Twisty Deer Path loop (counterclockwise) , Indian's loop (counterclockwise), Wolf loop (clockwise), and Junkyard loop (counterclockwise). You could also add Circleswitch, Secret, Glass, and/or Shelf to connect the loops (all easier intermediate singletrack). Some travel on the red and yellow double track may be needed depending on your route.

yeah, i normally park at the circle then:

circle switch -> twisty deer path (anti-clockwise) -> indians (bottom) -> secret -> snake -> indians (top) -> shelf -> yellow trail back in

takes me about an hour and not a ton of climbing although i feel like there are some quick steeps.

will try:

circle switch -> shelf -> jack's -> ancient's lower -> ancient's upper -> white -> yellow

from terrain map it looks like jack's in this direction is downhill?
 

bucknejo

Well-Known Member
yeah, i normally park at the circle then:

circle switch -> twisty deer path (anti-clockwise) -> indians (bottom) -> secret -> snake -> indians (top) -> shelf -> yellow trail back in

takes me about an hour and not a ton of climbing although i feel like there are some quick steeps.

will try:

circle switch -> shelf -> jack's -> ancient's lower -> ancient's upper -> white -> yellow

from terrain map it looks like jack's in this direction is downhill?

Rode jacks and ancients lower today. Ran out of time for ancients upper, but those trails are rad. Wish I had a pike or fox 34 instead of a reba on my tallboy for jacks, but you go to war with the army you got, right? Will be upgrading when $ is available.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
What is the "preferred" direction to ride Ancients from the circle? I have only ridden it clockwise (starting on Circleswitch->Jack's). Last night i passed 3 separate groups riding Ancients the other way (counterclockwise, so starting on Ancients). I can see it being fun either way, just curious what the "locals" do.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
I just run north to south semi clockwise because of where i live but i do see many doing counter but yeah... ancients is fun both ways.
 

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