Kittatinny Valley State Park Conditions

jpn

jpn

Active Member
yellow by lakes still not cleared

I like to go up red to the tower and down yellow to the gravel road by the house that is falling down and then go back up to the tower on the other yellow up from the lakes.

the State guys said that that other yellow was cleared, but it is still no go for bikes, lots of trees down across the climb going up from the lakes. I have been going back up the gravel road for training/workout, but it is not as fun as the trail.

last time i looked, the green was still pretty much closed too.

I work in Newton and usually get in a quick ride during middle of day. if you guys ever want to meet up, send me a PM.

I ride a rigid black karate monkey in case you see me in the park.
 
ryderX

ryderX

Well-Known Member
As of Monday nearly everything on green had been cut. It just needs to be dragged off the trail. Feel free to dismount and drag a few logs home with you.
 
Daily_Minefield

Daily_Minefield

Member
jpn said:
I work in Newton and usually get in a quick ride during middle of day. if you guys ever want to meet up, send me a PM.

I ride a rigid black karate monkey in case you see me in the park.
Click to expand...

Will Do! I usually ride Kvsp assorted days Mon-Thurs between 8 and 11:00am...have to be out door for work by 12:30......Dark Blue/white Giant Trance X3.......

I'm off Fridays and usually branch out to other parks for longer rides......
 
jpn

jpn

Active Member
thanks for clearing green

went for a quick ride friday afternoon and went on green to red up to tower. Green is clear and riding it put a big smile on my face. this section of KVSP has a lot good memories for me because green/red/yellow are the first singletrack I discovered and rode when I got back into MTBing 6-7 years ago. I started working in Newton and started to walk to get in shape and lose weight. I was about 40 lbs too heavy and a year of walking for an hour at lunch helped me lose 10-15 lbs.

walking gets boring, so the next year I bought a new bike, a trek 7.2 hybrid. I had an old jamis dakota that needed some repair, and I wanted a bike to ride on road and explore the rail trails around newton. stared riding instead of walking and lost some more of my leftover baby fat. one day took rail trail from sparta ave to route 206 and saw a couple of trails in the woods. next time I explored a little on green and discovered that the hybrid wasn't going to cut it on the singetrack. I got the jamis dakota running (big thanks to Martys@randolph for getting out the old BB bearings and fixing me up with new cartridge bearings and new clipless shoes and pedals!) and I started to actually mountain bike.

after a few rides I could get through green without dabbing and one day I started up red from green. got a few feet up the the first climb and dismounted and walked. walked all five of the short steep climbs up to the tower and then went across the road and down yellow to the left. the whole time I am thinking 'this is really fun and really cool.'

took a month or two but I finally managed to make those climbs consistently with my 18 year old jamis dakota. what a great feeling when I did all five! started to explore the rest of the park and I have been hooked ever since.

So when I ride green to red it just makes me feel good. Thanks to team bulldog for all of your work in this great park. ;)
 
Daily_Minefield

Daily_Minefield

Member
Great post jpn.........thanks for sharing! that is what it's all about!

I feel like a poser lately (as I've been doing way more talking than riding!)

It's time to get out there. Thanks!
 
BAIN

BAIN

Member
GREAT POST!!! I remember the first time I finally made that the whole way. I was so stoked. I had done the left side a bunch, but the right always got me. I have yet to attempt the middle. (doubtful I ever will)

KVSP has everything you need and has a great layout.

There are so many loops in that place that you can get a little bit of everything each time. That is what I love about mtbiking, the same line is never the same.

I can't wait to sweat my balls off tonight at the Tourne.
 
jpn

jpn

Active Member
its snake season

was out there at lunchtime today and on the way back almost ran over a three foot long black snake moving across the rail trail north of the main parking lot. This one wasn't that big. I have seen some big black snakes in here, and I saw one rattlesnake a few years back.

coolest critter i ever saw in here was a big owl on green. I went around a bend and he took off. huge wingspan and totally silent. really cool.

rocks were slippery today from the humidity.
 
C

chrisbr66

New Member
Look out!!!

Was out for a late lunch ride and decided to ride the recently cleared green trail off the rail bed. I was about halfway through the trail when I heard a loud cracking noise and braked just in time to watch a good sized tree fall 15 feet in front of me across the trail. Just made me think if I had left a few seconds earlier I would have probably been underneath that tree. I made a futile effort to try and move it to no avail. The joys of mountain biking...
 
jpn

jpn

Active Member
it was nice while it lasted

I don't suppose the helmet would have helped much...

I got caught in a thunderstorm on red and yellow last summer and was very close to a lightning strike. storm lasted about 15 minutes and when I got back out to newto-sparta road, it hadn't even rained in newton.
 
jpn

jpn

Active Member
saw the same snake today as yesterday. Almost ran him over. again. saw where the tree is down on green. went through poison ivy to get around. oh well... had a nice ride up to tower and then on blue across from green. getting hot out.
 
icolquhoun

icolquhoun

Active Member
thought the place was cleared out, but there are still a lot of trails closed...trail off the dirt road circular that shoots off to the right and connects up with rail bed is still closed, not even close to open, about 20 trees down total on that trail.
Newer singletrack "white" over by fire service area/back of airport is has several trees down across it. parts of both red and blue trails were sloppy and wrecked with trees as well
 
icebiker

icebiker

JORBA: Morris Trails
JORBA.ORG
So, rain and the associated muddy areas aside, how is the park with respect to downed trees....all clear everywhere? Once it stops raining and dries out I'd love to go back there...haven't been there since well before Sandy but don't want to make the 40 min trek unless it's pretty much clear. thanks.
 
N

Nathan Crisman

New Member
I was last there on Friday and there was only a single tree down on the 2012 race loop that was a simple "duck under and go" in the switchback portion near the south tip. Seems that it's in good shape other than the couple fire roads are torn up from (I assume) trucks that came in to repair power lines.
 
mntal

mntal

Active Member
out there this morning - as dry as your grandma's...................................................................................................................................morning cereal.
 
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