Ride Direction at Hartshorne

Sam3631

Sam3631

Member
I rode Hartshorne for the first time in about 15 years today. It's a ton harder than I remember. Plus I'm 42 now and out of shape and on a 15 yr old bike.

Anyway, I started by going left from the Navesink Rd parking lot up Laurel Ridge trail. Then I made a left onto Grand Tour trail. That sucked. I had to walk up a lot. I got back to Laurel Ridge and took it to the trail head. That seemed tough too.

Did I ride the park in the 'wrong/tough' direction? Is it just tough no matter which direction I went?

I got back into riding last year at Allaire. Nothing serious, though.

Thanks
Mike from Ocean County
 
I'll just post a "good job" getting out there and riding...
think i went up the same way when i was there, so i'm interested in the way it supposed to flow
 
Thanks. I saw a guy go the opposite way from me off the trail head. Maybe he knew what he was doing.
 
I've been riding hartshorne since 95 ish with a,big break in the last decade. When I started to ride it again it was a lot harder than I remembered too. Partly due to my conditioning, and the rest due to the condition of the trails. Now I can say it is getting easier to ride.

I now start at the top parking lot and ride the rocky point trail clockwise then take it to grand tour to laurel ridge. Then to the lower parking lot up the fire road. Then all the way to the top or take the 2nd right in then straight then left back to the upper lot.

You have the switch back to go up and the steep hill on laurel. Other than that it is pretty good.
 
We ride from Buttermilk Valley lot going right to Laurel ridge and not up the Cuesta Ridge trail (most of the time). From that lot is uphill no matter the direction you choose. We tend to ride Huber first and park there. Huber is easier than Hartshorne and less elevation IMHO. Back to Hatshorne we tend to default to riding most of the trails counter clockwise. We are also from Toms River so Hartshorne and Allaire are 2 of our favorite places to ride.
Have you tried Clayton? Smaller than Hartshorne and scaled down but similar in flow and a bit easier.
Ed and Pat Gifford
the Snot Rocket tandem
 
Have you tried Clayton? Smaller than Hartshorne and scaled down but similar in flow and a bit easier.
Ed and Pat Gifford
the Snot Rocket tandem
Haven't tried Clayton yet. On my list for next few weeks. Do you ride that in a certain direction?
When you ride bikes from Huber to Hart do you ride over on asphalt or trails?
 
knobbyhead said:
I've been riding hartshorne since 95 ish with a,big break in the last decade. When I started to ride it again it was a lot harder than I remembered too. Partly due to my conditioning, and the rest due to the condition of the trails. Now I can say it is getting easier to ride.

I now start at the top parking lot and ride the rocky point trail clockwise then take it to grand tour to laurel ridge. Then to the lower parking lot up the fire road. Then all the way to the top or take the 2nd right in then straight then left back to the upper lot.

You have the switch back to go up and the steep hill on laurel. Other than that it is pretty good.
Click to expand...

When you say you start at the top lot do you mean the Rocky Point lot near Battery Lewis? Where is the lower parking lot from the fire road?

Thanks
 
Yes, Rocky point lot is near battery lrwis.
What I mean the fire Rd is just the gravel Rd that is to the left of the buttermilk valley parking lot.
 
Fire Road is Cuesta Ridge Trail. Lower lot is at the end of it on the West(?) side of the park. As far as Clayton goes we ride the whole park in both directions. It is fairly small in size so each loop is a little under 5 miles. A lot of the time we also bring the road bike and ride a road loop then hit the trails.
At Huber we park at the Claypit trail head and ride the road to Hartshorne. I beleive there was a new trail cut in that eliminates some of the road but we haven't used it yet. Old people are creatures of habit.

E&P
tSRt
 
Simple answer: there is no particular direction at hartshorne. No route is gonna be noticeably easier.

And yes, hartshorne has gotten noticeably harder. It's not just due to you being off the bike and the passage of years. The lack of maintenance has made the trails more technical - exposed roots all over the place , numerous log overs, eroded ruts, sandy sections, etc..

Personally I ride huber a lot more. Trails aren't nearly as beat up. Still gives you a good workout (there are hills) but just much easier to ride than hartshorne has become. Plus, it's empty (far less joggers and dog walkers to look out for)
 
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A correction to my post above, It seems the fire road is part of the Laurel Ridge trail until it intersects with Grand Tour then it changes to Cuesta Ridge. I've always called the whole thing Cuesta Ridge. Ooops!
E&P
 
Sam3631 said:
Haven't tried Clayton yet. On my list for next few weeks. Do you ride that in a certain direction?
When you ride bikes from Huber to Hart do you ride over on asphalt or trails?
Click to expand...

There is a segment of road to get over the water. Coming from huber ride the claypit trail out to locust point rd. Left and a quick right over the water. Enter the park at multiple points

the trails can not hide from the strava heatmap,
http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#14/-74.02187/40.39950/blue/bike
(Science!)
 
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Many thanks to everybody for your responses. I'm going to try all of them out next time I head up that way.

Thanks
Mike
 
There are many people here that ride Hartshorne. I ride mostly morning during the week. Others at night. Just give a shout out and somebody might ride with you.
 
Simple way to look at the 'Horne; park in the Buttermilk lot and regardless of which way you go you start off with a climb but get back to the car with a downhill. The Rocky Point lot is the exact opposite. Starts off with a downhill any way you go but you have to climb back to your car.

My route is; start off going right from Buttermilk lot, and keep making rights. Laurel ridge to Grand Tour (keep making rights) to Rocky Point (counter-clockwise) to Cuesta Ridge, make a right at the bench ( short climb that leads into the best downhill in the park) and take Grand Tour (make a right at the intersection) to Cuesta Ridge back to the lot. it's basically one big loop. I call it my "whole place" loop. It's a bit over 7 miles.
 
The trails were designed to be ridden in a counter clockwise route. I posed this question back in the early 90's to then Superintendent Lee Homeyack. all in all to me it doesn't matter the direction, either way will present you with some nice challenges and hopefully a very enjoyable ride.
 
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