Stephens weekend ride rpt.

Preliminary stats are 17.75 mile, lots of smiles, and some locked keys in the end. Started in the main lot and went clockwise as you see the map. And what a view by the fire tower. We were definitely the first to ride some newly cleared trails just before the final mach 9 descent. Thanks to Scotts previous exploring we went off the intended route and hit some nice tech stuff. Alittle spit and polish and this trail is gonna shine. Rolled out at 10:15 with Alex, Dan and Scott. Alex survived despite getting alittle lumped up in the last two weeks.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Love that elevation profile.

Do you have any downloadable GPS files so people can follow the loop?
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
i really want to check this out. wazu and i tried to ride this last week and got nuttin'. can you some of you post more thoughts and directions on this? i'd love to do a ride up there one of the next weekends.
 

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
Gotta love that 4 mile climb starting at mile 7... Whats up with posting a ride report without a downloadable gps file? Thats so early 2007.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Gotta love that 4 mile climb starting at mile 7... Whats up with posting a ride report without a downloadable gps file? Thats so early 2007.

LOL! Well done Jeff.

That really is a great climb. I would probably do well climbing that a lot over the winter. Resembles Cardiac but a little more stretched out.
 

ytc100

New Member
Definitely some good climbs in this place. The one right out of the parking lot is a fun warm up.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
that's the best you can do scott? sheesh, i've been waiting all day for this. :D
 

ytc100

New Member
that's the best you can do scott? sheesh, i've been waiting all day for this. :D

I went here last Monday on my own to check things out. I found mostly everything on Strato's map posted on mtbr and more. Only a few short loops near the parking lot are blazed and with no GPS to follow I winged it the old fashioned way: I wandered around following the sun and Strato's map for my sense of direction. Had to bushwack a little bit on the return loop as I lost the trail I was on at some point. There are many older grown in trails but the stuff Strato has worked on is in terrific shape and a lot of fun. Not too technical but there is a nice mix with steep hills, twisty tight stuff, and longer more flowing trails. There are also the usual mix of washed out fire roads especially on the north east side.
 

Wazu

New Member
hmmm

Mike these are the mountains we see from my boat. They ARE the firetower trails right by my house. I can get this guy Ed Schioppe to show us the trails. He rides them often. I've ridden part of them too but I sure as hell don't know a loop. As I recall a lot of loose babyhead climbs. As far as parking lots go, is this the MAIN Ranger Station with the bridge and the river and camping up the steps? Do you start up the partially paved road that goes up behind the ranger station?
 
S

Stan LeCupp

Guest
As far as parking lots go, is this the MAIN Ranger Station with the bridge and the river and camping up the steps? Do you start up the partially paved road that goes up behind the ranger station?

Yep thats where we started.
 
D

DANSPANK

Guest
It was a great ride and I thought the hill a half mile or so out of the car park was worse than the 4-miler. There is a sloppy, long fireroad climb as part of that 4-miler but we grunted up it.

Really good ride though. My gps shit the bed before the ride so you get nuttin' from me.
 

Wazu

New Member
Friday 430 ish ride at Stephens

I've set up a Friday ride with this guy Ed who knows all the trails back there. He's an old timer like me but a cool cat nontheless. I think we will be riding at like 4:30 if anyone is interested in coming. It won't be a fast paced ride no way. No, seriously, it won't!
 
Gotta love that 4 mile climb starting at mile 7...

That climb is about 3.5 mile long and way stepped. The kind of climb that passes nicely. It looks totally worse on the profile (though impressive). Delorme says about 650 foot of climbing. The very peak was the optional fire tower base climb. As far as posting a gps file.... that would take all the fun out of it. LOL. Heck Scott tried it with the old paper map in hand, and in the process found a sweety of a trail.

And Dan mentioned the .3 mile doozer of a climb at about 1.5 mile in. .3 of a mile? That can't be right, because that lolly feels like 3 times a mile not 3 tenths. We're gonna have to weazel around the honey single trails that we missed closer to the parking for a little more warm up.

We didn't start up the partially paved road (which is the bazed orange trail), we came down it and one heck of a dh it is. We did start up behind the ranger station but made the hard left onto the blazed red trail.
 
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SpartaBard

Well-Known Member
That climb is about 3.5 mile long and way stepped. The kind of climb that passes nicely. It looks totally worse on the profile (though impressive). Delorme says about 650 foot of climbing. The very peak was the optional fire tower base climb. As far as posting a gps file.... that would take all the fun out of it. LOL. Heck Scott tried it with the old paper map in hand, and in the process found a sweety of a trail.

And Dan mentioned the .3 mile doozer of a climb at about 1.5 mile in. .3 of a mile? That can't be right, because that lolly feels like 3 times a mile not 3 tenths. We're gonna have to weazel around the honey single trails that we missed closer to the parking for a little more warm up.

We didn't start up the partially paved road (which is the bazed orange trail), we came down it and one heck of a dh it is. We did start up behind the ranger station but made the hard left onto the blazed red trail.

Strato,

Do you have gps data of the whole area? I would like to cruise around the area.

And by the way... be sure to check out the developments here: MD - wall We will be posting official TM dates soon.
 
Still exploring..

Sorry Brad but I don't have a gps of the whole park. I'm still exploring old trails and haven't even scratched the surface up top. The track Alex posted is pretty much the worked trails up to date. Some great stuff is also blazed in the area closer to the ranger hut which we didn't take.

Thanks to Scotts exploring a great trail was found and fits the trail network flow perfectly. And thanks to Scotts help that gem of a trail is open and clear. More single trk and some nice rock gardens have now been restored to the park. (But not without cost thought... I paid w/ 5 bee stings and a hasty retreat.) So a great argument can be said for old fashion paper map exploring, getting lost and having an excellent memory. A YTC kind of memory.
 
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ytc100

New Member
We cleared about 3.5 miles of trail yesterday and judging by the amount of work that took I am really impressed with how much of the old trail system Strato has cleared up to this point. He is a man possessed. It was really dumb luck that I found that trail and I have to say if I had a GPS I might never have wandered as far off course as I did. It was a blast not knowing exactly where I was and finding my way back.

Edit: Probably more like 2.5 miles of trail as I backtracked a couple of times riding the trail.

Maybe that's a good name for the trail: "Dumb Luck"?

How's that ear lobe Steve? Man that thing looked like a punching bag.
 
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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Dumb Luck - I like it.

I assume that eventually, Brian Sipler will publish his comprehensive guide to NJ trails and how they got their names.
 
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