The best way is right across the street (Waterloo) from Kinney Rd, where everyone parks for SSP and home of the infamous iron gate. That trail is much better maintained than the Waterloo South Trail mentioned, which was a total unmaintained POS when I went down it once a few years ago. It's a tough but makeable climb in two stages. The first stage will merely wake you up. The second stage is less kind. The Rogue trail intersects in the middle.
Deer Park Conditions
- Thread starter mattybfat
- Start date
Getting the big climb out of the way early makes for a great finish by doing Rogue back to orange down to the car.
I was referencing the Waterloo North Trail. Admittedly it's not that terrible a climb, but there's the swampy section in the middle and then the gradient kicks up and it gets looser from there. I'd just forgotten that it gets more challenging as you get farther up. I've also been primarily riding Dickerson Mine out of convenience the last few years so any actual NJ rocky climb is a shock to the system.
@JimN is a machine, I ride one big difference
Yes orange sucks always did always will but payoff is Rouge
Just assumed that Rogue was no longer a trail that got used but sounds like it is. Will have to check it out again the next time I'm there.
JohnB
New Member
Hey thank you! Yeah just checked it out it looks like a crazy climb going in but back to the car great way to end a ride. Cheers
Rogue is so good. Hadn't ridden in a few years. Usual wet spots were wet but overall surprisingly good conditions.
Only downside was the "bumps" on rt 80 west which felt like hitting a curb at 75 mph. There was a car stopped with at least one flat after one of them. Insane.
Only downside was the "bumps" on rt 80 west which felt like hitting a curb at 75 mph. There was a car stopped with at least one flat after one of them. Insane.
I was out there today myself
For verbal instructions...sounds like you're riding from the school? Just keep staying left and you'll eventually run into it. You'll start with the school singletrack and the rest will be fire road until you get to Rogue. The entrance on that side is obvious and there's actually two - one over rocks and one a well used dirt trail. It's really not very "rogue", meaning the trail is well defined.
JohnB
New Member
Awesome thank you
JohnB
New Member
Just to circle back. Did orange all the way up to the top as the warm up. Not completely brutal but there were one or two streams and a pretty narly rock face close to the top i had to walk up the top section. Rouge was awesome back down to the car, even took a hard spill and slid about 5 feet face first down the trail. Extremely happy i missed all the large rocks or it could of been a different ball game. Appreciate all the advice on the loop from all in this thread.
Fat Trout
Well-Known Member
For anyone interested in using the 7-11 entrance to deer park I went through and cleared the full length of that trail today and up into the woods where it hits the school trail. It should be good for the rest of the summer at this point. The 2 bypass sections made at the end of last year are part of what was cleared so you don't have to go through the 2 muddy sections when using that trail.
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