High Mountain Conditions

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
What do you consider brutal?
If you start from the circle, in either directions, you are going to start with a climb. Personally, I hate starting a ride with a climb. But.... in terms of access, you cant beat it.
 

ADKmike

Active Member
Ok so if
Ancients is my favorite loop, and it's good in both directions. I usually ride it clockwise from the circle and use circle switch and Jack's to get to it. You do NOT want to ride Jack's at the end of Ancients counterclockwise so keep that in mind. If you're looking for not brutal maybe skip Jack's altogether.

Ok so if I understand correctly, and looking at trail forks to determine this, park at circle (before/after, got it), Ride a clockwise loop: take the yellow trail for a very short time to “circle switch“, continue on to “Shelf”, use “Twisty Deer Path Link” to get over to “Jacks”, then pick up “Ancients” at the end of that and that pretty much takes you back to the parking?

mine thing I notice is on Trailforks, that twisty deer path link trail doesn’t actually connect but comes close to continuing on to Jacks. I’m assuming you can connect some way cause it’s so close?

or am i supposed to do something else?
Sorry for the questions - I’m trying to do this and not waste too much time getting lost and backtracking, cause I have a limited time window.

thanks
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Ok so if


Ok so if I understand correctly, and looking at trail forks to determine this, park at circle (before/after, got it), Ride a clockwise loop: take the yellow trail for a very short time to “circle switch“, continue on to “Shelf”, use “Twisty Deer Path Link” to get over to “Jacks”, then pick up “Ancients” at the end of that and that pretty much takes you back to the parking?

mine thing I notice is on Trailforks, that twisty deer path link trail doesn’t actually connect but comes close to continuing on to Jacks. I’m assuming you can connect some way cause it’s so close?

or am i supposed to do something else?
Sorry for the questions - I’m trying to do this and not waste too much time getting lost and backtracking, cause I have a limited time window.

thanks
Yes, that's my Ancients loop. Circle Switch is a tough climb right off the bat, Jack's is super techy, Ancients has some tough climbs but i love the isolation feeling on Ancients. The link does connect you - technically a very short section of Twisty Deer Path proper does. You'll do a short punchy up at the end of Shelf, then cross over yellow doubletrack onto the link which will twist a few times and start going downhill. There are a few intersections in short succession there which can be confusing but just have the app out at that point and you should figure it out. The second left after crossing over Yellow is Jack's. I also think there's a rubber dog head or something marking the start of Jack's.
 

ADKmike

Active Member
Thanks everyone for the info - rode ancients loop from the circle parking and had a great ride. A little hard to find my way at times but used Trailforks and it worked out great. Pretty challenging ride but in a fun way
 

liong71er

Well-Known Member
Fun Facts,,i build Jack's Trails to honor my beloved puppy name Jack he is a maltese(and thanks to whoever put rubber dog head by jack's

also Twistyy Deer Path
was build,because it was actually following deer trails it is a loop that can connect with Jack's and i also create a segment covering both trails on strava i name it The Dragon Trail feel free to beat my Time either counter or clockwise,,but only the craziest and the strong riders can be i Top Ten,,

and thanks to all riders and Team hero trail maintenance
btw,,Jack's isn't that Super Techy
atleast for me tho😁

have fun and don't crash!!
 

Mtbdog

Well-Known Member
Old trail, newly discovered I assume you mean.

How are conditions otherwise? Were the trails leaf blown this year?
Quite possible.
That one was. I was only on some of the ancients and although not blown,well packed down and easy to follow.
 

doublenines

New Member
How’s the freeze-thaw cycle at High Mountain? I can see the trail reports from TrailForks at the bottom (great widget!) but the reports are only as good as when posted.
I know from previous posts and experience that the singletrack sections drain pretty well, but does the singletrack also hold up well during the freeze-thaw season? I just need a taste of circle-switch, shelf, twisty deer path, and jacks (maybe (I like to keep my organs in their original locations)).

It’s going to be in the 40’s today and I’d like to try and ride without freezing my body parts off for once in the last few weeks.
 

RickVaughn

Active Member
How’s the freeze-thaw cycle at High Mountain? I can see the trail reports from TrailForks at the bottom (great widget!) but the reports are only as good as when posted.
I know from previous posts and experience that the singletrack sections drain pretty well, but does the singletrack also hold up well during the freeze-thaw season? I just need a taste of circle-switch, shelf, twisty deer path, and jacks (maybe (I like to keep my organs in their original locations)).

It’s going to be in the 40’s today and I’d like to try and ride without freezing my body parts off for once in the last few weeks.
it's all rocks so that loop is probably fine. you'll leave muddy but the most of it is honestly between the road and the bottom of circle
 

doublenines

New Member
it's all rocks so that loop is probably fine. you'll leave muddy but the most of it is honestly between the road and the bottom of circle
@RickVaughn , thanks!
That’s what I assumed. The marked trails (fireroads) may be greasey but the singletrack would be fine. I try to stay off the fire roads anyway
I’ll update TrailForks if I make it out. This may be my only window till Monday

When this $%#* is all over I need a good tour of this place with someone who knows their way around.
 

Jmann

Never gonna let you down.
I saw two whitetail poaching setups in high mountain today, one off ancients and one off of Jack’s. Auto feeders next to tree stands.

Poaching really grinds my gears, I grew up hunting in New England where the deer aren’t acclimated to humans like in jersey, hard to get anywhere near them without spooking them. Even so, forget feeders, a saltlick was considered cheating. Poaching in a non legal park is like shooting them in a pen, pure laziness. And who knows what feed they are using. A lot of them use corn because it’s cheap but it’s terrible for deer.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I saw two whitetail poaching setups in high mountain today, one off ancients and one off of Jack’s. Auto feeders next to tree stands.

Poaching really grinds my gears, I grew up hunting in New England where the deer aren’t acclimated to humans like in jersey, hard to get anywhere near them without spooking them. Even so, forget feeders, a saltlick was considered cheating. Poaching in a non legal park is like shooting them in a pen, pure laziness. And who knows what feed they are using. A lot of them use corn because it’s cheap but it’s terrible for deer.

1-855-OGT-TIPS
855-648-8477

Fish game wildlife hotline
 

1TrackMind

Well-Known Member
I was riding through that area at night 3 years ago and ran into 2 guys setting up trail cams and bait areas. They were passiac sheriff officers and said they were on golf course land, insisted it was legal. They used a hunting land map app, and from what they showed me they were on golf course property (so was that section of ancients). They also claimed that parts of Jacks ran through course property, not sure how that is possible. Is it possible the areas you saw were on course property? I questioned that Wayne had a no firearm discharge ordinance and they said that was lifted for deer control... hard to argue laws with law enforcement, but seemed fishy. I ride with my dog at night so I stopped hitting that section during deer season... he has a white tail.
 

Jmann

Never gonna let you down.
I was riding through that area at night 3 years ago and ran into 2 guys setting up trail cams and bait areas. They were passiac sheriff officers and said they were on golf course land, insisted it was legal. They used a hunting land map app, and from what they showed me they were on golf course property (so was that section of ancients). They also claimed that parts of Jacks ran through course property, not sure how that is possible. Is it possible the areas you saw were on course property? I questioned that Wayne had a no firearm discharge ordinance and they said that was lifted for deer control... hard to argue laws with law enforcement, but seemed fishy. I ride with my dog at night so I stopped hitting that section during deer season... he has a white tail.
It’s possible. The one off of ancients is close to the golf course, that did cross my mind. The one off jacks I doubt, but cant confirm.

Still, baiting is poaching. It removes the skill and challenge of hunting, might as well just buy the meat in the market.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Pissing off illegal hunters that happen to be police officers sounds like a good way to increase scrutiny at the recent explosion in newly discovered trails at High Mountain.
 

Jmann

Never gonna let you down.
Pissing off illegal hunters that happen to be police officers sounds like a good way to increase scrutiny at the recent explosion in newly discovered trails at High Mountain.
Yeah, at the end of the day I’m not going to narc, but I like to vent. Their setups are pretty blatant so I’m sure someone’s already said something.
 

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