Nature Jim's Bridge

monteverest

monteverest

New Member
I rode its gnarly, serpent spine today and slayed it for the first time - went the entire distance without planting a foot. Until next season Mr. Jim ...
 
Yup that's a fun one. Soooooo intimidating. I've cleaned it a couple of times but not without wondering how deep that water is. ;)
 
I ran into 'ol Jim hisself working on the bridge a couple of weeks ago. He was filling in a few holes, almost feels paved now compared to last year. He couldn't believe a rigid s/s went right over it. Met up with him again over on fisherman(pickle) and did rattlesnake with him. Cleaned the 3 rocks going up the snake. Can't believe the doc says 5 more weeks to ride again, think I'll shorten that to 3 weeks if I put a fork on:).
 
Today was my first time back to Nature Jim's since last summer and don't recall the difference except today felt swift, nearly effortless.


Rattlesnake and the white trail are my favorites - especially looping up the white trail from cherry ridge to rattlesnake and ending at the top of turkey ridge. Its fun to turn right around and bomb rattlesnake.

I've cleared the first two rocks going up rattlesnake but haven't been able to clear the last one. have to get a few tips from panhead the next time he's there.
 
You have to pop the front and throw the bike for the top rock.
Last year I spent almost an hour trying to clear the bridge- stupid me would start from the one side, ride it and carry the bike back, didn't think of riding from the other side until I was leaving.
 
I've conquered the bridge, just have to keep speed and look far ahead. It is not a place to be trying to choose a line, just go. Of course i have landed a couple feet in the swamp and have completely fallen in before also.

I've never rode up Rattlesnake because i was under the impression that it was a one-way trail. Not that it can't physically be ridden in the other direction, just that it would avoid nasty collisions from people enjoying the awesome downhill. I thought that i read on here a while back that it was one-way, and it being the only one-way trail i heard of in NJ.

There was a 12 mile loop that local was nice enough to post up here a couple years ago, and i revisit it a few times a year. Definitely one of NJ's best trails.

The hardest section of trail there that i have ridden was on sitting bear heading back towards the lot. It is a short section where you have to pull up and climb some rocks while turning through some trees. This tough techy section is no more than 10' in length. I've cleared it but have yet to do it on my first try.
 
You're talking about the choke. I've bashed that tree a billion times. I think Rattlesnake is as much fun going up as it is going down, as far as one way, I've never seen a one way sign on it.
 
I don't think they can actually label or enforce a one-way trail, i thought it was just meant to be used one-way, and that the word spread. Like My Fav Trail at Blue Mountain, the only other one i knew of in the area; it isn't labeled but the map indicates it is meant to be ridden down. I don't even know where i read it, but for some reason it is in the back of my head, and i'm often wrong. So who knows. I always enjoy climbs that have some sort of challenge to them too, so i could see it being a fun climb. Probably difficult too because it gets more vertical towards the top.
 
Went over Jim's bridge the other day, almost seems like it was paved from the start all the way through the marsh on the other end
 
From T'giving ride.
Don't know who that dude is.
 

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Panhead said:
All the little gaps in the bridge and past the rock have been filled in, its not really paved or even smooth its just flat mostly flat now.
Click to expand...

Filled in with what? This is concerning. Has one of Wawa's best features been sanitized?

Are you referring to the smaller rocks that you can see in that photo above? I guess i don't remember there being smaller rocks in there like that.
 
No all the holes that liked to eat your tires on the bridge itself are patched up. Its not sanitized, just cleaned up.
 
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