Welcome Brett,
Thinking maybe we can to get a little more background as to riding experience, fitness, riding style... Lots of good people here and are helpful.
For example, I started mountain biking at the end of the 80s when I was a teenager and stopped in the mid 90s when I met my wife, then started a family... Still rode the rail trail with kids in tow but other than some local jump trails, that was about it. Started back once they got old enough not to want me home constantly. First on easy trails on a basic Giant Trance then outgrew it within a year and kept upgrading my bikes, fitness and trails that I ride.
Some nice trail systems in Rockland, Westchester, Orange, and many parts of NJ.