Trails for young rider

S

Sergey

Member
Can someone recommend intermediate singletrack on a lighter side for a kid? Preferably a loop... We still try to avoid lots of long uphills and large rock gardens, especially the combination of the two, considering the wheel size is 16". Thanks!
Sergey
 
It's not well known but a place in Haskell called the Back Beach has loads of flat trails with few hills that meander along the Wanaque River. Back Beach Park should get you to the website.
 
Thanks, will check it. To be sure, we are not looking for flats - after all we ride in Ringwood park all the time.
 
Wawayanda is mostly technical singletrack mixed with fireroad/doubletrack. There's smooth singletrack mixed in, but very few and far between. I can think of sections of trails that are smooth, but you have to ride the tech just to get there.

How long of a loop are you looking at? And where would you be parking?
 
Thanks, sundaydoug. We are definitely not looking for smooth. We routinely ride singletrack and forest roads in Ringwood, which is a definition of not-smooth. We can do uphills unless they are really steep. It's still difficult for my son to handle rocky ascends - this is where I push him from behind (meaning he still has to pedal and choose his line) or he hikes a bike (as a last resort I carry his bike). So everything on the intermediate side is okay, except really long technical uphills. As a reference for "technical": race trail in Ringwood is currently as far as we venture, but on average prefer something a bit lighter.
I have no idea where to park - anywhere, I guess, depending on trails we are biking. How long? Hard to say. 3-4 miles depending on terrain?
 
Sergey said:
I have no idea where to park - anywhere, I guess, depending on trails we are biking. How long? Hard to say. 3-4 miles depending on terrain?
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The two most popular places to park are the main lot near the boat launch and Ferber Circle on Cherry Ridge Rd. (off of Clinton Rd). Smoother stuff and doubletrack near the boat launch, technical singletrack and fireroad from Ferber Circle.

From Ferber Circle you could do Porqupine, then connector trail over to Banker and up to Plymouth. Moderately technical, nothing too crazy. A couple hike-a-bike sections for the kid, but pretty fun. That would be an out-and-back. Note that Plymouth has some bridges that are real slippery when wet. They're not high off the ground at all, but sketchy after a rain,

From the main lot you could pedal up the road to Iron Mountain trail to old Wawayanda Road, which links back to the main road in. 100% doubletrack. Good for a nice spin, I do it on my gravel bike.

Also from the main lot you could hit Wingdam to Sitting Bear to Laurel Pond back to the main lot area. There are some techy spots on Sitting Bear for sure, but it's a cool trail that rides right along the lake. The Laurel Pond trail headed back is 100% doubletrack.

This is a big park, tons of options.
 
Sergey said:
Thanks again! It's plenty for a start. I'm sure we'll find what we are looking for and then may be some more.
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No problem, enjoy exploring. If you don't already have it, get the Trailforks app. Excellent app for getting around new parks.
 
We are not there yet 🙁. My bike developed multiple issues, and of course everything today is on backorder for months. So I am restrcited to hiking behind my kid, which is easier done in Ringwood as we are locals here.
 
We are not there yet 🙁. My bike developed multiple issues, and of course everything today is on backorder for months. So I am restrcited to hiking behind my kid, which is easier done in Ringwood as we are locals here.
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Sorry to hear that. With luck in about a week I’ll have a report based on sundaydoug's recommendations. Hope your bike is back in action soon.
 
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