Wissahickon Valley Park, Philly, PA

JDurk said:
Last I heard it was not good, but that was before the warm-up. Rain in the forecast, then freezing temps, then another warm-up. Does not look good for riding the Wiss this weekend. 1speed may know.

Or check here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SEPTR/
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I would've loved to go today, but figured it's still a while away from being in good shape. Stayed local and had a good 1st day on the bike in a long, long time.
 
It's not ready yet. Was there Sunday (hiking) and it was sloppy on the trails with large sections of forbidden drive still snow & slush covered. Saw some riders, mostly on cx on the drive, but there was no joy to be had other than just being out.
 
I parked there on Saturday to ride out the SRT and the entire park is in terrible shape -- I didn't ride any trails, but the trailheads I saw off of Forbidden Drive were in pretty rough shape (slushy and still lots of snow.) Even Forbidden Drive itself was barely manageable. The last few days have probably started to melt it all, but likely also turned it into a mudbath. Personally, I don't think I'll be riding there for a couple of weeks yet.
 
Was thinking with the warm up though especially temps holding over night, conditions will be very different to Sunday past. Damn

Thanks fior the info though. Any suggestions near or around Cherry Hill that may be good to go? Or anywhere South Jersey this weekend? Seriously want to ride without fuggin up the trails, and this condition situation is seriously getting old.
 
Brockwan said:
Was thinking with the warm up though especially temps holding over night, conditions will be very different to Sunday past. Damn

Thanks fior the info though. Any suggestions near or around Cherry Hill that may be good to go? Or anywhere South Jersey this weekend? Seriously want to ride without fuggin up the trails, and this condition situation is seriously getting old.
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Wharton would be an option for sure. Other than that (and maybe Allaire?) I guess it's a road-ride kind of spring.
 
1speed said:
I guess it's a road-ride kind of spring.
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Maybe... I was driving on some of the roads I often road-ride on this past Sat and it's brutal out there with the snow melt and potholes. :(

On the plus side, the Wissahickon tends to drain very quickly for the most part once it warms up a bit and the snow melts.
 
Brockwan said:
Was thinking with the warm up though especially temps holding over night, conditions will be very different to Sunday past. Damn

Thanks fior the info though. Any suggestions near or around Cherry Hill that may be good to go? Or anywhere South Jersey this weekend? Seriously want to ride without fuggin up the trails, and this condition situation is seriously getting old.
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CCC in Blackwood should be fine, road there yesterday and it was pretty good, minor mud and some ruts. Should be fine this weekend even with the impending rain. Guys will still ride Ceres and say it's fine, but the lower trails are muddy and depending on how much rain we get might be dicey this weekend. Hoping to ride CCC late afternoon saturday.
 
Black Run Preserve in Marlton is in pretty good shape. Doesn't see much use so the trails generally stay in good condition.
 
So I went and checked it out this weekend. Forbidden drive was wet and puddles were in place due to slope water run off, BUT the drive was mostly gravel so it doesn’t get rutted up and has good drainage. If damaging I wouldn’t have rode it. We were on it only for short spurts also.When we headed off the drive to do the single track up either side of the valley, conditions were perfect and simply awesome (dry, compact dirt with no standing water or mud). Im still buzzing from it now. It was freaking sick. Ended up doing about 10 miles and around 2200ft in elevation.

Unfortunately there was snow last night so I don’t know how it looks now after it. Nothing a little soon to come warm weather wont fix though.
 
Brockwan said:
So I went and checked it out this weekend. Forbidden drive was wet and puddles were in place due to slope water run off, BUT the drive was mostly gravel so it doesn’t get rutted up and has good drainage. If damaging I wouldn’t have rode it. We were on it only for short spurts also.When we headed off the drive to do the single track up either side of the valley, conditions were perfect and simply awesome (dry, compact dirt with no standing water or mud). Im still buzzing from it now. It was freaking sick. Ended up doing about 10 miles and around 2200ft in elevation.

Unfortunately there was snow last night so I don’t know how it looks now after it. Nothing a little soon to come warm weather wont fix though.
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This snow won't be a problem. Already melting here. But I talked to a friend who rode it yesterday -- he said it was the temps that made it rideable. It will be softer in warmer weather for maybe a week or so. Looks like Wiss should be back up and running soon, but be careful if the weather is warmer. The meadow, specifically, could be a mess.
 
Brockwan said:
So I went and checked it out this weekend. Forbidden drive was wet and puddles were in place due to slope water run off, BUT the drive was mostly gravel so it doesn’t get rutted up and has good drainage. If damaging I wouldn’t have rode it. We were on it only for short spurts also.When we headed off the drive to do the single track up either side of the valley, conditions were perfect and simply awesome (dry, compact dirt with no standing water or mud). Im still buzzing from it now. It was freaking sick. Ended up doing about 10 miles and around 2200ft in elevation.

Unfortunately there was snow last night so I don’t know how it looks now after it. Nothing a little soon to come warm weather wont fix though.
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That's funny, I went and checked this weekend, too, and concluded that it was too wet to ride & that it was maybe 2 dry days away from being rideable.
 
Forbidden Drive is not a good gauge of trail conditions. The trails in the hills can be dry as a bone and there can still be water on the Drive.

The trails at Wissahickon used to drain really well.
 
Gigantic said:
That's funny, I went and checked this weekend, too, and concluded that it was too wet to ride & that it was maybe 2 dry days away from being rideable.
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The drive was wet as hell, up in the hills it was dry as a bone as previously said. Any water i got on me was from the drive itself. Why i avoided the drive at all costs and stayed up hill from it.

I wouldnt have rode it otherwise.
 
What I saw was a lot of muddy rutty sections and a few riders with mud all over their bikes. that was enough for me to call it and I rode roads, instead. It was too muddy and as IanF mentioned, Wissahickon used to drain well...
 
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