[nankerphelge]

PeTerson, Wyatt79m, Keith and I hit Blue Marsh this morning. It was the first time I'd ever been there. Lots of nice scenery.

 

[nankerphelge]

 

[nankerphelge]

 

[wyatt79m]

nice pics as always.............

 

[nankerphelge]

 

[wyatt79m]

where's mini

 

[92gli]

I've never been up there. Looks like a real snooze. Is it all groomed like your pics show ?

 

[nankerphelge]

Snoozefest is an understatement. The pix are of the gnarly sections! It's always nice to put another notch on the belt of places ridden, but let's just say I won't be back any time soon. Nice scenery was about the only compliment I could muster.

 

[WindWalker]

All I can say is - when the trails seem easy just ride faster. That usually wakes you up.

Did you do the ski slope loop also?

 

[wyatt79m]

It was a nice place to ride XC, and it was really fast in places. I bet it's a great place to ride a rigid SS.

 

[bear]

I've only been there once, but it was a nice group ride and a great place to roll my rigid 29er.

If you're someone who craves bumpy-chunky technical riding, it is not the place.

If you're someone who enjoys a good fast XC ride then it'll be much more suitable.

It sure isn't quite as groomed as Raystown, but it's a bit closer.

I bet it's pretty in fall colors though.

 

[motoman465]

Those pics sure do look perty, boy...LOL!!! Wow, Mini is famous...he is even publicly traded!!! LOL!!! Thanks, guys!!!:thumbsup:

 

[mtmiller]

Old thread I know but judging from the pix you started at the Stilling Basin or State Hill, went out a few miles clockwise, and then back? Bear is right, this is more a place for the endurance-minded folks than those looking for technical challenges, but I didn't see any pix from most of the trail. Just curious what you saw.

 

[roxnroots]

FS guys shouldn't both going anywhere near Blue Marsh (or most of what's at Jacobsburg, for that matter). Both are boring as hell unless you like that XC endurance thing. Go to French Creek instead for the rocks :thumbsup:

 

[joedirt24]

Did you guys ride over by the ski slope? Did you do the whole loop. Where did you start at? Hate when people ride a place one time and you hear oh its boring/sucks. Do some exploring you might be suprised.

 

[roxnroots]

Did you guys ride over by the ski slope? Did you do the whole loop. Where did you start at? Hate when people ride a place one time and you hear oh its boring/sucks. Do some exploring you might be suprised.

Started at Stilling Basin, went counterclockwise as far as Church Road before returning past Dry Brooks to Stilling Basin which I'm guessing was a little more than 2/3 of the loop. This was in December easily 15 years ago, ground was frozen with patches of snow so it rode fast. Real cold and windy so didn't go all the way to Robibern Rd and back which had been the group's original plan.

Didn't mean to insult Blue Marsh if that's your favorite place - its very scenic and has mileage that some other places don't which makes it great for XC HTs which is what I had when I rode there. A couple of interesting rooty sections too. But B.M. can't help the fact that its shale soil doesn't lend itself to pushing a serious FS rig as much as some other places with big DHs, rock gardens, big drops, etc. unless I missed something between Church Road and Bernville. Is that where the ski slope is and what's there that's worth riding?

 

[joedirt24]

Ski slope has alot of hills some steep. Not my favorite place to ride but does have a little bit of everything in the whole loop. I think the nicest part of trail is from the main boat ramp up to the ski slope. Good XC loop

 

[mtmiller]

I don't think the ski loop officially existed 15 years ago... so you may not have even known about it. You did the 23 mile loop. No worries about knocking BM - it is what it is, an XC ride on varied terrain.

I can tell you that over the last few years there's been plenty of erosion as many of the trails are "fall line" trails - straight down/up, not too many switchbacks. IMBA would frown upon that! ;-) But anyway, a XC full-suspension bike is not a bad choice at BM if it's the right type. Some of the rocks exposed on the downhills vibrate the crap out of a rigid. I know, I ride both kinds there, and although my fs 29er is 6 pounds heavier than my carbon forked rigid 29er, the fs bike doesn't beat me up as much.

Now if you're talking about an all-mtn or dh kind of full-squish bike, then yeah that's silly. As a matter of fact, that's torture. As for me, my days of big hits and drops are over. I've always liked endurance related things and long mtn bike rides are enjoyable - to me.

Plus as you know there's the perspective piece. Newcomers to the sport would find sections of BM technical - to them. Folks that like tighter courses find the long hills and occasional open stretches to be a bit much. But it is worth riding the whole trail to see what it has to offer. I think some of the folks that like faster descents might actually enjoy riding the hilly side of the ski area loop - if it seems steep as heck to me, it might actually be fun to someone on a bike with more travel!

 

[roxnroots]

I don't think the ski loop officially existed 15 years ago... so you may not have even known about it. You did the 23 mile loop. No worries about knocking BM - it is what it is, an XC ride on varied terrain.

I can tell you that over the last few years there's been plenty of erosion as many of the trails are "fall line" trails - straight down/up, not too many switchbacks. IMBA would frown upon that! ;-) But anyway, a XC full-suspension bike is not a bad choice at BM if it's the right type. Some of the rocks exposed on the downhills vibrate the crap out of a rigid. I know, I ride both kinds there, and although my fs 29er is 6 pounds heavier than my carbon forked rigid 29er, the fs bike doesn't beat me up as much.

Now if you're talking about an all-mtn or dh kind of full-squish bike, then yeah that's silly. As a matter of fact, that's torture. As for me, my days of big hits and drops are over. I've always liked endurance related things and long mtn bike rides are enjoyable - to me.

Plus as you know there's the perspective piece. Newcomers to the sport would find sections of BM technical - to them. Folks that like tighter courses find the long hills and occasional open stretches to be a bit much. But it is worth riding the whole trail to see what it has to offer. I think some of the folks that like faster descents might actually enjoy riding the hilly side of the ski area loop - if it seems steep as heck to me, it might actually be fun to someone on a bike with more travel!

Thanks for the update - there wasn't much erosion there back then - sounds like it might be more interesting, rougher, riding now. From what I'm hearing, the ski area thing definitely wasn't open to riding back in 1994-1995 - people in the group I was riding with who like BM would've been talking about it.

I ride a '10 gt Sanction 1.0 full-squish FR that might work on the ski area so I might go back to check it out. Could do BM ski area portion of loop in the morning and hit a couple French Creek trails in the afternoon on my way home. :thumbsup:

 

[Stick]

'ski area' loop - FYI

The ski area loop was there at least 14 years ago. I can't recall the year that it was "finished" (since many of the trail segments have been there much longer, in the form of tractor 'roads', abandoned asphalt, hedgerow paths etc.), but it was very definitely marked and ride-able as far back as 1996.

I started riding at Blue Marsh in 1994, and I always parked at the Stilling Basin and followed the trail clockwise around the lake. For the life of me, I can't remember a time when the trail/mile markers didn't run all the way from 1 to 30, with a roughly 7 mile gap (mile marker 14 to 21) in the numbers between the two trailheads on the south/east side of Old Church Rd.

It's possible that they were renumbered after the "official" opening of the ski-loop - but I don't remember a time when this happened in the 16 yrs I've been going there.

What I do know for sure is that a couple bridges were built and a few new sections of trail on that side were completed around 1996. My college roommate was working as a park ranger there at the time, and he was the one who told me where those 'missing' 7 miles were & suggested I go ride them.

AFAIK, those trails have not changed much at all since then.