Kettle Moraine- Muir question

Eric Z said:

I headed out of work early yesterday and rode for a little while at Kettle and had a good time. The rocky incline at the end of the orange loop is a killer for me. I have only been there a couple times and never rode the blue or green loops- how do the inclines on blue/green compare to the last one on orange?

What about the strictly blue trail at the south end? Pretty tough?

Thanks!
ez

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Its all the same. Up and down. There is maybe one multi pitch climb on the blue that is close to the climb you describe on the orange.

Ride them all,

g

Blue Loop

The rocky, long climb on the orange loop is considerably more difficult than anything on the Blue.

Like Gomez mentioned, ride them all. :thumbsup:

thanks, guys! i definitely will ride them all next time.

I have to disagree with bmay, there is a twisty singletrack climb shortly after the old turn-off for the connector trail (and before the new connector trail turn off) with large rocks embedded into the trail that you have to go over or around which makes me get off and walk about as often as the one on the orange loop. But really, nothing worse.

The blue trail is great, nothing I would consider difficult, and no I don't wear spandex. Just great rolling trails. Emma Carlin is the trail with some difficult climbs, mostly due to the loose limestone used to prevent erosion paired with breakwater/step-ups.
I've never found any of the rocks difficult at kettle, The 29er just rolls over everything like bigfoot. However, after riding at Blue Mound State Park, there isn't much at Kettle I would actually consider a "rock garden" or difficult to traverse, but just some bumps in the road.
I don't say this to bash Kettle, I love Kettle, but I do want to recommend to anyone that Blue Mound is a great technical ride. And the Holy Schist trail has one of the craziest climbs I have seen. With all the rocks and roots and a 1x9 I was unable to ascend it my first attempt. I was happily defeated.

Apple vs. Orange

Just got back from a ride at Kettle Moraine. I rode the Blue at Muir around to the connector, around Emma Carlin and back. A big thanks to all the folks who have put in the time to keep the trails in great shape. There is a lot of new trail.

I cleaned the tough climb outbound on the connector today for only about the 3rd time. The connector is a really nice trail, I would highly recommend it it you haven't made a habit of riding it whenever possible.

Blue Mound and Kettle Moraine are apples and oranges. I averaged about 9 mph at the Kettles today and had a blast doing it. I only go that fast at Blue Mound while falling off of something.

Blue Mound has a lot more and bigger rocks. But it will never have as many miles of trail as Kettle Moraine nor the same flow to the trails.

Walt

Walt Dizzy said:

I averaged about 9 mph at the Kettles today and had a blast doing it. I only go that fast at Blue Mound while falling off of something.
Walt

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LOL, Agreed. I had my best time at kettle last monday night, and don't think I ever left my top three gears at Blue the next day.

Walt Dizzy said:

Blue Mound has a lot more and bigger rocks. But it will never have as many miles of trail as Kettle Moraine nor the same flow to the trails.

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...and Agreed. The nice thing is that there are two distinctly different systems on opposite sides of a metropolitan area. I can't wait to conquer the crazy climb on Holy Schist. It will give the same satisfaction as breaking 50 minutes at kettle but in a different way.

very cool pic, gomez!