[toyman]

Planning a weekend getaway next month with the wife & kids. I'm planning on renting a cabin at Lake Raystown Family Camping Resort.

Anyone stay there?
Best way to approach the trails from that area?

I've been reading about Raystown and really want to ride it, plus the whole family enjoys the Penn State campus. The plan is ride Saturday morning, clean up, drive into Penn State, walk around, and then have dinner at Spat's (if you're familiar), then back to the cabin for a nice fire a few beers and then another ride on Sunday.

Any input, hints, etc would be appreciated!

 

[nmba guy]

your best bet to get to the trails is head back to RT 26, head south down to 7 points road, go left there towards the lake. although it looks like you can take piney ridge all the way to 7 points, but ive never been on that. Take a left on Baker's Hollow rd and the parking area will be a few miles down that road on the right.
http://raystown.nab.usace.army.mil/Activities/images/AGT_TrailMap.pdf
is a link to the trail map. Everything rides pretty well in both directions, but I would start out on Buck and do the outermost trails in a counter clockwise direction and then just head back when you run out of time or energy. You will be going down once you get off fawn or doe, so plan accordingly, energy / time wise

 

[nmba guy]

also keep in mind this is a football saturday here in ol happy valley. you shouldnt have any issues with traffic getting in, its a noon kickoff, but Spats may be crowded after the game, you may want to stop in early and get a reservation. great food!

 

[toyman]

I checked the schedule before i made the reservations and they are supposed to be in Illinois?

 

[nmba guy]

my bad, for some reason i read that you were coming this coming weekend, if its oct 3rd, ur good to go. sorry about that

 

[Dougr]

Piney Ridge goes all the way to 7 points. Better views than Rt 26.
Make a left once you get to 7 Points Rd.

 

[ScottRPriester]

More questions.....

Since this is a questions thread about the Raystown area, has anyone from the Pittsburgh area done this as a daytrip? I didn't realize it was in the State College area, and Mapquest says it's like a 2 1/2 hour ride, but that doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Dougr]

Just Yahoo mapped Monroeville to Huntingdon and it said 2hrs 20 minutes, 116 or so miles.
I'm in Philly area and its about 3.5 to 4 hrs for me. I would definitely day trip it if I lived on the east side of P-burgh.

 

[jcaino]

Since this is a questions thread about the Raystown area, has anyone from the Pittsburgh area done this as a daytrip? I didn't realize it was in the State College area, and Mapquest says it's like a 2 1/2 hour ride, but that doesn't seem right to me.

I live near the South Side and Google Maps says nearly 3 hours (2h, 58m) no toll road, and 2h 23m taking 70/76 and paying the toll, though it is 22 miles longer.

So it depends which route you take. The longer route (mileage-wise) is pretty much a straight-shot, and I know people who have made that route in about 2.5 hours...so your mileage will vary.

I'm going to be in Johnstown for a wedding Oct 9&10 and plan on camping & riding (whether permitting, of course) the 11th though the 13th out at Raystown.

 

[babbalanja]

Everything rides pretty well in both directions, but I would start out on Buck and do the outermost trails in a counter clockwise direction and then just head back when you run out of time or energy. You will be going down once you get off fawn or doe, so plan accordingly, energy / time wise

Another really fun route is to take Doe, to Osprey to the Hydro loop (clockwise) and come back on Eagle. Very fast and smooth single track with lots and lots of dips and a nice view of the lake on a good stretch of Hydro.

 

[73cuda]

Another really fun route is to take Doe, to Osprey to the Hydro loop (clockwise) and come back on Eagle. Very fast and smooth single track with lots and lots of dips and a nice view of the lake on a good stretch of Hydro.

Thanks for the ride tip ! The wife and I are staying this weekend and will have Friday afternoon,all day Sat, and Sunday morning if we have any legs left... to ride.Any of you Raystown locals wanna give us tourists some more fun routes to try.We not Hans Rey type skilled riders but we've been riding since 97',so we're looking for something a little challenging. Do we just mix it up with the blue and black trails ?

 

[nmba guy]

when it comes down to it, all the trails are very ridable in both direction, some are just more fun going down them than others. as far as black vs blue etc. There is nothing really rocky type technical anywhere, the big difference i can see between levels of difficulty is the amount and height of the grade reversals that you can potentially catch air off of, but certainly by controlling your speed and not lifting, you never have to leave terra firma if you dont want to.

 

[babbalanja]

Thanks for the ride tip ! The wife and I are staying this weekend and will have Friday afternoon,all day Sat, and Sunday morning if we have any legs left... to ride.Any of you Raystown locals wanna give us tourists some more fun routes to try.We not Hans Rey type skilled riders but we've been riding since 97',so we're looking for something a little challenging. Do we just mix it up with the blue and black trails ?

If you take Buck and stay left you will hit a fairly nice stretch of blue trails (Allie/Grippis/Ridge) that will take you to Rays Revenge, which also has nice views of the lake. Like Osprey, this route offers a fast roller coaster ride down towards the lake, but nothing really technical other than dips and switchbacks.

The trail is surprisingly clear of rocks and roots for the most part, so much so that half the times I've ridden there were on a fully rigid 26" mtb and I've even considered using my cx bike. I'll probably be out there this weekend. If you see a guy on a black Kona or a red/gray Schwinn Homegrown that's me.