Dillon State Park w/ the Falks

Last year KT, Daniel and I stayed in a cabin at Dillon State Park and thought it was a fun getaway not too far from home, so we made plans to do it again this year with Ryan and Helena.  From our house it’s only an hour and twenty minutes of driving to get to the park which is located near Zanesville, OH.  In addition to a large lake (actually it’s a reservoir), a well kept beach, and numerous hiking trails, 12 to 15 miles of mountain bike trails wind through the woods.

 Lake views from the trail.

Friday night we moved into the cabin and made ourselves comfortable.  Saturday morning we had a good breakfast before Helena, KT and Daniel set off on a hike while Ryan and I jumped on the mountain bike trail just up the way from our cabin.

Aaron skirting a ravine.

The trail was immediately twisty as we followed it towards the lake.  There were plenty of tight corners and ditches/ravines to make things interesting.  I found a couple good spots to fall, once catching myself on a 2x4 guard rail to save falling into a ravine.  The trail took us along the edge of the lake for a good distance, making it an interesting choice between gawking at the lake or riding off the trail that was cut into the hill side.

Ryan dodging rocks on one of the advanced trails.

Most of the trail is ranked “intermediate” but there are a couple section of “advanced” trail.  The advanced trails contain some fun rock gardens, much rockier than the Mohican rock gardens.  Ryan put on a good demonstration through this section, he could have made a sweet 29er commercial as he rolled it over some boulders!

 Aaron crossing some rocky obstacles.

On the trail back to the cabin there were some surprises in store: plank crossings, ramps, a steep uphill and more rocks and roots.  I’d have to say the trails were more entertaining and challenging than I expected, which is a good thing.  Prior to our trip I found the following trail reviews:

http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/dillon-state-park.html

http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-ohio/trail/PRD_169624_4569crx.aspx

http://www.spokejunkies.com/reviews/ohio/index.php?get_page=dillon

And here’s a link to the trail map:

http://www.joinomba.org/aoa/trails/dillonmap.pdf

After returning from our ride Katie and Helena headed out for some pedal time as well.  There is a beginner section they rode, including a road transit to and from this area.  After their ride, Katie and I rode a loop around our cabin that had some good flow.  Maybe we would have ridden more if it were not for the crying sounds of Daniel we heard through the woods as he woke up from his nap.

KT and Helena back from some pedaling.

The rest of the evening was Daniel’s time to ride.  Before and after dinner he was out on his Strider bike riding on the park road and grass around our cabin.  We were amazed at how well he did on his little bike.  We’ve never seen him get so into the striding motion on it.  He was right on the brink of picking his feet up to coast on down hills, especially as he chased after Ryan laughing the whole way.  Daniel was doing good for a two year old!

Daniel and his Strider bike tearing it up.

 We had to head back out after dinner as the sun was

setting, so out came the improvised flashlight headlight.

Sunday morning we had another good breakfast before packing up.  Ryan and I hit the trail again while Daniel and the girls set off for the beach and playground.  This time we rode the final section of yesterday’s ride in the opposite direction.  Once again, very entertaining trails.  Early in the ride we were crossing planks over ravines and wooden bridges that had me feeling twitchy, but I was able to keep the bike going where I wanted.

Check out the old school MTB picture

on the Dew machine!

At the playground area we had lunch and played on the slides and swings.  Then, we headed for home thankful for such nice weather and a fun weekend with friends.

Helena, on the Brontosaurus, chasing

Daniel, on the Triceratops.

Mohican Fording

The uncertain weather had Ryan and I move our ride to later in the afternoon today, so it was probably 3pm before we made it to Mohican.  We rode through mile 15 before doing a time check and realizing we needed to be home for dinner KT had made us.

The new hike and wade section of the loop.

The trail was really dry in most areas, despite the rain of last night.  In particular, the downhill corners were dry and rutted.  But the biggest surprise of the ride was at the covered bridge.  It was closed for construction, which was not the biggest part of the suprise, but they left no way for mountain bikers to get from one side to the other, at least not without breaking through orange snow fence.  Oh well, a river crossing added to the excitement of our ride.

Croft State Natural Area

Today after work I headed the opposite direction as I did on Tuesday, east towards Spartanburg, SC.  I rode at Southside Park in Croft State Natural Area.  Croft is a former Army training base, last in use during the WWII era.  The local rumors say not to stray from the trails as there is unexploded ordinance throughout the park.  While this is sort of hard to believe, I stuck to the trails as usual.

A bridge crossing early in the ride.

I had a map of the trails but had never found a recommendation on a specific route.  There is a trail called the Southside Loop that encircles the entire Southside Park, I figured it would be a straight forward way to tour the park.  There were no other bikers in the parking area to talk to, so I headed off.

The route was all single track.  There was not much elevation change throughout the whole ride.  The trail wove through forested areas and was rooty, very much so in some places, with some rockiness..  Markers nailed to trails confirmed I was staying on the Southside Trail as opposed to riding one of the trails that cut through the center of the park.

Much of the trail was sandy.

The whole way around the 10 mile loop I only saw one other mountain biker.  Actually, he was the only other person I saw the whole time at the park.  It seemed pretty abandoned on a Thursday evening.  At an information kiosk I read the park contains ~7,500 acres.  So maybe there were other land users out there and we just didn't cross paths.

The sections by the river were interesting,

twisty trail through lush vegetation.

It was a good ride in the 94 degree heat.  Once again, I wouldn't come down from up north just to ride here, but it's a good stop if in the area.  I think if I had only one day to ride and had to choose between Croft and Paris Mountain, I would choose Paris.  It seemed more interesting due to the elevation changes and rockiness.

Plenty of fungus at Croft too.

Back in Germany... in Greenville

My plan was to go to downtown Greenville tonight.  Part of the attraction was to visit George Hincapie's store but when looking up directions I found it closes at 5pm.  With one less reason to fight traffic and decipher directions I decided not to go downtown.

When searching the web for restaurants near to my hotel I found a German restaurant, the Schwaben House (www.schwabenhouse.com).  It was less than 10 minutes down the road.

 The restaurant was in a plaza.

I ordered Sauerbraten (marinated roast beef) served with dumplings and a Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen.  Wow, the food was good.  It brought back memories of my week in Germany a couple years ago.  This makes sense because Schwaben is a district in Bavaria, Germany.  Part of my stay was also in Bavaria.

This is what followed a nice salad.

Tomorrow after work I'm planning to head over to Croft State Park to check out their mountain bike trails.  I think tonight's meal topped off my energy stores in prep for another ride.

Paris Mountain Trail

Promptly after work I jumped in the Jeep and drove to Paris Mountain State Park.  I changed into riding clothes and geared up in the parking lot.  Before hitting the trail I talked to another mountain biker, he suggested a slight modification to my intended route.  With a map and a plan I rolled out.

The trail intersections at Paris Mountain are

prominently marked and the map is good.

After some fun, flowing trail I came out to the only road section of the ride.  But it was a heck of a road section, it was a looong climb.  I was breathing hard pedaling up what must have been Paris Mountain and the uphilll corners just kept coming.  At the top I did a map check and was back on singletrack.

A long, twisty downhill brought me to a lake.

The trail around the lake was flat but entertaining, then it was time to climb.  The climb was sort of long, there were a couple switchback but it was mostly just a meandering, uphill trail.  Rocks and roots made things interesting.

At the top of the climb I was back to the downhill section I had done prior to the lake.  I road the downhill again, faster this time knowing what was ahead, and turned away from the lake at the end.

The guy in the parking lot, some guys in a bike shop and people online had warned not to do a certain trail back to the parking lot unless you are on a downhill bike.  I decided I'd hike a bike down it and hopefully there would be some rideable sections for me.  It was steep, dropping parallel to the road I had ridden up, and I only road about a fourth of it, but I thought this was more entertaining than riding down a road.

Too steep for me.

The final section back to the parking lot, the same section I road on the way out, was really fun.  Twisty and flowing with the occasional rocky or rooty section.  It actually felt somewhat similar to Mohican only the trail was a little sandy.

I was really happy with the riding at Paris Mountain.  What is missing in quantity is made up for in quality.  This would be a great place to ride after work.  However, I wouldn't make the drive down from the Asheville area just to ride here.  But if in the area already, it's a worthwhile destination.

There were many interesting fungus
growing along the trail.  I ate none.