Review Date
July 31, 2011

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: cyclone429 ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
This is one of the best trails that i have riden. The views of the lake are great. The hills are steep but not two long and the trail was well cleared and marked. Anybody who is into Mountain biking and in the area i would recomended this ride. Coming from riding mostly rocky and rooty terrian in pennsy, This trail was not that technical, a few times i did not make it up the hills, but i was in the wrong gear.

Recommended Route:
started on lake kentucky, then went towards lake berkley

Other recommended trails in the same area:
im not from this area, i can not recomend any other trails

Review Date
October 6, 2010

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: bclagge ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
I rode the canal loop, not the N/S trail. 11 miles of fast and flowy singletrack. The trail goes up and down hills repeatedly with moderate climbs. Smooth packed dirt with some root and rock sections.

I was warned by two people locally how difficult the trail was and I've read the two most recent reviews that complain about it. I've been riding less than two years with under 2000 off road miles on a hard tail. I guess it's just a matter of preference, but I loved the trail and found it only moderately challenging.

Recommended Route:
Start across the street from the welcome station and take the trail counter clockwise. Even though it's a two way trail, the trail flow seemed designed to go that way. The roughest section of trail is the last one so if that's not to your liking you can just take that last shortcut at the end there.

Comments

braider33 (11/15/2011)

Spot on. Counter-clockwise is the correct direction. Have ridden this system for the past three years and love it every time. Even brought my brother when he came to visit from OH and he talks about it still. Not sure what a relaxing day of mountain biking is but would direct those types to a calm rails-to-trails ride.

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Review Date
October 6, 2010

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: mhr ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
I'm in agreement with hammermtb. This trail has been around for many years and is showing it's age for sure. There is a crew who try and maintain it, but what can you do with this level of erosion after the fact? IMBA standards were probably not around when this trail was first develop so it's going to require a major overhaul. I don't necessarily mind the level of ruggedness with all the exposed roots and stuff, it's just a different type of trail system and has it's own character. The main erosion problem has to do with the steep hills and s curve hills. If they would find a way to reroute these sections to be make them capable of being ridden, the enjoyment factor would go way up.

It's a great trail, but the difficulty level doesn't make people want to come here for a relaxing day of mountain biking. You must be prepared for the challenge unless you want to take a smaller loop and do less mileage.

Review Date
September 26, 2010

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a year

Reviewed by: hammermtb ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Me and three friends rode the Canal Loop today for the first time this year and I must say this trail, or portions of it, are in a state of disrepair. We chose to ride it clockwise and were confronted with sand pits, which I assume are to help the obvious erosion problem there, and climbs that were almost impassable at best due to erosion, improper riding techniques, and lack of maintenance. I use to enjoy riding this trail, however, the section between the North Check-in station to the microwave tower (riding in a clockwise direction) was terrible. If we come back this year, we plan on riding counter clock wise to the bridge and turning around.

Recommended Route:
Counter-clockwise to the highway bridge and then turn around, unless you like riding through a quarry of loose rock down hill.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Montgomery Bell, Loch 4, Rotary Park

Review Date
March 7, 2010

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a year

Reviewed by: Elduder ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
If you dont ride the N/S trail you are wasting your time here. We alwasy include this gem on our rides. This trail has a lot less traffic than the loop and is more backcountry feel. This place has great flow and nice sometimes challenging climbs but nothing over the top. When you are on the N/S trail there is always a bailout just up ahead since the land mass is so narrow the road is just a bit away. The N/S trail does run 30 miles and the more south you go the steeper the climbs are so keep that in mind.

Recommended Route:
I love to start at the road that takes to you too Birmingham Ferry. You go about a mile or so down this road till see a dirt pull off on the right. Park here the trail crosses the road here. If you go south it is 23 miles to the south trail head. This is a very tough out and back. We prefer to go north to the canal loops. This is about 10 miles of pure mountain biking joy. Just ripping fast trail great climbs just everything you could ask for in a ride. Plus it feels real back country and it feels you are going somewhere. You get on those loop trails and you just never feel like you are going any place. You can then head back or do the Canal loops for a 30 miles ride. Good thing about this you can refill your water on at the north welcome station.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
We came from Montgomery Bell SP by Nashville, TN. This is about 2.5 hours away and makes for a fantastic weekend of riding.