MtbREVIEW.com supports IMBA and responsible riding. Please submit only legal
trails to our list. If you discover a trail posted on this site that is not
open for public mountain biking, please email our IMBA friends at
info@imba.com with detailed info.
They'll help us remove the unauthorized trail from the site.
Click here for info about keeping our trails open.
If this is the correct location, click "Save Point" below or type the nearest location (country, city, Zip, or land mark) and the map will pan over to the location if the location is found.
Save Point
Go to Nearest Location:
Lat:
Lng:
Highland Forest
13 reviews
3.46 of 5
Xcountry ski park in winter time. Great Trails. Good smooth descents. Difficult root sections. Just finished racing the Highland Classic bike race. Recommended.
Summary: Bring a sandwich, you're going to be out awhile. There is alot to see here, with tons of ridable terrain. Quite a bit of BRUTAL climbing, some sweet descents, and tons of off the grid singletrack. I used to ride this years ago on a full suspension freeride bike, but have since upgraded to a hardtail XC bike, and it caters to that much more. I still find new stuff there, even after rding there for so long. Alot of the best biking is off the mountain bike trails, but you didn't hear that from me. Look for singletrack drop-ins off the main double track, and you'll find ladders, long stunts, and tight, twisty, challenging riding. Just be prepared to wash your rig down after a day spent there, it's muddy the entire season, and not just a little muddy, you're going to come out gross, and if you don't you missed the best trails, back you go.
Recommended Route: trial and error has worked out best for me, there's some great circuits to be pieced together at this place
Other recommended trails in the same area: Shindagin Hollow in Ithaca, best trails around hands down.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Southside loop was a fun fast and rooty trail with decents and climbs and an unmapped side trail that was pretty technical. Overall a good experience with a challenge. I didn't notice too much mud on the ride, probably due to a dryer than normal summer. I'm looking to check out some of the other trails in the Park in the future. Also check in at the main office to pick up a map.
Recommended Route: I rode at Highland Forest for the first time, on October 5, 2005. I was fortunate enough to run into a couple of fellow mountain bikers who knew the area better than I. We started off on one of the Orange marked trails, I believe it was the Southside loop trail. We rode down a hill, toward the east, and went back up the hill. We crossed over one of the wider trails and continued for a a bit before we turned right onto some unmapped single track trails. If you cross the power lines you've gone too far for this single track. In this area, you'll encounter a log bridge, a see-saw and a log pyramid and then you'll travel down a moderate grade weaving in and around the trees. This trail will eventually lead you to the parks main road, near the Saw Mill. Just ride north on the road and it will take you back to the parking area.
Other recommended trails in the same area: I hear there are some down hill trails at Song Mountain, which is in the vicinity of Highland Forest.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Reading DrRace's review pretty much sums up the ride conditions ALL OF THE FREAKING TIME at Highland. It's pretty, and the hills give you a hard workout, but the mud just saps the energy right out of the ride, unless you are flying downhill through it, which is rarely the case. A lot of the area is laced with double track and the really good singletrack is near the power lines near Apache Hill (if I remember the name correctly). Unfortunately, it is not on the map, so find someone who is in the know to show you the ropes. There are some rooty sections on the southside loop, and a nice log bridge coming back up the hill from there. On the unmarked singletrack there are ladders and see-saws and log pyramids and such to keep ones interest. The NY Mountain Bike Championship is hosted there every year, so I'll have to check that out.
Recommended Route: Park at the main lot (not the lodge lot), and proceed farther down the road for about a mile until you come to a large downhill, take it almost to the bottom and take a left through a gate onto doubletrack. Continue on the Southside loop going clockwise around. Take either of the trails up Apache Hill to the top and find the good singletrack from there, then ride the Northside Loop to the lodge for a well-deserved rest and a good take-in of the scenery.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Skytop Quarry-which is still rideable! See posts for "the quarry" in Syracuse
Vanderkamp-North of Oneida Lake. Closed, unfortunately, from mid-June until end of summer. Good singletrack, well-maintained and well-mapped
Shindaigin (spelling?) Hollow-See reviews out of Ithaca. Good singletrack for miles. All skill levels, get a map first!!!
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Review Date September 7, 2003
Overall Rating 2 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 4 of 5
Technical Difficulty 2 of 5
Ridden Trail: Once a month
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
1 votes
Reviewed by: DrRace
,
Cross Country Rider
Summary: *&@?!+=*@@&ing ALWAYS MUDDY - Can sap your will to ride/live/think kindly of the world.
There are some truely beautiful stretches of single-track, BUT: Despite being atop a substantial hill, most of Central NY's rainfall seems to drain into Highland Forrest and never leave: I rode the South Loop yesterday (9/6/03), it hasn't rained for 2 weeks, it's been 70-80F with a regular breeze and *STILL* there was deep, cloying, unrideable mud at regular intervals. If you like trials riding with mud obsticals then Highland Swamp is for you, if you're looking for trail riding then this place could seriously piss you off- every so often you get to a point where enough mud has been shaken off your bike that it actually works again (albeit with mud as a chain lube), the single track is great, you get some speed up and it seems like a good idea after all...SPLAT more fetid swampland, more cursing.
Every time I swear to myself that I'll not come back, but after several weeks of sunshine you start to think "it must be drier now": don't be fooled, it never is, even when the rest of the state is frozen solid there are still mud-pools on the South Loop to stick to you x-skis.
You have been warned.
If you still go, there is a wash-hose behind a small building to the north of the main office- you'll be needing it.
Recommended Route: East Rim - be careful on the first downhill, it can wash out.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Alas the "quarry" is no more (if you care about being busted for felony trespass). Split Rock WSW of Syracuse is next best.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
3.46 of 5
5 of 5
4 of 5
4 of 5
3 of 5
3 of 5
2 of 5
2 of 5
