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Beaver Creek
1 reviews
4 of 5
There are two main trails in the park. The Dogwood Trail leads from a small picnic area near the parking lot to the campground. After a very rocky, but doable, beginning it becomes wide, flat and fast for a mile or so. This is a good warm up section for what lies ahead. The trail leaves the creek bank, turns into singletrack, and heads uphill. It has a few ups and downs then gets steeper towards the end. This is an up and back trail, and the back is much more fun as downhills always are. You can take a split about a third of the way down that takes you through some more extreme, technical riding, and a steep dounhill to the picnic area.
We tried the more challenging trail next. The Vondergreen Trail is another out and back of about 6 or 7 miles round trip. It starts with a moderate rocky climb then turns into some fast single track for a mile or so before heading up a short steep climb with lots o rocks. You are rewarded for this climb with a fast ridge ride including some cool ups and downs followed by an awesome rocky DH with a couple of switch backs. It finishes up with another fast & flat about 3/4 mile along the creek to a parking lot. This trail is marked but has many intersecting horse trails that make it easy to take a wrong turn. Follow the white blazes if you can find them. The rangers can supply you with a map, but it does not show any of the horse trails. Parts of Vondergreen must be shared with horses and both trails are also for hikers, although we only saw two horses (on a no horses allowed section) and very few hikers. On the weekends you will find alot more hikers on the flat sections
Beaver Creek has a little bit of everything and is a good place to hone your riding skills and have a good time.
The park is open till 11pm, so some night riding could be had here.
From Columbus take I-70 east to Bridgeport, OH, then St. Rte. 7 north about 45 mile to East Liverpool and Rt. 11 north to the Rodgers exit, then follow the signs to the park. Approx. 3 hours from Columbus.
Summary: I'm surprised more people haven't reviewed this one. I know quite a few riders who have riden this, although I'm not sure that there are many who ride it regularly. As described above this has two sperate sections, the Dogwood loop and the out and back Vondergreen, although the Vondergreen has a upper and lower section so you can switch things up a tad. You enter the Vondergreen by leaving the main parking area, crossing the bridge and the enter to the right, either riding alongside the creek or hitting the upper trail section. The upper trail is a short but somewhat steep climb leading to a long downhill, double track that's verging on jeep road. The creek side section can be damn technical, rooty and rocky, not something a beginer is going to try for the first time and clean. I prefer the creek side trail, adds a dose of near trials type fun you're hard pressed to find in Ohio. This leads into a nice flat single track section that connects w/ the upper Vondergreen just in time for a difficult uphill, lots of rocks and erosion from horses. This then continues into a more single track ascent, that eventualy leads you to a sweet fast rolling ridge line section. You are then treated to a switch back, loose stone littered downhill that will eventually lead you back to the creek and more double track that dead ends into a parking area. Turn around and realize that 30 seconds of crazy downhill means about 5 minutes of grueling uphill, technical though, if that's any consolation. The Dogwood also begins w/ crossing the bridge. This time hang a left onto the road and a 2nd left towards the creek, there's some single track on the left as well, try to hit that; it's short but fun and beats road riding any day. Follow the paved track until you run out of park and you'll come to a map that shows Dogwood. I usualy follow the creek side trail but you can start w/ a steep and rocky uphill. The rest follows the above description. I will caution that on the downhill coming back to the park proper there are about 3 different ways to go, scout it out because the far left one leads into a steep rock garden that is trecherous to say the least, endo-ing here could mean a helicopter ride to a trauma center. Overall I enjoy this trail a great deal, as close to PA riding as you're going to get in Ohio. The downside is that due to the fact it shares trail sections w/ horse riders you can end up on horse trail by mistake, messy to say the least. That and the trail is definitely out in the boonies, if you stand still you can almost hear the theme from Deliverance in the back ground.
Recommended Route: The above directions are pretty good, there are a fair amount of signs to be found leading to the park. From the Youngstown area go Rt.7 S. through Rodgers and it's a few miles past that [3-5 I think]
Other recommended trails in the same area: Brady's Run
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4 of 5
4 of 5
