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Merli-Sarnoski
7 reviews
5 of 5
16 miles of ungroomed, wooded trails, 90% single track located at Lackawanna County owned Merli-Sarnoski Park, an 840 mostly wooded park with a 35 acre lake. The main trail is a seven mile continuous loop trail with 4 access points. Connecting and side trails are blazed blue or yellow and total eight miles. The trails were all newly blazed with composite tiles in 2004. There is a maximum elevation change of 650 feet on a side trail called HR 280. Most other trails have a change of less than 200 feet. A contour map of the park and trails are available at the park office. The trails are all open to bikes, hikers horse back riding, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The park also contains a supervised swimming area, picnic areas and ample parking. The park is open from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM from the first day of trout season (the lake is stocked) through October. Hours are from 8:00 to 4:00 the rest of the year.
Summary: Merli/Fell Mountain is really fun and challenging. Because it is on a mountain, it is my favorite summertime trail to avoid the humidity and overgrown briars that plague many lakeside trails. It offers a few good climbs, alot of nice drops and bedrock trail, and of course tons of rocky singletrack. There is good diversity of features (except for long stretches of smoothness) that will test your abiltiy to balance, lift, twist and drop the bike. This is a trail you may find yourself doing a lot of grinding and using your entire body to navigate, but not so much that it's impossible, excessively tiresome or dangerous (unless you're a beginner). If you like to ride at a nice steady pace, but not race, you can probably just use a hardtail here, as there are very few spots you will be speeding over anything bumpy.
Recommended Route: Drive up the hill from the entrance and park in the first lot on the left. I normally go clockwise from the parking lot on the small blue loop to the red trail right next to the horse fence and then take the first turns I come across onto blue trails, and that seems to allow for a non stop ride. Going in reverse direction on the blues seems to be a little more challenging in spots. I personally would avoid HR-280 on your first few visits to Merli, unless you have ridden the other trails and still have energy.
Squeezeplay, My Brothers, Fox Rocks, and Twister all have some nice bedrock trails. Porcupine cliffs is just below some cliffs and it is off camber atop a steep slope. Blade has a challenging rock garden section towards the end of a clockwise loop. There is a new trail currently marked with pink ribbon. It is on the right just before you get to squeezeplay, and it is a fun rocky 5 minute see sawing loop that comes out on the paved trail below the horse stables.
This is a good map, though some logging in recent years has changed the red trail in the lower left part of the map.
http://www.elkmtnarea.com/fell_mtn_2003/merli_2003_map.html
Other recommended trails in the same area: Lackawanna State Park is not as technical, but has really nice flow for faster riding and a good network of trails. Prompton Dam is closer to Merli in distance, not as all around technical, but has some trails that area really challenging, scenic and varied.
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Summary: A +7 mile loop of mostly single track; fun, intermediate level stuff.
+12 miles total if you ride all the side trails, which are the main attraction. There you'll find lots of advanced level rock gardens with winding, narrow single track. Some of the side trails very technical...tons of fun.
Overall a fair amount of climbing.
Very well marked and maintained trails, some very scenic views.
The lake has a swimming and picnic areas, which are great for cooling off and getting together after the ride.
Overall one of the best rides ever.
Recommended Route: The map on the link is not complete:www.cycle-cny.com/phpbb/Coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=6&pos=1
Other recommended trails in the same area: Pompano lake trail is a good follow up ride.
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Summary: Well- I'm an idiot and have hit "reset form" twice now, so this will be short. Flippin' awesome set of trails. Anyone who bikes in PA should at least check out Merli Sarnoski once or twice (to check out all the offshoots, of course!) Would not recommend to beginners, however, as I could see one easily getting in over their head in some spots.
Recommended Route: Main loop is marked by red, offshoots by blue. The offshoots all return to the main loop which encircles the lake and returns to the field by the parking lot. My favorite side-tracks include Fox Rocks and Porcupine Rim (get a map from the office)
Other recommended trails in the same area: Rocky madness of Prompton State Park- just crazy since the floods. If you really want to test your technical prowess on non-stop rocks, check it out.
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Summary: This park has some of the best riding around, with an 8 mile main loop offering multiple side loops that connect back to main. Be prepared for plenty of rock gardens, tight trees, some muddy creek beds and did I mention rock gardens? If descending HR280, be aware that the climb back up is a real &%$##. Bike wash hose and restrooms available at the parking lot, and beach/swimming is nice too. Recent addition of State Police horse paddocks and logging (whats up with that?) in parts of the park have diminished the original somewhat, but still one of the favorites!
Recommended Route: Get a map at the ranger station and pay attention at intersections. Most of the blue markers at intersections have the trail name written on them in black marker.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Prompton Dam, Lackawanna State Park
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Summary: Okay, here it goes. This is my trail of choice (being from the area). This trail offers great technical riding on the blues and if you want a conditioning ride stick to the red/orange blazes. Last year was the first year I found this "gem" in carbondale, but Ive noticed that this year some idiot put up horse stables when you go left of the parking lots toward the "beach" area. Where there are horses, there are hoof marks. On our maiden voyage this year, the front loop of merli was like a landscape from WW2, not with munitions but hoof marks. Tis BS. Despites the horses, I still believe that Prompton has nothing on Merli (hoof marks or not).
Recommended Route: Try doin as many blues as you can, they are great fun.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Prompton, not as fun.
Promised Land
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