Review Date
October 15, 2008

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: mhalahan ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Catamount is not epic but fun none the least. I found it easy to navigate and there was good flow. Resist the urge to take just nay trail. Once I gave in and just followed the black arrow the ride got much better.

Recommended Route:
Follow the black arrow on the opposite side of the road from the house. Finish 1.5-2hrs later on the house/cross course side. Then, take a piture with Jim the owner.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Combine Sleepy Hollow with Hinesburg Town Forest for a 4hr epic.

Review Date
September 2, 2008

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: benInMA ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
I rode this in late august 2008 after a relative recommended it. They don't MTB but had gone X/C Skiing at CFC.

This was the first time I'd paid to bike anywhere other then a race or large event. My only real disappointment was expecting that paying to ride would mean a better experience then riding free trails.

Major complaint, worst trail signage/blazing/map I have ever experienced. They'd have been better off not signing any of the trails and not bothering to give anyone a map. The trails are marked with color coded arrows. However there are many trails with the same color arrows which cross at intersections, so it is impossible to stay on a given loop or tell where you are at intersections. Black was listed as advanced, so I followed that. Then I would get to an fork in the trail and neither fork had a black arrow, so I had no idea which way to go to stay on the same trail. On top of this they have barriers left up from previous races which can be hard to distinguish from trail closure barriers, making it even more confusing. Finally some trails are supposed to be closed in the summer, but it's almost impossible to tell which ones as you can't match a trail on the map to where you actually are.

Technically the trails seems to vary from extremely easy to moderate. The hardest trails are generally still very easy, they just twist and turn more, with the occasional (10-20ft) section of rocks on the black trails. All trails are heavily buffed, including removal of fallen trees, which would have added some nice extra difficulty. I consider myself mediocre as a technical rider, and there was nothing here that I could not clear on my second try, and only a few sections I didn't clear on my first run through.

The trails on the hillside behind the house/barn may actually be better then the larger wooded complex. The black trail on that side was overall very easy, but had fast sections that flowed into short more technical sections, as opposed to everything being fairly slow.

I suspect this place must be quite excellent for cross races.. some of their trails seemed ideal for that. But for straight X/C style riding this place just doesn't have the normal New England vibe.. it's much faster then normal, much less rocky, and much more heavily buffed. It's also extremely flat for Vermont.. I spent most of the day in the big ring.

Recommended Route:
Can't recommend any, the only option here is to keep riding until you start recognizing intersections and figure out how to find your way back out.

The biggest improvement they could make is to fix the signage..

Review Date
September 21, 2006

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: Medeco ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
I thought that I would give a recent review since it has not had one in a while.

I traveled to Burlington for work and was able to ride this trail about an hour and a half before they closed it at 6pm. The Chose to follow the black trail out of the parking lot. This trail had good single and double track with a few technical sections consisting mainly of roots and some rocks. Most of the time it had good flow and the signage was better than average to keep you moving and knowing your taking the right turns. The entire faclity is very nice and the people working it were helpful. Id say the black trail was one the easy side for XC riding with a few climbs that were on the tough side. Its worth checking out if your near down town Burlington.

Review Date
March 14, 2004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: Lquidwater9 ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
they got every thing the people are nice and you can ride lots of trails they have nice veiws it just awsom

Recommended Route:
any

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Sleepy hollow

Review Date
November 18, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: RoleOver ,  Racer

Summary:
new mountain cross course and freeride park rule!

a must ride.

Recommended Route:
just head up behind the inn and do the freeride and mountain cross.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
BHS, circumsision highway, jims woods if you live close, sleepy hollow, Bromont (in canada. It WILL kick you a*s) and killington.