Review Date
August 26, 2009

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 0 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: ch1llg ,  Racer

Summary:
Marl Ravine is a very rooty trail. The trail does not flow very well. The climbs are not to hard just the darn roots. Its not a very fun ride more annoying and boring. The one section of the trail that is fun is the down hill rock garden. There used to be a downhill switch back years ago but I think they took it out due to people getting hurt. I rode this trail last week and went to Freedom park and had a blast. There were no other riders at York River. When I got to Freedom it was packed. This was on a Thursday. To me its not worth paying three bucks to park.

Recommended Route:
Marl Ravine

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Freedom park

Review Date
May 31, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: jayjavi ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
The park has many trails to enter. in total there is about 20 to 30 miles of trails. there are so many different ways to go. The new cut of trails is still fresh and we need more bikers to go out there and hit those trails to get them groomed and compact. It is just about the best trail system around this area. fast rolling, ups, downs, a work out for the whole day. with the trail system you can make this a whole day event.

Recommended Route:
There are to many ways to. i started by going down the fire trail and go left into the marked trails. i think there are like 5 or more trails to hit. with all the variations in them. just go and ride.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
gate wood

Review Date
March 25, 2009

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: One track mind ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Marl Ravine is five plus miles when you bypass all four bailouts. If you want to take advantage of the whole loop which is kinda shaped like a ugly figure eight, keep right when you come upon each marker & y on the track.
Before entering Marl Ravine you have a one mile journey on a fire rd. before you hit the trailhead. Once in, you are immediately treated to some fast descents. The single track is a mixture of packed dirt & sand. Along the way you come upon some roots. Again keep to the right to avoid bailouts & continue on "Raccoon run" Here you will find some more fast sections & a nice whooping switchback. Watchout! further along the way you'll find many roots downhill & up! Then things smooth out again with faster sections & a small rock garden area. Before exiting get in the granny gear for a bit of a climb. Currently it cost $3 a car to use the park.

Recommended Route:
The WHOLE Marl Ravine Loop

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Freedom Park

New Quarter Park

Review Date
March 11, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: pangster ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
This is a very fast fun trail system. I mean fast. I rode the ten plus miles in less than 55 minutes and this included looking at the map to get to marl ravine and larel glen trails. The sum of all the mountain bike trails was relatively short but I've noticed all the trails in the eastern virginia area are. The trails basically wind up and down around the ravines taking advantage of lack of elevation in this area. i think the EVMA did a good job of using as much of the area as possible. There were a few log mounts around and i was annoyed with the number of "sanitized" bail outs so you don't have to take the logs. I'm from TX so i'm used to lots and lots of rocks and having to pick my lines. I kept my line picking to a minimum and i used the momentum of the "downhills" to carry me up all the climbs. i stayed in my middle chain ring the whole ride. the reviews below are confusing because they talk about how technical the trails are but i think it's a matter of perception. i was expecting roots based of the review below but there really weren't that many. it's the east coast. i've ridden in VT, CT, and northern VA. There are probably more roots in trails in TX and we have no trees. i rode my hard tail and had no problems negotiating anything on this trail. i think it is a very beginner friendly trail. very hard packed dirt that allows you to go fast. more experienced riders can have lots of fun by just going very fast. i am going to have to give this trail system 3 chillies for aerobic and technical difficulty because it was very easy. i am going to give it 4 chillies for how much fun i had because it was very fast and i loved the way it flowed.

Recommended Route:
getting here wasn't difficult. i took 64 to the croaker exit 231b. there were signs from the interstate. take a right at riverview then a right into the park. park in the first parking lot on right.

i picked up a trail map from the visitor's center and there was a great map that printed out from the kiosk of the marl ravine trail

i took the jeep trail and followed the signs to marl ravine trails. the marl ravine trails run counter clock wise and are very well marked. there was one section where the trail turned left or right. i followed the map and turned right. once i was done with the marl ravine trails, i followed the signs to the larel glen trail. this trail wasn't that well marked. when i got to the first intersection, i took a right. rode for about a mile then i hit a wider trail. i almost missed the single track on the right here. i took it and it went in a quarter mile loop back to the double track.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
freedom park.

both freedom park and york river seem like the same trail system to me. both very fun. i didn't think freedom park was any harder than york river. don't let the reviews intimidate you. they are easy. just keep riding them and you'll get better.

happy trails

Review Date
January 19, 2009

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: nathanl ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
This is by far my least favorite trail of any I have ever rode. The number of roots in it is painful. Whoever described this trail as having "flow" was gravely mistaken. I felt like I was on a wooden roller coaster after having rode modern steel ones. It's not really fast or fun, it just shakes you a lot. Maybe If I was from the beach area this would be better in comparison, but coming from farther west I feel like it pales in comparison. Not really anything fun in it, just annoying.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Douthat, Buttermilk, Sherando

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