Dirt Riding at Bald Eagle State Forest, PA

[Venture]

So I've been wanting to get into dirt riding for some time now, and after a bit of a search I managed to acquire a decent condition 2006 Kawasaki KLX250. Under the guidance of Yamaguy55, I hit the forest roads of Bald Eagle this past weekend.

Since it was my inaugural ride we took it pretty easy, or at least Yamaguy tells me so. He was a nice guy and didn't take me on the "murderous" trails, only the "challenging" ones.

Bald Eagle has some fantastic vistas, probably the best I've seen in PA:

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Along the way we ran into a couple from Massachusetts (I think it was Mass, anyway). Yamaguy was quite enamored with what he has dubbed the "Euro-Blonde." So much so that he reached into his coat and pulled out one of his never-ending supply of Bald Eagle trail maps to share with her and her partner.

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At one of the vistas we met up with a couple of fellas whom Yamaguy has dubbed the "Motostoners." Yep, you're thinking what you're supposed to be thinking. :-\ Although I didn't snap a pic of the stoners themselves, I did manage a blurry one of their bikes:

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The Honda 650 in the photo is actually Stoner#2's second 650. Would you believe the first one disintegrated on him? It actually fell over one day because the kickstand sank in the ground due to rain and the frame actually cracked! I know, unbelievable but I'm sure it's all true. Maybe Yamaguy remembers some other details, it was such a compelling conversation I forgot most of it.

Before we set out that day Yamaguy made the comment that everybody always wants to tell him their life story, which is exactly what Stoner#1 did. He once got an ultralight ride in Kansas for $15. What a steal. Again, so compelling I fail to recollect much more than that. In all seriousness, they seemed like nice fellows, just a little "out there."

Anyways, it was an awesome first outing, and I'm looking forward to more.

Other random pics:

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[eemsreno]

That is fun riding . next your going to need to ride Colorado trails. [best in the country]

 

[colorider]

That is fun riding . next your going to need to ride Colorado trails. [best in the country]

If you do, you darn well better wave when you come through!!! ::012::

 

[Yamaguy55]

I'm an old guy, so I have good reason to forget things. Oddly, I remember the couple from Maine, not Massachusetts. I was somewhat impressed with the Euro-blonde, as I am of any nice looking 50ish woman. Enamored would be incorrect, as I prefer brunettes or redheads, therefore blondes, Euro or not, would be my third choice.
I do hand out forest maps like party favors. It is a curse.
I did choose challenging, but not murderous, trails. Plantation road/trail/whatever is murderous: very steep with bowling ball and grapefruit sized loose rock everywhere. At the bottom, you sort of plunge over a lip onto the road. Hope a truck isn't coming! So since Venture is now an old hand, it is off to those trails.

 

[JonnyCinco]

were the trails clearly marked? we travel up to gettysburg once a year to camp with the folks. Willl be haulin the s10 and the 550 up next year and was thinking of checking it out. ::026::

considering my off road experience has only been gravel traps, were there some easy trails?

 

[Yamaguy55]

Not so clearly marked. Hence the never ending supply of maps that I haul around with me. The Forestry headquarters building at Laurelton has the maps in the vestibule. I drive by there frequently for work, and a few years back, stopped in to see what they had. That's when I found the dual sport maps, which seem to be no other place, certainly not their website. The DS maps, and a copy of the State Forest map, will give you enough info to find most things. They revise it frequently, taking some routes off, putting others on. So your best bet is to stop in and pick up a map. The headquarters building is immediately west of the intersection of PA235 and PA45. PA235 ends here, look left, and you can see the buildings.

There are trails easy enough for minivans, and tough enough for trials bikes. I went looking for an easy way to connect the vistas/overlooks at the south end to those on the north end. I was on the Tenere, and it was doable, but I had deep mud crossings and lots of rocks to contend with. I managed to put a dent in the right side header through the bash plate from a flung rock. I'm sure there is a series of connected roads that will allow a streetbike to see most of the easy stuff. I ride there frequently on the WRR, it is a very large area, and quite remote once you're in, with little to no cell coverage. If it doesn't say "driveable trail" or is on the dual sport handout map, you're not supposed to drive on it. Before you come this way, PM me and I'll get you a set of maps and mail them to you. GPS out there will take you right off a cliff. It was once a vast timber operation, complete with movable towns and railroads. Most of those old trails are still there, but only a few are fair game for riding. GPS shows some of the abandoned roads as usable trails, we did a WRR/XT run out there last year that had us on a goat path courtesy of a GPS. We were in a section that was almost impossible to get through, and had mud bogs big enough to eat jeeps. (seriously: we bypassed one such hole and tested the depth of the mud with a log about 8-10 feet long: it didn't touch bottom.) If you stay on the really easy stuff, you'll be fine, but get off the main roads and it can be very remote and dangerous, like any other wilderness. It is deceptive as it sits in an area with surrounding farms and villages.

 

[Venture]

were the trails clearly marked? we travel up to gettysburg once a year to camp with the folks. Willl be haulin the s10 and the 550 up next year and was thinking of checking it out. ::026::

considering my off road experience has only been gravel traps, were there some easy trails?

There were some easy ones, but as Yamaguy already said it's very deceiving. There were sections of the tough trails that weren't bad, but there were some pretty terrible spots that can definitely cause problems. I had a guide, so I wasn't real concerned, but I'd be very wary of venturing through there for the first time without a buddy, and I would definitely leave the Tenere in the shed until you know the routes. Some of what we went over would have scared me to death on a Tenere, but the little 250s handle it pretty easily.

 

[Yamaguy55]

I rode my Tenere there the week before Venture and I went, and found mud puddles/holes deep enough that I had to drain one of them to cross. (made a ditch on the downhill side and let a foot or so of the two plus feet drain out) I could have chanced it, but dropping a 575 pound bike in a clay infested slop hole didn't appeal to me at the time. The major routes are easily navigated by cars, but some suddenly get really bad, usually after an intersection. What is really going on is the primary roads are well maintained, but you may not immediately understand that the portion of the road you're on is no longer the primary route, so gets little to no maintenance. They usually post "Road Not Maintained" and something like "Drivable trail" signs, but sometimes they don't, or they blow away during bad weather. We have a lot of sudden windy storms, and the Forestry staff doesn't get the signs replaced immediately after each storm. I would expect most, if not all, of those roads to be closed for the next several days to a week due to the impending doom/snowstorm/wind that will be happening today and tonight. They're expecting the heavy wet snow combined with the wind to take down a lot of trees.

It is like everything else: you'll be fine if you ride like an adult and carefully decide what you're willing to tackle. And ride within both your personal and your bike's abilities. The limiting factor for me on the Tenere is the weight and the tires. I know most of the trails and roads over there, and I took the beast on a few that were a little rougher than ideal, but I also knew what I was doing and where I would end up. Playing suburban commando and riding over your head in a wilderness area is a recipe for disaster. But that's anywhere. I'll play tour guide with sufficient advance notice and we can make a nice day of it. It is a truly vast and scenic area. And best of all, I only need to drive 30-40 miles to have access to it. Moto-heaven.

 

[Venture]

Moto-heaven.

Amen.

 

[Checkswrecks]

It's probably under snow by now. We ought to have a camp there or in Michaux in the spring!

 

[Venture]

It's probably under snow by now. We ought to have a camp there or in Michaux in the spring!

100% up for that. Let's make a point to get an event thread started in the Spring for it.