Woodhull Loop - 6/3/07
Mike
back up from the falls, across the trail and past the barrier, left on
the gravel road, right on the trail to Woodhull Lake, continue to
Woodhull Road/Jeep trail and out onto Bear Creek Road and 28 back to
Otter Lake.
This was a nice loop, must be around 25 miles. I was on my old rigid
Rockhopper that I needed to get dialed in for the Black Fly. There's
no exciting single track, but it's a good mix of pavement/double track/
dirt road that gets you back into a beautiful area.
The trail from McKeever to the Remsen Falls spur is flat easy double
track (2 tracks with tall grass in the center). The drop down to the
falls is a fast DH on a smooth (except for the rock erosion control
dams that cross the trail several times) wide trail. The DEC has put
in a handicap accessible privy and picnic area near the falls.
Climb back up from the falls and cross the trail, continue past a
barrier and go left on the gravel road. This road is in good shape,
with no ruts, and is a steady climb to the trail to Woodhull Lake.
The trail takes you into the middle of a swamp/marsh that you have to
pick your way through, but after that you can get back on the bike and
ride to the spur left to the Woodhull Lake lean-to. I started down
this, but the trail was choked with blowdown and the bugs were fierce,
so I turned around. I've been there before and wanted to keep rolling
and outrun the bugs.
The trail that continues on from Woodhull Lake spur is a wide rolling
snowmobile trail that takes you through forest and around some open
marsh land. It's pretty dry and free of major blowdown, but there's a
lot of small stuff that can take out a derailleur. It comes out by a
small group of building/camps on the left and then turns into a jeep
trail (Woodhull Road?) that takes you to the Bear Creek Road
trailhead. This road has some wet, rutted, rough and rocky sections,
but was all rideable. I imagine in wet weather that it could be real
sloppy.