Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures: Mountain Biking the Trails at Jakes Rocks

I always look for places to play outside when I'm going to be in an area for any period of time. With my current stint just outside of Allegheny National Forest, I looked up the hiking and mountain biking options in the area. Jakes Rocks popped up several times on my searches. I even had two people I know that don't even mountain bike mention Jakes Rocks. I've been doing a fair amount of cycling and mountain biking this year, so I figured I'd check out the trails at Jakes Rocks.

Jakes Rocks is a trail system with over 30 miles of trails, with mountain biking in mind. The trails sit on the western side of Allegheny National Forest, just east of the Warren, PA. While the area had trails and lookouts prior, in the mid 2010s, the purpose built trails for mountain biking took shape. Now the Trails at Jakes Rocks are one of the top mountain biking trail systems in Pennsylvania.

I hit the trails on Sunday July 12th. After a hot and humid start to July, I had a brief reprieve in the heat. I woke up to a cool 60F with little humidity. When I ride an area for the first time, I like to ride as much of the area as I can and hit the most popular trails to get a good feel for the area.

There are numerous trailheads to begin a ride at Jakes Rocks. The most popular starting point from what I can gather is the trailhead at the Jakes Rocks Overlook/Picnic area. This trailhead sits at the top of the mountain. Since I planned on hitting trails on all sides of the mountain, not just the top, I chose to begin my ride at the Kinzua Point Visitor's Center. I began my ride about 930AM. From the trailhead, there's a nice view overlooking Allegheny Reservoir.

Trailhead kiosk

Allegheny Reservoir from the trailhead

I began my ride on the Kinzua Point Trail. This easy trail travels about mile just above the lake. Because of the tree cover, you don't see the lake until you ride under PA 59 under an underpass. This is the only trail from this trailhead. I chose it so I would have an easy warmup before climbing to the top of the mountain.

From what I read, Devil's Drop is the best choice to get to the top of the ridge. As it turns out, this proved to be a good choice. Although I seen this trail rated anywhere from intermediate to advanced, the trail wasn't overly technical and provided nice switchbacks to climb over 300' over about a mile. I didn't ride down Devil's Drop, but it looks like it would be a fun descent with pretty good flow.

Maybe next time I'll drop rather than climb
Devil's Drop

Devil's Drop is fairly mellow

Brief rocky section on Devil's Drop

Lots of nice bridges at Jakes Rocks

Once on top of the ridge, I reached the end of Devil's Drop and joined Cornplanter for a about a 1/4 mile. I then turned onto Three Sisters. Despite only running about 1/3 of a mile, Three Sisters is probably the most interesting trail as far as scenery. The trail has more rocks than Devil's Drop. Soon the trail winds in and around huge boulders. At times the trail snakes through these rocks pretty closely. It's a pretty neat trail.

Getting into the rocks at Three Sisters

Passing under large rock

Narrow passage on Three Sisters

After my short but interesting stretch on Three Sisters, I continued on Seneca. Seneca runs about 1.5 miles. The first part of Seneca features a fun and fast stretch of singletrack that allows you to pick up some speed. The second half of Seneca gets more technical with rockier stretches of trail and more climbing. Seneca is rated as intermediate trail. I could see the rocky stretches posing problems for some riders. You have to keep your moment to make it through some of the rocky sections since the direction I was heading trended uphill.

Rocks on Seneca

After I reached the end of Seneca, I turned onto a paved Forest Service Road for a quick detour. This road leads maybe a 1/4 mile to the Jakes Rocks Overlook with a view over Kinzua Dam and the lower end of the Allegheny Reservoir.

View of Kinzua Dam

At this paved road is the Jakes Rocks Trailhead. Based on the amount of cars, this is the most common starting point for rides. It's also the starting point for two trails, Tuttletown and Coal Knob. Linked together, these two trail form a loop of about 5 miles on the top of the mountain. Both trails are listed as beginner friendly with good flow throughout. I rode this loop counterclockwise, starting with Tuttletown. I took a brief detour to checkout another overlook that looks toward the dam.

Easy section of Coal Knob

I would say Coal Knob is slightly more challenging than Tuttletown. A few sections on Coal Knob have a brief rock obstacles that come up on you fast along short, hilly sections. A true beginner might find this section intimidating. Most season riders will just find it fun. After starting my ride at under 1,400 feet in elevation, the height of land on Coal Knob reaches about 2,115 feet.

Abandon privy along Coal Knob

Easy going on Coal Knob

Brief rocky spot on Coal Knob

Even though both Tuttletown and Coal Knob are both rated as beginner trails, I recommend riding them no matter how experienced you are. They are fast and flowy trails that are fun to ride and let you fly down the trails. They will serve as a good warm up or break to some of the more challenging trails. I saw more riders on this loop than anywhere else during the day.

Leaving Coal Knob, I was back on Cornplanter for a short stretch. This stretch was pretty fast and fun as I descend through sections of ferns. Nearly the whole stretch of Cornplanter was downhill, but never steep.

Ferns on Cornplanter

Cruising on Cornplanter

My next trail on my ride was Vulpes- Fox. Despite running only a 1/2 mile, I enjoyed this short trail. The trail rolls with good flow through patches of ferns and passes some rock features along the trail. My only complaint with Vulpes is that it's too short.

Foxy

Cruising on Vulpes

Rocks along Vulpes

Nice section of ferns

At the end of Vulpes, I crossed a road and joined Longhouse. Longhouse is longest individual trail at Jakes Rocks. Leaving Vulpes, it continues 4,6 miles to its end on FSR 263. Heading south, Longhouse climbs more often than not. Although not steep, it gains nearly 500' over its length. Throw in just enough rocky sections, it's kind of a slog heading south. Since it's a longer trail I wanted to check it out. Once I got to its end, I turned back. It rode much nicer on its way back since I was riding downhill most of the time. At then end of Longhouse, it's possible to ride a little over a mile on FSR 263 to a couple more trails, but it didn't make sense this ride. They don't really reconnect to the rest of the trails. At the height of the land, Longhouse tops out at just over 2,000'.

Start of Longhouse

Nice bridges between rocks

View of the reservoir from Longhouse

I only rode about half of Longhouse in the reverse direction. About halfway back, I reached the junction for Ursus- Bear. Ursus runs about 1.2 miles and is rated as an advanced trail. I'm comfortable with advanced terrain, but the entrance to Ursus begins with a pretty nasty rock garden that's fairly steep out of the gate. While I'm capable of riding rock gardens, I don't necessarily enjoy long, drawn out rock gardens. They just aren't that fun and they beat up both your body and bike. As I was at the top assessing the trail another rider came by that knew the area. He let me know that the rock garden was only at the entrance to the trail. He assured the rest of the trail, while steep and technical at times, wasn't one continuous rock garden. He even said it was his favorite trail at Jakes Rocks.

The Bear

The rocky drop into Ursus

The intel I received was accurate. The initial rock garden transitioned into dirt. The trail dropped steeply. It loses nearly 500' in just over a mile. Ursus drops steeply at times with tricky transitions and a few tight switchbacks. The trail also features neat rock features that tower over the trail with cool scenery. There is an option for lines in the middle section, with a sign warning you that the left line allows you to get some air on bigger rock drops. The right line avoids the rocky spots with optional hucks.

Lots of large rocks along Ursus

Passing along large rocks

Lots of neat features on Ursus

Riding between rock walls

The other rider I spoke to was pretty accurate in his description of Ursus. While challenging, it is a really fun trail. I wouldn't recommend riding it unless you at least a confident intermediate rider or better. If I ride here again, I'll be sure to ride Ursus again. Ursus ends near the end the Dew Drop Trail just before crossing the road at the Dew Drop Recreation Area and Campsites.

Cruising on Ursus

Ursus is a fun trail

Sharp turn before a boulder on Ursus

Nice bridges on lower Ursus

Descending Ursus leaves you well below the ridge. While you can climb back to the ridge via Dew Drop, I crossed the road and hit Laurel. Laurel runs a little over two miles on a mix of nice terrain. There are several long bridges along Laurel. Laurel also passes by some interesting rock features. While Laurel generally travels uphill, it's never steep. At times there are descents along the way that are pretty fast and flowy. Laurel is a pretty nice trail overall.

Start of Laurel

Lots of long bridges on Laurel

Approaching a rock feature

Small tumbling creek along Laurel

At the end of Laurel, I crossed a road and began climbing on Ohi:Yo Way. This short trail runs just over a 1/2 mile and regains the top of the ridge. It's accurately rated as an intermediate trail. While not rock gardens, the tread tends to be more consistently rocky and a little looser than most of the trails at Jakes Rocks. The climbing isn't really difficult, you just need to keep some momentum on the looser rock. After .6 miles, I reached the end of Ohi:Yo Way and was back on the start of Seneca.

Starting Ohi: Yo Way

Climbing on Ohi: Yo Way

Rocky section

Back on Seneca, I was reriding a section that I rode earlier after Three Sisters. I had fun riding the downhill at the start of Seneca again before getting into the more technical section. After a mile on Seneca, I reached the start of Deerfoot.

Rocky climb

Technical section

Bridge along Seneca

Deerfoot runs a little over a mile and drops nearly 500 feet as it makes its way down toward the level of Allegheny Reservoir. This would be my final descent off the ridge. The signage at the start of Deerfoot lists the trail as intermediate, but I've seen it rated as advanced intermediate to advanced difficulty online. The start of Deerfoot is pretty challenging and I found the riding along the first half of the trail unenjoyable. The beginning is rocky. Fast sections follow the technical rock. Unfortunately the flow is suddenly disrupted by more rock gardens. I found myself having to shift abruptly to get through the rock gardens as I lost all my speed to negotiate the off camber rock. This continued throughout the first half of the trail. There just wasn't good rhythm to Deerfoot's layout on the upper section. At least a few sections had some nice bridges over the rock.

Start of Deerfoot

Rocks on upper Deerfoot

Long bridge on Deerfoot

Rocks on Deerfoot

Nice bridge through the trees

The bottom half of Deerfoot was much nicer. The trail dropped steeply with a few sharp switchbacks keeping your speed in check. I enjoyed the lower half of Deerfoot. I'd argue that the upper portion of Deerfoot is an advanced trail while the lower half is a solid intermediate ride.

Nice trail on the second half of Deerfoot

Deerfoot ends at a dirt road after 1.3 miles. From here I was back on my first trail of the day, Kinzua Point. I enjoyed the relatively easy, rolling terrain for the last mile of my ride. I wrapped up my ride just shy of 25 miles on the day.

Passing under PA 59 on Kinzua Point

Nice riding on Kinzua Point

Even with the good reviews, I was pleasantly surprised with the riding at Jakes Rocks. I think some of the surprise comes from the fact that this is Pennsylvania. When I grew up riding trails in PA 30 years ago, most of the riding was rough and technical on hiking trails that weren't intended for bikes or gravel grinding on dirt roads. There weren't purpose built mountain bike trails. Since I haven't ridden on PA trails since I left the state twenty years ago, purpose built mountain bike trails have come a long way and more trail systems have been built. As a result, the riding is much more enjoyable.

While I haven't ridden every trail at Jakes Rocks, I got a pretty good feel for the riding there. Generally the trails are laid out nicely and ride pretty well. The only trail that I didn't really enjoy was Deerfoot toward the end of my ride. Perhaps if it came earlier on my ride, I may not have minded it as much. A few trails seem to be segregated from the rest of the system. Elijah and Bald Eagle are in they're own sector away from the rest of the trails. I'm not sure if a future trail plans to connect them with the other trails. Bent Run is another outlier. It connects to the main trail system on its upper end but its lower end is a couple miles from another trail. I didn't ride these outlier trails.

For more trail information and a map, I used and recommend Trailforks for a detailed description for my ride at Jakes Rocks.

After my ride, I decided to stop at Bent Run Falls. The trailhead for this is just a few miles down the road from Kinzua Point and adjacent to the lower trailhead for the Bent Run trail mentioned above. I didn't have much info to go on but took a quick hike up the trail along Bent Run. This seems to be more of a herd path than a formal trail. Water levels were pretty low. The area consists of a series of small cascades as the creek drops quickly down a narrow gulch. If there is a main drop, I didn't see it. Either way, it was a nice little side trip after my ride.