The Rocky Gap ATV Trails are located in the western part of the Allegheny National Forest, not too far from Warren, PA. Although the trails are designed with ATV and dirt bikes in mind, they are open to mountain bikes as well. I am somewhat hesitant to ride on ATV trails. The trails tend to get chewed up and can be unpleasant to ride. I have also ridden some ATV trails when I lived in Maine that weren't too bad to ride.
I saw mountain biking reports on both Trailforks and MTB Project that made the area sound promising. With two loops consisting of over 20 miles or riding and only 15 minutes from where I'm staying, I had to check out the trails. I headed out on a Monday in late July. Riding on Monday would hopefully help avoid much ATV traffic (can you say dusty). It also hadn't rained for a week. From past experience, these kind of trails can be muddy after recent rains.
There are two separate loops. The North Loop runs close to 11 miles and for ATV riders is rated as a "most difficult" while the South Loop runs closer to 8 miles and carries an "easiest" rating for ATVs. Both loops were rated as intermediate for bikes on Trailforks. I decided to ride the longer and more difficult North Loop first.
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| Entering the trail system |
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| Trail leading into the loops |
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| Junction between the two loops |
I encountered a couple of puddles almost immediately that weren't exactly avoidable. I was hoping this wasn't a sign of the rest of the ride. For ATVs, the loops are directional. I decided to ride the loops the same direction ATVs ride them. After crossing the road, the riding started out quite nicely.
The trails are intended for ATVs less than 50" wide. So the trail ride like a double track. This allows for good speed when the trail isn't too rough. There were some wet spots on the start of the trail, but most were easily avoidable with my bike.
Like all National Forests, Allegheny National Forest is open to logging and mineral extraction. I quickly came across oil wells along the trail. I also saw a few tanks and pipes that may have been for natural gas. The air near the wells stank. There were a lot of these wells, particularly on the North Loop.
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| Lots of oil wells near the trail |
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| Typical trail near the early part of the ride |
Within the first couple miles, I reached some cool rock features along the trail. The trail even passed through a narrow corridor between two house size boulders. There was a few technical spots in here. The riding was pretty fun in here with interesting terrain.
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| House sized rock just off the trail |
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| Technical section |
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| Riding between giant boulders |
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| Looking back at the boulders |
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| Storage tanks along the trail |
The trail descended into narrow sections with pretty hemlock forests. Generally the riding was pretty good over the first half of the North Loop. I did hit a few mud holes that were mostly avoidable. I saw at least a couple trucks cross the trail on the network of dirt roads that service the oil operation.
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| Pretty section through hemlocks |
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| The first half of the North Loop is scenic |
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| Oil well right on the trail |
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| Fast section |
The second half of the North Loop became less pleasant to ride. Large mud puddles became more frequent, though I could usually get around them on my bike. The trails climbed quite a bit on the second half too. While this isn't normally a problem, but the ATVs chew up the terrain on the climbs, leaving the tread covered in loose rock.
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| Puddles weren't unusual |
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| Another fast section |
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| More typical section with manageable rocks |
In between the rock and mud holes, I still found some good riding. The problem was that the flow was broken up pretty often with more loose tread or puddles. These are ATV trails after all and not designed with bikes in mind.
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| I didn't all look so nice and smooth |
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| Chipmunk along the trail |
While the riding on the North Loop wasn't great, it wasn't the worst riding either. It was reminiscent of mountain biking when I first started riding. You would just ride anywhere there was a trail in the forest that allowed bikes. It wasn't always the most pleasant, but it was before purpose built mountain bike trails became more commonplace.
Given that the South Loop had an easier rating, I was hoping it had better flow and less mud and rock. The South Loop started with a quick but bumpy descent. I passed a tree trunk that had a huge cluster of orange mushrooms growing around it. I stopped by the mushrooms to let a group of three ATVs and one dirt bike pass. These were the first people I saw on the trails after maybe 12-13 miles.
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| Huge mushroom cluster |
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| Closeup of the mushrooms |
After leaving the mushrooms, the riding went from mediocre to just plain unenjoyable. Mud puddles became a lot more frequent. Many of them were unavoidable. There were some good stretches between the puddles, but by the time you got into the rhythm, it was broken up by another puddle.
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| An easier puddle to get by |
There is a neat area along the trail with a bunch of house sized boulders. When I arrived at the boulders, the group of ATVs that passed me earlier were taking a break here. It looked like there was even campsites by the boulders. I passed a few more smaller rocks after leaving the main cluster of boulders.
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| One of the ATV'ers on a boulder |
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| I wish it all rode this nice |
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I promise there were puddles that
were much bigger |
From the boulders, the trail began a long descent with nice berms on the corners. Unfortunately I encountered the worst sections of mud on this descent. I would pick up speed and suddenly reach a giant puddle across the entire trail. I couldn't just blast through the puddles. Some of them had sections of thick mud that nearly stopped me dead in my tracks. Other puddles were a foot deep, again bringing me to a stop. Adding to the unpleasant riding, much of the trail was sandy. The soupy mud caused the sand to form a thick layer of sludge on me and my bike. The brakes and cassette were making all kinds of fun noises as the mud moved through them. My pedals and cleats were also getting clogged with mud and I was having a hard time locking into my pedals.
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| Riding by a boulder |
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| The lower section didn't have big puddles |
At the bottom of the downhill, the trail followed a pretty section through hemlocks. The puddles in here were mostly avoidable. I enjoyed the riding along this section. Unfortunately it didn't last too long and the trail soon turned away from the hemlocks and began climbing.
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| Pretty stretch in the hemlocks |
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| If only it all rode like this |
The last couple miles had a lot more unavoidable puddles with thick mud that were sometimes at least a foot deep with water. Between the puddles were short blasts of nice trail. Unfortunately these mudholes were just too frequent and overshadowed the pleasant areas of the trail and killed any flow I may of had.
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I must have been too agitated to actually take pics
of the worst mudholes, this section looks nice |
By the end of this ride, I covered around 21 miles and was more than ready to be finished. While it definitely was the straw that broke the camel's back, the pudding like mud wasn't the only issue. The day was incredibly muggy. Storms were scheduled to move in by the afternoon. The muggy air seemed to bring out the gnats in force. When I was pedaling on slow terrain, the gnats formed a cloud in front of my face. The petroleum or gas smell in the air by the active wells didn't help with the enjoyment of the ride either. There was just too many factors that killed the enjoyment with this ride.
Although I have a bike rack, I often throw my bike in the back of my van for convenience. Of course I didn't have my bike rack with me this time. I used an old shirt to try and get the worst of the thick mud off my bike before putting it in my van. I was also quite muddy. I stripped down to my padded undershorts. I used my black, baggy riding shorts to get the worst of the mud off of me before sitting in my van. I had to hose my bike and riding shoes off with pretty strong water pressure to get the mud out of all the nooks and crannies.
In case you haven't already guessed, I'm not recommending riding these trails, at least by mountain bike. They are best left to ATVs and dirt bikes that they are intended for. While I highly doubt that I'd ride these trails again, the only way I'd even consider it would be after several weeks without rain. If nothing else, a lot of the area is fairly pretty. Several sections rode through beautiful hemlock forests and large boulders added to the scenery. But for a mountain bike ride, it just wasn't that enjoyable. Not every adventure is gonna be a home run, but you don't know until you try.
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