On Tuesday morning, I ventured out to recon the route for an Action Bikes and Outdoor group ride on March 11th. The Delaware State Forest is the venue for a ride that I wrote about in 2022, the Filthy 50. This time, we’re going to shake things up a bit by altering the route to add more technical trail and eliminating the long paved climb on Silver Lake Road.

I could not have asked for a more beautiful spring day to recon this route. At 10am, I departed the parking lot on Rt. 739 and immediately began to climb up Five Mile Meadow Road. I turned right on Ben Bush Road and a left on Standing Stone Trail. Standing Stone ends at Silver Lake Road where I hung a left and covered the longest paved section, 1.5 miles to Little Mud Pond. A loop through and I crossed over Silver Lake Road and into the Burnt Mills Trail system.

Burnt Mills is an old snow mobile trail that takes you over 4 miles of rough monstercross type terrain. At Flat Ridge Road , I turned right and after 1.25 miles, veered right back onto Burnt Mills for another 2.5 miles of super technical trail. Burnt Mills comes to an end in a large parking lot that sits on Rt. 402. A right on 402 travels over .7 miles of pavement and a left on Pine Flats Road puts you back on a premium gravel surface.

At halfway down Pine Flats Road, you come to a PA State Forest water station. This is a great place to fill your bottles for the push up to the High Knob. A right on Highline Road introduces a heavily graveled 6 mile stretch up Highline and Hobaday Roads. Hobaday ends at the base of the High Knob. A sharp left puts you on the High Knob Road for a steep twisty climb that wraps around the hill and summits at the High Knob Fire Tower. On a clear day, you can see most of Pike County from the top.

The descent, while fun is tricky. The trail is covered with loose gravel, is narrow and drops sharply back to Hobaday Road. I took the same route back to Highline Road, over Pine Flats, up Rt. 402 and ripped in through Burnt Mills back to Flat Ridge Road. Then I took Flat Ridge all the way back to Silver Lake Road and dropped down to Five Mile Meadow Road. I pedaled the 6.25 miles of Five Mile Meadow back to the parking lot.

The route has over 46 miles of gravel, dirt and technical trail. It has 3.7 miles of pavement. There is just over 4,000 feet of elevation gain built in with more than 95% of it over gravel roads and trails. I can’t wait to do this ride again on May 11th. Lookout for Action Bike’s email and social media posts for the Filthy 50 group ride.

What’s playing (what am I listening to while writing or what’s dancing around in my head while riding) today – Albert Hammond – It Never Rains in Southern California