It’s been a minute. Actually nine months. While I’ve been riding quite regularly, the blog has taken a bit of a backseat to work, yard work and family. My goal is to write at least one post a month going forward. With that in mind, I have to map out some exciting routes to make it more interesting.
I’ve wanted to create a loop that encompasses the area near the High Knob Fire Tower with my usual Five Mile Meadow, Standing Stone, Burnt Mills and Flat Ridge routes. At 1:30pm Dave met me at my house and we headed out to the deer trail that links our community with Five Mile Meadow Road. Riding up Five Mile towards, Rt. 739, we made the left on Dewitt Cabin Trail and pedaled up the 1.5 mile double track to Canoe Brook in Hemlock Farms as we attempted to connect the dots.
Once inside Hemlock Farms, we ventured over to Maple Ridge Rd. and hopped on the Red Shale Trail, a hiking trail that saw us hike a bike for about a 1/4 mile. Red Shale ends at the Maple Run ATV trail system. We followed Maple Run for 3.5 miles to the parking lot. We made a right on Rt. 402 and a mile later, we hopped onto Hobday Road at the base of the High Knob. Hobday is a mostly flat. Smooth gravel surface for 2 miles and a left on Highline Road put us on that sweet roller coaster type gravel that drops sharply in sections only to go back up some steep inclines before leaving you, 6 miles later at Pine Flats Road.
A stroll up Pine Flats to Rt. 402 and into The Burnt Mills Trail system for a thrilling descent over gravel, rip rap and washed out snow mobile trails. The climb up the front side of the trail is not much better. It’s a ton of loose gravel with washed out ruts on both sides. However, this is about 2.5 miles of pure joy. Every time I ride this trail, every problem or issue just melts away.
Burnt Mills dumps you out on Bushkill Falls Road. From there we rode the usual Flat Ridge Road to Silver Lake Road and Back to Five Mile Meadow for three climbs over the slushy new dirt and gravel that has covered a lot of the pot holes that were so prevalent for most of the spring and early summer. What a fantastic route. With three primitive and mostly unused trails, it seemed to flow very nicely. I can’t wait to do this route in the reverse direction.
What’s playing (what am I listening to while writing or what’s dancing around in my head while riding) – today: REO Speedwagon – Time For Me to Fly
ridingmilford.com 