Western Pennsylvania Ride Areas

[Mark]

ANY PA RIDERS KNOW OF ANY GOOD RIDE SPOTS IN WESTERN PA? ALWAYS LOOKIN FOR NEW TRAILS!!

[4HUN]

Marionsville, or Wellsville. If you are close to either of them, I would check them out.

[roostfrom250ex]

We ride at palmer park in donora.

[EXtreme-]

what town ya from?

[Tommy 17]

i am in central, western pa... cambria county... town of barnesbro spangler or northern cambria... all the same town now haha...

[Mark]

WE RIDE ALOT AT ROSTRAVER,AND ADAMSBURG, BEING I'M FROM THE GREENSBURG AREA. ROSTRAVER IS BY FAR MY FAVORITE.(CLOSE TO PALMER PARK) MARIONVILLE IS VERY NICE BUT I DON'T AGREE WITH THE NEW $35 FEE TO RIDE THERE. HOW'S THE RIDING AT PALMER PARK? AND WHERE IS WELLSVILLE?(NEED DIRECTIONS.)
THANKS FOR THE REPLIES, MABEY WE CAN GET TOGETHER FOR A RIDE SOMEDAY.:)

[MOFO]

Hey...another person from Western PA! Myself & Knighttime live a bit north of Pittsburgh. I ride some local trails around my house, but mostly trailer my quad out to places. Marienville is ok, but I agree...screw that $35! We've stumbled onto a few nice riding areas around Butler and north of Butler....


Eric

[NacsRacing400]

I live in greensburg and there are a few nice practice tracks by me.

[upstate rider]

I'm looking to take a trip out to western PA Marionsville, or Wellsville or if there's a better place to ride even if I had to pay. Which places do you think are the best?

[Mark]

BEING MOSTLY A TRAIL/XC RIDER I MOSTLY AM LOOKING FOR SOME GOOD WOODS RIDING. WE RACED A LITTLE AT SWITCHBACK IN BUTLER, VWVR6. YOUR RIDE AREAS NEAR THERE?

[MOFO]

Yep, I've raced up at Switchback a few times. I hate the MX part of that track....not setup for quads....but the woods section isnt bad. A few trails that we found are actually somewhat near to switchback...about 20 min away....very nice wooded trails....

[roostfrom250ex]

were riding at palmer park on sunday. wanna come along?

[Mark]

DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO CHECK IN FOR A WHILE, BUT MAYBE WE CAN DO SOME RIDIN AT PALMER PARK SOMEDAY, SINCE I MISSED OUT ON THIS RIDE. THANKS FOR THE INVITE.:D

[upstate rider]

Still looking for a reply on best place in western PA , Is there anything that could compare to H/M trails?

[EXtreme-]

this is a tough question as far as the best all around place to ride (legally) in the western Pa area. I'd have to say that Marienville (the allegheny national forest) gets the best vote for scenic riding, well groomed, family minded area with a good bit of mileage among the three trails which are all accessable from one trailhead. This will cost you a $35.00 annual fee but there's word out on a new 5-day pass that should be cheaper. If you want agressive, Sproul state forest is probably the closest thing we have to the H/M system. Its mostly strip land with some great trails, gawd-awful hillclimbs, scenic lookouts, and lots of rock/coal stuff. Play areas are plentiful. No directional trails here....just yardstick numbers to navigate wherever you want to go. This is free to you...as long as you're registered in your home state. Pa is "state friendly". Not many race tracks around these here parts. Like poker runs (organized recreational fundraising rides that turn out to be gncc races :D )??? PaAtving.com has a boatload of events across the state as well as local Ohio and NewYork stuff. Most of these are 25-30 mile runs (we usually blast em out two or three times) that offer a wide variety of trail conditions. Check the forums for ride info. Most average around 10-20 bucks per quad...well worth a donation. You mentioned Wellsville, Oh.....stay outta there for a while, there's alot of landowner problems and police envolvement going on....aint worth it.

Best of all, we have interstate 79...probably the roughest piece of road/trail in the state! Plenty of potholes and lousy cement work to keep you busy. Camping is not advised:huh

[MOFO]

Originally posted by EXtreme-

Best of all, we have interstate 79...probably the roughest piece of road/trail in the state! Plenty of potholes and lousy cement work to keep you busy. Camping is not advised:huh



ROFL!!!! So true...so true! :D :D I'd never take my quad on 79...way too rough for my suspension. LOL!

[jcv400ex]

If anybody does come up to Marienville, email me. I'm a mile from the trailhead. We're planning a ride on July 27th. 10:00am at the main trailhead off of RTE 66.

Also, here's a yahoo group. Most of the members are in Pittsburgh, and they ride every weekend somewhere. Good group of guys/gals.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pittsburghtrailriders/

[upstate rider]

EXtreme thanks for the info, Sproul state forest sounds pretty good with the play areas ( sand pits and maybe some places to do alittle jumping) the hill climbs and trails with a some chalenge to them also sound good. When you say strip mines and rocks I've riden in eastern PA at some strip mines that had shall we say cliffs to die from and rocks that were like high lift 4x4 jeeps challenged that I didn't care for. Marienville sounds not bad for the scenic veiws and groomed trails as long as they have some challenge to the hill climbs and some in the woods riding ( not back dirt roads that get boring real fast) if know what I mean. I have looked at PAatving .com but it's a little hard to tell what it's like untill you have been there yourself. Knowing all that which place would you say to go to?

[jcv400ex]

Marienville is groomed, but it's still challenging. The bike trail is one of the best trails around. It's a mixture of tight woods, rocks and hill climbs. It's def. a "must ride" place. THen there's about 40 miles of a mixture of woods/roads. Makes for a nice day of riding. When we do the bike trail, then hit another loop....we're looking at around 60 miles of good trail riding. It's a good day of riding.

Here's the link to the forest:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/allegheny/

[upstate rider]

jcv400ex thanks for the website , I can't make the trip out on July 27th but I'll be making it before son has to go back to school in the fall.

Grindstone trails are pretty sick in parts! Um nut climbs that some people never made it EVER! BUt mostly fun *** trail riding! I live around Uniontown, Bellevernon, Brownsville, Lil Cali, Perryopolis. I am 30 miles south of Pittsburg!

[jaspurx]

you guys missed a good ride sunday!! started kinda early , but lasted all day!! trails and hills mostly. best of all , nobody griped or got hurt. not even a nasty crash. doing it again this sunday too!! if somerset is not too far for you you are invited!!

[svwildcats]

I live in Cranberry and I normally ride on about 300acres of woods and fields behind my neighborhood. There are lots of creek crossings woods trails, hills, fields, and lots of mud holes right now but most usually dry up by mid July, but nothing too challenging. Lots of people used to ride here, like 30/40 on the weekends but that was a couple years ago, then the cops got involved cuz people would zip across the roads and stuff so now I'm pretty much the only one that rides here the most I see now is like 1-4 people per week. Its a shame cuz more people since the cops came not many people come. I ride almost all day every day during the summer (Nothing else to do and its fun) and almost every weekend during the winter, and no one has ever said anything about me riding back there, in fact the builders in my neighborhood often encourage me and try to get me to pull wheelies and stuff when I head back to my house. Theres now a gravel place to park and nobody cares now so if anyone is interested in a fun place to ride and arent too far your welcome to come. Just let me know and I'll meet you there for a ride. I also ride at Switchback and have been to Shenango Lake and Marienville all are nice places to ride.

svwildcats-

[Creech52]

I live near new castle PA and do alot of riding behind my friends house in Ellwood city, there are quite a few trails and stuff, anyway the main reason I posted cuz I ride in butler at my friends sister's farm its near switchback on Hindman road and theres tons of wooded trails and some wicked mud holes, water crossings( aka water holes or ponds) and some hill climbs. We are always looking for more riders out there. there's about 4 or 5 of us that ride out there now.

[upstate rider]

Wow this is and old thread, leaving for PA in the morning for some riding.

[jcv400ex]

upstate,

where are ya heading too?? I got the cannondale screaming again.

[jaspurx]

i`m a little farther south of cranberry , about 100 miles. but the riding here is a little gnarlier at times. i`ve ridden in that area. i noticed the hills are a little smaller. other than that it was cool !!

[jyonks46]

rostraver is by far the best place to ride around here...it has everything u could want a track,(built by me and my friend with a bobcat), good trails..

[400EXPILOT]

I ride out there also but never on the Webster side. Where would I cross at by the fruit stand? And is there a lot of rideing on that side?
I live in Elizabeth Twp

[blackraptor01]

Don't forget Finleyville, it has some good riding also. Webster or Rostraver which ever is cool - you can cross 51 at the fruit market and ride all the way to Sutersville. I don't know about Connelsville anymore but it wasn't bad riding.

[upstate rider]

Originally posted by jcv400ex
upstate,

where are ya heading too?? I got the cannondale screaming again. Just saw your reply alittle to late :eek2: Went to Denton Hill found the trails smooth as silk, 4th and 5th gear most all the time nice trails in the woods but no places to play so left for Sproul more challenging :D but more rocks too and more riders. We looked for the pit 1st thing found it after about 10 min. the trails are not marked very well if you can find any markers, I think once you get on top there's tracks around every pine tree up there, was thinking we were going to get lost in no time at 1st :eek: We did find some places to play my son liked the place where there were moggles and places to jump :macho We didn't try the pit but I can see how people crash it's deep and steep and if you don't make it your down in a bad way. Had good time over all

[jaspurx]

a lot of the guys i usually ride with ride there often. i have never been there yet. always sounds like a good time.those guys say the pit is not so bad , just gotta know what you are doing , and know your machine`s limits. i`ll probably make a trip up there one of theese days.