Place: Frederick City Watershed, Frederick, MD
Ridden: January 2016
Click on video to play
There have been quite a few weeks without a Single Track Sunday blog and/or video. With the holidays we have been busy with family and friends; of course we have been out riding but it has all been local trails that have already been featured on the blog. So we took a little hiatus from videos; we have been out just enjoying the rides on our local trails.
But now it's back to adventures in the Nankvan. Our first journey for 2016 took us to Michaux State Forest for a ride one day and Frederick City Watershed the other day. Our ride leader for the weekend Karen took us
on some amazing trails; the maps she was using for the weekend occasionally had us turning in circles but all in all we rode some sweet single track and had a good time riding with friends.
on some amazing trails; the maps she was using for the weekend occasionally had us turning in circles but all in all we rode some sweet single track and had a good time riding with friends.
We already have numerous blog reports and videos for Michaux, click here and here and here to see them; so we decided not to do another one on Michaux. Really, how many more rock gardens from Michaux can we show? Thus, even though we went to two places this weekend, the blog report is only about the Frederick Watershed.
A little background about the watershed...Frederick City Cooperative Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) contains over 7,000 acres of forest land in western Frederick County. The area is popular with deer, squirrel, grouse and turkey hunters. Recent cuts to salvage timber killed by gypsy moth defoliation has enhanced the area for grouse and deer. Numerous small ponds on the area attract migrating waterfowl particularly wood ducks and mallards. Also, bass and panfish can be caught in these ponds. Two branches of Fishing Creek are available for trout fishing.
The trails are shared use by hikers/runners, mountain bikers, and maybe even equestrian use??? Trails range from singletrack to fire roads but have a high degree of technical difficulty with large logs and extended rock gardens on climbs and descents. These trails keep a rider on their toes; the rock gardens are large and extensive, but well built so that they can be ridden (but are still a challenge to even the most skilled rider). Numerous logovers and rock-pile type features add to the technical challenge. The climbs are short to moderate in length and at times quite steep; and thus as are the descents. It is quite a fun place to ride but be ready to be challenged physically and mentally! As for total miles of trails, we ride 20 and I feel like there were many more trails to ride. Add in some road (gravel and paved) and this place could be an all-day epic ride location.
We had a great time on our adventure weekend. Both Michaux and Frederick gave us our fair share of rocks and technical challenges; more than enough to fill a weekend of riding. Both places are worth making the trip to and making an adventure out of riding there.
- words by Jess
- video by Joel
- map skills by Karen