The Road to PBP (and other stuff)

“The Fells belongs to you, to all of us.”

Unless you’re a biker. (Warning: minor rant to follow — feel free to skip down to the route description.)

“The Fells belongs to you, to all of us.” This quote is taken from The Friends of the Fells website. And it only applies to hikers. Without dogs. Even though multiple studies have shown that bikers do no more damage to trails and the environment than hikers (and disturb the wildlife less than hikers), bikers are the pariahs of the Fells and are restricted to one meager trail which consists mostly of fireroad. Technically, the route I’m posting here is not a legal biking trail. But, in theory, I’m sure it would make for excellent biking. Having made this disclaimer, I believe that bikers have the moral high ground in this fight. “The Fells belongs to you, to all of us.” We treasure this resource just as much as the hikers; we protect it; we volunteer our time to maintain the trails. And we should have equal access.

To ensure that we hold the moral high ground, it is particularly important for bikers to be on their best behavior in the Fells which includes:

• Yield to hikers
• Be super nice to dog-walkers (technically dogs aren’t allowed in the Fells off a leash either, so I regard dog-walkers as fellow delinquents and hence, allies)
• Stay on the trail! Do not widen the singletrack. This means:
  • Ride through water on trails, not around
  • Ride over rocks and roots, not around
  • If a section is too challenging, walk your bike over the obstacles, not around.

Despite the awkward tension between bikers and “Friends of the Fells,” a vast majority of the hikers I have encountered at the Fells are extremely nice and more than willing the share the forest. Hopefully some day the Friends will mirror this generous spirit and adopt a fair, safe, ecologically sound policy for bikers.

The Route:

Middlesex Fells Reservation (Medford, MA) contains some of the best MTB trails within biking distance of Boston. Click on the image on the right for a more detailed map of the route; numbers in the photos correspond to numbers in parentheses in the description below. For more information see FellsBiker.com, an excellent resource for all things bikes and Fells related.

Start at the Governors Avenue entrance. Follow the fireroad into the Fells until you arrive at a large flat rock where the trail splits in a Y junction (Panther Cave). Take a small detour to jump off the rock if you have suspension (the landing is kind of flat so suspension is handy). Facing the rock, take the left fork and continue on fireroad. Watch for a well-used singletrack on the right. Follow this singletrack over boulders (1); this section of the trail only goes for a short distance before reconnecting with the fireroad but it’s worth the detour. Rejoin the fireroad and keep going. Just before you get to the reservoir, you will see pile of logs (2) with singletrack on the right. Ride over the log pile for fun, circle back and take the singletrack trail (green, Bike Loop Trail). This is actually part of the legal bike loop and has recently been restored. NEMBA has done a fantastic job resurrecting this fun stretch of trail; it’s possibly the most technical part of the route with a tricky rock garden just past the switchback. After the rock garden there are two long bridges (3), then uphill to the trickiest corner in the loop. Ride/walk up the rock face and turn left at the top. (I’ve never made this turn. In fact, I’ve never witnessed anyone making it up this turn. Down, maybe. But not up.) Continue following the singletrack up to the fireroad.

Turn left on fireroad and continue a few yard to the green/blue trail on the right. Follow the blue blazes (Cross Fells Trail) to the fireroad where the blue trail rejoins green. For a diversion, ride over flat log pile in the intersection. Go straight through intersection up the blue trail. Take the right fork at the top of the short climb and follow the trail over the boulders (4). After a short stretch, the trail will reconnect with fireroad. Turn left and follow the fireroad a short way to the orange trail (Reservoir Trail). Follow the orange blazes to the Sheepfold (5). Ride through the meadow and on the far side, take a left on the paved road which eventually turns into back into the Reservoir Trail. This stretch of the orange trail is the most treacherous as it is near the Sheepfold parking lot and pathologically disturbed hikers leave loose rocks on the path. Fortunately these maladjusted folks don’t seem to have much stamina so they don’t get very far from the parking lot and the extent of the hazardous section is limited. Towards the North end of the reservoir, the trail has a nice recently rebuilt section with easy-to-ride-down steps (6). Go down the steps to the intersection with the fireroad.

Turn right onto the fireroad. Follow the road a few yards, turn left back on to the orange/white trail and ride across the “bridges” made of double planks (7). (Warning! Yes, your front wheel will fit in the gap between the planks on the third bridge.) After the bridges there is a short climb followed by fun, fast, swoopy downhill to the NEMBA bridge (8). Cross the bridge (the rocks are a bit tricky on the far side) and ride up the switchbacks. At the top of the switchbacks you’ll come out on a paved stretch of bike path. Follow this around the corner (with a view of the reservoir on your left) and continue on the orange/white/green trail (still uphill!). After the climb, there is a wide somewhat boring segment until you cross the second fireroad. Immediately after crossing the road there is a sharp right turn which is the beginning of a fun, technical, rocky stretch (9). Warning! If you hit the last switchback too fast, it’ll pitch you off the trail. At the bottom, turn left onto the fireroad and follow the blazes for the orange trail. This will lead to another short climb from which you can see the reservoir through the trees on the left (10). Cross the bridge at the bottom and ride/walk up the impossible-to-climb hill. To climb the hill you can take either the left or right branch — they meet back up at the top. The left branch is slightly easier (but still impossible) to ride up. Keep following orange blazes. which will eventually lead you to a stretch of downhill fireroad with loose rocks (orange/white/green).

At the bottom of the downhill fireroad section, take a left on the paved road. A few yards on, turn right, back onto the orange/white/green trail and ride up the switchbacks. At the top (11), you will see a water tower on your left. Keep following orange/white/green down another short, fun downhill to the fireroad. If you are tired at this point, follow the green blazes (all on fireroad) back to Panther Cave. If your legs still have something left, continue straight on the fireroad at the bottom of the water tower hill but watch for the orange/white trail on your left. Follow the orange/white singletrack and at the next intersection with the fireroad, turn left. Follow the orange blazes. Parts of this stretch are a little tricky; it’s one of the few stretches of the trail that is easier to ride in the other direction. Eventually, the trail comes out at the fireroad by the reservoir. Turn right onto the fireroad and ride back over the log pile. Follow fireroad back (stay left and take the mini-jump before the Panther Cave). Arrive back at Governors Avenue.

If you ride The Fells in the summer, bring bug spray! Overall, I would say this loop is better than Ajax trail, not as good as Government and similar to Case. So I give it 4 squid bikes.

Magnificent! Superb! Stupendous! Unrivaled! Government Trail East (Aspen, CO) is 10 miles of nonstop fun from Snowmass to Aspen. The Snowmass end is the most technical part of the trail — in fact, it’s the most technical singletrack I rode in Aspen between Rim, Ajax, Government and Hunter Valley. Some spots are rocky/rooty and there are a few water crossings. After coming down Snowmass, you arrive at the intersection of Government and Anaerobic Nightmare. This is followed by a rocky uphill stretch before Buttermilk. After that it’s one long shot of hard-packed narrow fast downhill singletrack bliss all the way to Aspen. Definitely 5 out of 5 squid bikes.

I found it all ridable except for one gnarly tree root in the middle of a switchback near the end (see photos). If the roots weren’t in the middle of a switchback it looks like one could roll down or hop over them (even though the drop is a couple feet) but, as is, I don’t see how one could make the turn after the landing … if anyone reading this makes it over, post a picture and show us mere mortals how it’s done!

The other nice thing about this trail is that there is very little traffic. This might be because (1) the trail is NOT a loop and (2) it is somewhat more technical than the other rides near Aspen. (My sister and her BF were less excited about the trail than I was. If you’re looking for a gentle intro to MTB do NOT start with Government — try something a little milder like Hunter Valley).

NOTE: Government trail is CLOSED for a couple of weeks in June for elk calving season. Check the dates before you go!

Getting there: There are many ways to get on to Government. I tried the following two:

• From Aspen, ride up the Owl Creek Trail (paved) to Tom Blake. Ride up Tom Blake (singletrack but easier than Government) to the intersection with Anaerobic Nightmare. Ride (walk?) UP the aptly named Anaerobic Nightmare which intersects with Governement Trail. Go left to Aspen. If you take this route, you’ll miss most of the technical terrain on Snowmass (but you’ll still get to ride the rocky uphill section before Buttermilk). OR
• Drive or take bus to Snowmass Village. From the Mall, take Burlingame lift up (bikes allowed on the lift). Government Trail starts above the top of the lift. It’s a little tough to find the trailhead from the lift but you can always ask the super nice and super helpful Snowmass guys at the top for directions.