[djjohnr]

Buddy of mine moved to PA recently. We're going to head out his direction for our bike trip this year, but need to figure out where to head.

Looking for:

- Someplace within a ~4ish hour drive of JFK/Newark OR Philadelphia
- Great camping (ie no KOA type BS). Dispersed preferable.
- Epic riding, bonus points for shuttles

We were thinking of heading to Blue, but the camping situation doesn't look great (although hard to tell from internet sleuthing on the other side of the continent)

Ideas?

 

[MrBaker87]

I am also interested in this information as I’ll be there in July.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Rothrock, Penn Roosevelt State Park

 

[Fool]

Killington. Have an extra red bull for the extra hour drive.

Tons of great trail riding, Killington itself for a lift day or three.

 

[jstuhlman]

y u no mountain creek? also thunder.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Killington. Have an extra red bull for the extra hour drive.

Tons of great trail riding, Killington itself for a lift day or three.

Umm... Killington ain't Pennsylvania...

 

[djjohnr]

Rothrock, Penn Roosevelt State Park

I haven’t found many videos of Rothrock, what I have makes it seem XCish…is that off base?

 

[djjohnr]

y u no mountain creek? also thunder.

How's the camping situation around those?

 

[djjohnr]

Killington. Have an extra red bull for the extra hour drive.

Tons of great trail riding, Killington itself for a lift day or three.

For some reason I thought Killington was farther away from NYC than it is, that might work

 

[jonKranked]

I haven’t found many videos of Rothrock, what I have makes it seem XCish…is that off base?

that's a pretty accurate assessment of Rothrock. it's good if that's what you're into.

uh, Mt Penn in Reading is very DH oriented and can be shuttled. no camping. not that i'd recommend that in Reading.

where in PA does your buddy live?

 

[canadmos]

Killington also has free camping.

Though it might be in the parking lot?

 

[jonKranked]

i'll just throw this out there - anyone heading to blue give me a shout. its a touch under 90 minutes for me, and would be cool to meet up with some other RM folks.

 

[djjohnr]

Killington also has free camping.

Though it might be in the parking lot?

Eh...is there better camping nearby? The types of places we're used to out west are generally in national forests or on BLM land where you usually have some epic views and are pretty far removed from civilization.

 

[jstuhlman]

How's the camping situation around those?

free camping in the lot at thunder; i'm sure there are nicer places nearby as it's in rural western mass in the berkshires, but don't know for sure. don't know about mountain creek either.

 

[jonKranked]

Eh...is there better camping nearby? The types of places we're used to out west are generally in national forests or on BLM land where you usually have some epic views and are pretty far removed from civilization.

i've got some bad news if that's what you're expecting to find on the east coast.

 

[jonKranked]

free camping in the lot at thunder; i'm sure there are nicer places nearby as it's in rural western mass in the berkshires, but don't know for sure. don't know about mountain creek either.

mt creek doesn't allow camping, they want you to stay at the resort.

 

[jonKranked]

i think there's some state parks around vernon / hamburg (where creek is), might be worth looking into what they have for camping options. wouldn't be KOA style, but wouldn't be free either.

 

[canadmos]

If Killington is in the mix then Burke isn't much further.

The camping there is better than being in a parking lot, but it aint cheap anymore. Though you do get access to some of the resorts amenities like the pool.

Burke Campground

Burke Mountain Resort - The Last Little Corner of Vermont

www.skiburke.com

You could do some real shuttling there as well. The bike park itself is pretty tiny, but has lots of jumps if thats your thing.

 

[Sandwich]

MA doesn't really have the same access to gorgeous camping areas, but there are some facilities available and certainly several around Charlemont.

I haven't been in a while, but I used to love Thunder- great spot for lift riding and I heard they were adding a second lift but I don't know the status. Riding used to be far better than anywhere else local, though I hear Killington stepped up their game. There is also some XC right across the street apparently. You could also hit up jiminy peak as an alternative, though it's been several years since I've visited.

There's always plattekill

 

[jonKranked]

There's always plattekill

i'm sure what's left of any trails is either overgrown or eroded away

 

[Sandwich]

i'm sure what's left of any trails is either overgrown or eroded away

lol eroded- there wasn't much to not erode. Still there's probably a ton of deadfall and overgrowth. I bought that fury with great excitement over riding a real DH bike at real DH trails, and they closed before I ever could. Oh well RIP in peace

 

[jonKranked]

Eh...is there better camping nearby? The types of places we're used to out west are generally in national forests or on BLM land where you usually have some epic views and are pretty far removed from civilization.

i've got some bad news if that's what you're expecting to find on the east coast.

joking aside, there are 4 national forests in all of new england (including PA), fewer than in CA alone. BLM land in new england is so minimal it's effectively non-existent. There's only like 40k acres total east of the missisippi.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Eh...is there better camping nearby? The types of places we're used to out west are generally in national forests or on BLM land where you usually have some epic views and are pretty far removed from civilization.

Lol.

 

[schwaaa31]

MA doesn't really have the same access to gorgeous camping areas, but there are some facilities available and certainly several around Charlemont.

I haven't been in a while, but I used to love Thunder- great spot for lift riding and I heard they were adding a second lift but I don't know the status. Riding used to be far better than anywhere else local, though I hear Killington stepped up their game. There is also some XC right across the street apparently. You could also hit up jiminy peak as an alternative, though it's been several years since I've visited.

There's always plattekill

Thunder has been running 2 lifts for a few years now. They added a detachable quad this winter and they’re running it for bikes this season.

 

[schwaaa31]

Killington is great too. Just wish they could run some more trails off the gondola. Cable trail is great, but some of the old school stuff is pedaling across or up the traverse. That stuff sucks on a DH bike. There are a few other trails coming down off the top that are gnarly steep tech. The trails off of Ramshead are really fun. That peak doesn’t have much for pitch, so it’s lay off your brakes hauling ass. A couple good jump trails too. Snowshed is geared towards beginners, but has the best jump trail at the mountain there IMO. You can link a run from the top of the gondola, down Cable to a few options to the jump trail on Snowshed for a long awesome run.