Vacation Report: Grouseland and Green Ridge State Forest

"Alan McClure" wrote in message news:0HcSa.97524$N7.12035@sccrnsc03...
wrote in message
om...
The past year has seen alot of firsts for me in mountain biking. Back
in May, I attended my first mountain bike festival. During that
festival I got to test ride quite a few different bikes, plus I got a
chance to ride some very challenging singletrack with a more
experienced rider, both of which, in only a two day experience, have
benefitted for life as a rider, I'm sure. I've conquered alot of
obstacles and trails for the first time this past year. Oddly enough,
I've conquered them on a hard tail and a rigid single speed whereas
before I wasn't comfortable conquering them on a longer travel bike.

My next first came this past week. I had my Kona Stinky up for sale
on mtbreview.com about two months ago, when someone emailed me and
asked if I would be interested in trading. After seeing what he had,
I agreed. I inherited a beautiful 2001 Cannondale F700 hardtail, with
the old Volvo/Cannondale paint scheme. It was failry customized too;
it has a set of tubless Crossmax wheels, Easton bars, Thomson seat
post, full XTR, and Hutchinson Python Tubless tires. When I got the
Cannondale, I was searching their site for a local Cannondale
dealership, when I came across some place called Grouseland.
Curriousity made me look to see what this place was, considering it
was listed under the dealer network. Here's what I found

http://www.grouseland.com/

Grouseland is nestled in mountainous south central Pennsylvania,
located in Purcell, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border. It lies
south of Route 26, which is a very scenic, narrow road that flows
through Southern PA. Specifically, Grouseland is located off of
Robinsonville Road, in Purcell.

I checked the website out thoroughly, and didn't take much convincing
for me to choose this as my first mountain bike vacation. I just
wasn't sure when I would go. My father passed away the week before
fathers day, and after getting back to work, had to jump in and
immediately get my store ready for inventory. I set the week of July
14th as the target week to get down there. After the inventory and
all it's preparation, I was more then ready.

I molded the directions I got off of mapquest.com and the directions
that Murray and his wife Jane have listed on their website, and set
off on Monday morning. It was a beautiful 4 hour plus drive from my
part of the state to theirs. I would caution anyone wanting to come
to this area: if you can find any way to avoid driving the
Pennsylvania Turnpike, DO SO! The traffic was extremely congested,
even for a Monday morning, speeds go up and down dramatically, as does
your vehicle from one side of a mountain to another, and the road is
ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH!

It's simply beautiful in the Purcell/Artemas Pennsylvania area. It's
also quite a ways from a true small town, the closest being Everett
Pennsylvania, which is approximately 16-20 miles from Grouseland. I
stayed at the famoust "Road Kill Cafe" owned by a lovely lady named
Barb Snyder. She owns a few small, lovely cabins above the cafe,
which I is where I stayed. $25 dollars a night for a lovely small
cabin with Primestar, hot showers, and two beds.

As you can see from looking at the Grouseland website, there are a
number of different packages that Murray can make up for you. I
choose the one day deluxe tour package. I left my bike off for Murray
to go over Monday afternoon, and arrived promptly, as directed, at 9
am the next morning. The first thing you see as you approach
Grouseland is Murrays bike shop, which is run by solar power. He
doesn't keep a huge inventory of bikes on hand that he might end up
getting stuck with like alot of other shops; instead, being only
around 30 miles from Bedford PA, home of Cannondale USA, he orders the
bike straight from the factory for you, goes and picks it up, and
brings it to the shop, assembles it professionaly for you, and then
invites you back when it's finished and he then takes you along for a
ride to make sure everything is up to your standard. He also offers
great discounts on the bikes themselves and on equipment/gear.

So I pull in at 9 am, and he has our bikes out front ready for the
day. After some last minute adjustments, we set off for his skills
course. He tested me on panic stopping, weight shifting, tight turns
(riding in figure 8's of different difficulties), low bridge (learning
how to properly duck out of the way of low hanging obstacles,
wheelieing, and conquering steep downhill sections. Murray is a very
skilled rider, and brought a whole new perspective on riding for me.
After the skills course, we headed to the shop for a brief period of
time to fuel up on drinks and snacks. Afterwards, we were off to the
Buchanan State Forest. It was climbing, Climbing, CLIMBING, more
climbing then I have ever done on one trail ride. of course, I hardly
live near mountains too. We stopped at an old maintained church that
was built in the late 1800's and is still maintained beautifully by
ancestors of those who are burried in the cemetary adjacent to the
church. Murray, the owner of Grouseland, is highly educated in
wildlife; he is extremely knowledgable in every area, from animals, to
plants and trees, to stars and constellations. He pointed out a
number of intersting nature related facts during our ride. After a
long downhill out of the forest, we headed back to the bike shop,
where he furnished lunch for me. After lunch, we headed back to his
beautiful pond that he allows you to either, swim, kayak, or just sit
and relax and help feed all the beautiful fish that call the pond
home. After sitting and relaxing and talking for close to 1 1/2
hours, we went for a short ride. After that, I headed back to my
cabin briefly to change and shower, and then returned to the shop to
meet Murray for the rest of the festivities. The deluxe tour also
includes a campfire and a well cooked dinner, a nature program, in
which he brings his owl "Thicket" out and allows you to put on a
safety glove and let the owl perch on your arm, and star gazing with a
very powerful telescope, weather permitting. All in all, it was a day
that I could have only dreamt of up to that point.

Wednesday I returned to Grouseland to tackle some of Murray's 10 miles
of single track on my own. Murray had also mentioned to me that there
was some great riding in Maryland's Green Ridge State Forest. After a
good nights sleep Wednesday, taking Murray's advice, I packed plenty
of water and granola for the trek into the state forest.

Maryland is a beautiful state, and if the Green Ridge mountain bike
trail is any indication, it caters to mountain bikers.
http://www.trails.com/explore/tcatal...lID=BGD018-003

The trail is 12 miles long, and has absoloutley everything; steep
uphills, BLAZING downhills, rock gardens, mud, stream crossings, and a
nice camping area at the trail head. My trip wouldn't have been
complete without a visit there.

All in all, the trip was more then I had ever dreamt it would be. I
highly recommend visiting Grouseland and taking advantage of any of
the packages they offer. Being so close, visiting the Green Ridge
State Forest is a must do event too. This area is a great getaway, no
matter where you are from, and the team at Grouseland will do all they
can to make it a memorable event for you!

Sounds like a lot of fun. I think it's always good to ride with a more
experienced rider, there is no end to what I learn from it.

A.

Here's a better link regarding the Green Ridge State Forest.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclan...ridgebike.html

"ctg" wrote in message ...
wrote in message
om...

Sounds like you had a nice time but there's no way in hell I'd drive several
hours and pay to ride their advertised "For Hard-core Mt. Bikers 8 miles of
single track"

That would have to be the best damn 8 miles of trail in the world.

Chris

Actually, there are now 10 miles of singletrack, and you don't have to
pay just to go ride his trails. All you have to do is sign a waiver,
and you can ride all you want.

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 13:56:14 -0700, P e t e F a g e r l i n
wrote:

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 20:24:45 GMT, "ctg" wrote:

|
wrote in message
.com...
|
|Sounds like you had a nice time but there's no way in hell I'd drive several
|hours and pay to ride their advertised "For Hard-core Mt. Bikers 8 miles of
|single track"
|
|That would have to be the best damn 8 miles of trail in the world.

Maybe there were some bondage/spanking sessions going on at the same
time?

Regardless, it was a funny read, given that it shed light on his lack
of experience, which in turn sheds light on the many silly things that
he has posted in amb.


YYYYAAAAAAWWWWNNNNN!

P e t e F a g e r l i n wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 20:24:45 GMT, "ctg" wrote:
|Sounds like you had a nice time but there's no way in hell I'd drive several
|hours and pay to ride their advertised "For Hard-core Mt. Bikers 8 miles of
|single track"

The "for hardcore" thing in advertising would have been a glaring
warning sign to any experienced mountain biker. The eight miles thing
would only have confirmed its lack of substance.

|That would have to be the best damn 8 miles of trail in the world.

In the Quichestone state? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Maybe there were some bondage/spanking sessions going on at the same
time?

Are we taking bets?

Regardless, it was a funny read, given that it shed light on his lack
of experience, which in turn sheds light on the many silly things that
he has posted in amb.

The persecution rests, your honor.

JD

(JD) wrote in message . com...
P e t e F a g e r l i n wrote in message . ..


Let's see hypocrites, how do you say it, HUMP AWAY, HUMPY!

I'd rather be an intermediate rider for the rest of my life, riding 12
miles of singletrack then look like Motorheads twin brother