The weather forecast for Saturday was stellar. Turns out the weatherman was totally correct.  I’ve been dying to go mountain biking for a few weeks now.  I haven’t actually ridden my mountain bike since early June.  Everything since then has been road bike (IF or Niner) or touring (Fargo) bike related.  So needless to say a good mountain bike ride was long past due.

I wanted to make the full connection that we messed up on during our hike the other week.  Doing so by bike would make it go by much faster too.

It was another quiet day out at Reehers camp.  I ran into a couple more mushroom pickers and one hunter, that was about it.  I did hear plenty of gunshots though.  A little disconcerting at times, but it is hunting season and in all honesty, it’s nothing new.  As long as I have been mtn biking, especially in the Fall, I’ve had to share the woods with hunters.  You just have to make sure that you wear some bright colors.  A lot of guys I know attach bells to their bikes too.

I got to the same point we did on our hike, but followed the 1 mile to Gales Creek sign.  However at the connection with Gales Creek Trail it was only 1.1 miles back to the car.  The hike description indicated going up Rice Road and Round Top Road.  So I followed Round Top Road until it turns to Bell Camp Road, at which point I had obviously gone too far.  I turned around after about 4 miles and noticed a tiny little sign with horse, hiker, biker symbol and knew that was it.  I missed it on the way up because it blended in so well with the grass and dirt.  I’m under the impression that based on the written hike description and what currently exists out there that there is a new section of Step Creek that cuts off some of the climbing up to Rice/Round Top.

the descent down Gales Creek Trail was pretty sweet.  Lots of tight corners, buffed out and not another soul in sight.

Before taking off I checked out the actual Reehers Camp Horse Camp.  They do have a couple hiker only sites, but for the most part they definitely cater to the horse riders.  The sites have the typical fire pit, picnic table and then quite the large horse stalls.

With the weather looking to finally turn a bit more typical over the next few days, this was a nice way to spend a gorgeous late October day.  Hopefully I can get in some more rides, but if it gets too wet, I don’t want to destroy the trails.

That’s about it for now.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete