Jim Thorpe area trails?

a.s.

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
Some buddies decided that Jim Thorpe would make a good day trip. Problem is, we don’t know the area at all. Anyone have recommendations on good trails that way?

THX
 
I was just there last month for four days at Mauch chunk campground. I used to run a high school cross country camp up at Mauch chunk lake every mid august.
Trails:

Switchback trail to mount pisgah. You have to traverse a Cliff while back into top portion of Thorpe. carrying bike across to get to top of pisgah. That is called Indian run. And the very sketchy downhill
Ridge line trail runs from flagstaff road back to old mountain road. 10 miles or so

Broad mountain loop 10 miles. Watch for rattlesnakes on trail.

Back side of summit mountain has some trails. One rides the rim of sheer drop off from strip mining.
Go to cemetery up on the city of summit hill. Take some atv tracks till you get to the trail. Used to be single track now it’s atv trail. Not as scary.

Most of the good riding has been hobbled up by the hunters on state game lands. American standard was a favorite along with deer path trail
But alas…

Mostly all cross country hiking trails.
 
Any of the good, no longer legal, singletrack like American Standard, Deer Path 1 & 2, Uranium Road, etc is likely overgrown, leaving just the fire roads on Broad Mountain. If you want a day trip to PA I’d suggest the Scranton area. Plenty of fun, MTB friendly options including Lackawanna State Park, Merli Sarnoski, and Eales Preserve. You will not be disappointed with any of them. Some good breweries in the area for apres-ride.
 
Tankhead and Icebiker comments are good to consider, I've been mostly riding D&L and the Switchback Trail the last several years. Gravel grinding in the JT area north on the D&L to Mountain Top is a nice option if you want miles and nice views of the gorge.
 
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This is info I got today
 
JonF said:
Why not Blue Mountain bike park while you're there? It's literally minutes away from Jim Thorpe.
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I didn’t put this together. A couple of buddies decided they wanted to check out Jim Thorpe. I’m going along for the ride.

I mentioned Blue. Hopefully they realize how lame the fire roads are and decide to give it a try. None of them are park riders but we have ridden Burke Mtn together, which they seemed to enjoy. I’m bringing my full face for some subliminal coaxing. 😁

🤞🏻
 
If you get bored and don't wind up at the resorts you can stop at West End Regional Park in Saylorsburg on the way home; it's not far from Jim Thorpe or Blue. I recently relocated near the park after 2.5 years in VA near Shenandoah (lots of trails) and 50+ years in central NJ/Union Country. It's not a huge park but so far I've been happy.
 
Aresab310 said:
If you get bored and don't wind up at the resorts you can stop at West End Regional Park in Saylorsburg on the way home; it's not far from Jim Thorpe or Blue. I recently relocated near the park after 2.5 years in VA near Shenandoah (lots of trails) and 50+ years in central NJ/Union Country. It's not a huge park but so far I've been happy.
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WERP is awesome
 
Reviving this thread. Curious. Any updates? Or Garmin file? I see some of the trails on TF and could probably put something together
 
JT used to be great. I attended the Mountain Bike Weekend festivals there from 1989-2005. (My avatar is from one of the event t-shirts!) The bike shop in town sold a little booklet of trail maps with turn-by-turn directions (pre-GPS/smartphone). I'm sure I still have it somewhere. Here's a link from the now-defunct store with a list of good rides: https://bikejimthorpe.com/trails.htm

The history of mountain biking in and around JT is a bummer. Most of the good riding is on State Game Lands and the hunters did not want to share. SGL operations are mostly paid for by hunting license revenue.
 
SmooveP said:
JT used to be great. I attended the Mountain Bike Weekend festivals there from 1989-2005. (My avatar is from one of the event t-shirts!) The bike shop in town sold a little booklet of trail maps with turn-by-turn directions (pre-GPS/smartphone). I'm sure I still have it somewhere. Here's a link from the now-defunct store with a list of good rides: https://bikejimthorpe.com/trails.htm

The history of mountain biking in and around JT is a bummer. Most of the good riding is on State Game Lands and the hunters did not want to share. SGL operations are mostly paid for by hunting license revenue.
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thanks! I've heard that it's not what it used to be...but figured maybe a day trip and end up in town...
 
As mentioned in the Facebook thread, it sounds like the DCNR is really cracking down on mtn bikes on the single track. Not sure what happened as it used to be more of a "don't ask, don't tell" situation, but it's been at least 15 years since I've ridden there so I'm not sure. My WAG right now is only the Mauch Chunk ridge trails are open now along with a handful of the trails off the Gravity Railroad trail. Honestly, not really worth the drive, IMHO.
 
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