Checked out Wharton Woods today. The place is rad! Quite the opposite of around here, Wharton is ripping fast twisty goodness, high- and low-speed tree threading goodness that rocks (without a single rock in the place!). Riding in the southern 'Jersey Pine Barrens is all about pedalling fast, leaning in and trying to stay off the brakes as you bend the million turns in an arc -- envision that jet-bike ripping through the trees segment in an old Star Wars episode. You can be so pegged the whole time, I pretty much bonked ugly after a 19mi loop chasing the Easy Riders team guys around. Constant accelleration and diving into multiple sequence turns. Nary a hill in the place (the high point is 80' above sea level I think. Probably only 15 real log crossings in the place, too. If that sounds easy and boring, think again -- you will be shredding deep into the corners at speed as early season grip rocket's you out of each corner ripping off your side knobs. Threading trees at speed is really cool, but consequences are high. Think of the rip and flow of the smooth tree lines at Nox, for 19 continuous miles. There are numerous mini road-gaps that you can juuussst about clear if you are pegged, and nailing backside accellerates you into another sequence of corners. It is flat out and seriously fun! I would honestly say this today's ride was one of the funnest riding experiences I've had all year. I highly recommend you guys put this on your bucket list -- it is that good.
Wharton's trail system features really well marked and maintained trails with numerous inner loops of 5-8 miles inside of the main 19 mile perimiter trail. It is hard-packed sand and clay-ish soil which holds up tremendously well to rain. Early season and winter are probably the best times to hit it . I would imagine it breaks down when it dries out and becomes tough to ride later in the season. I suggest you go there with a front tire with fresh and aggressive side knobs -- you'll definitely use them! I can't stress enough how much fun the place is to ride at speed...
The parking lot is at historic Batsto Village, which features a fully operational free museum and visitor center, as well as the entire preserved 1700's village as an interpretive living history display to check out when you are done. The place is pretty haunted, too! It is about 2 hours easy from the LV. Here is a link to the park info:
http://www2.jorba.org/index.php?title=Wharton_State_Forest
Easy Riders Racing's Charles Chichester on the gas. This about sums it up -- charging, big ring, elbows-up leaning, no brakes and no mistakes.
The historic Ironmaster's Mansion.
Yeah, it's haunted...
