A baby bear was spotted near Bikes Go Up. Cute, for sure, but momma bear may not think much of getting between her and baby. Make noise while riding, if you see a bear turn around.
Trails in good shape and lots of bugs out.
The Forest Lea mountain bike recreation trails are developed and maintained by volunteer riders in the Ottawa Valley. RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! trails are located at 1846 (the end of) Forest Lea Rd., West of Pembroke, exit S. off Hwy. 17, travel 5 km to end of pavement. A trail map is posted to the right of the xc ski club cabin, where the mtb trails start. Trail news updated on this site regularly. Please consider making a contribution to support these trails - details at the links below.
A baby bear was spotted near Bikes Go Up. Cute, for sure, but momma bear may not think much of getting between her and baby. Make noise while riding, if you see a bear turn around.
Trails in good shape and lots of bugs out.
Things are drying up nicely now that the leaves are out. Trails are tacky and still some wet spots. Trilliums are up and about to flower. Black flies have arrived, although pretty mellow still.
Snow is almost totally gone, and the trail is dry in places and very wet in others. The gravel road is likely the messiest, especially with regular rain keeping puddles full.
Riding is ok - if you are sinking then please turn around and road ride; if you know how to head straight back to the pines then do that - they are dry.
We've been waiting for things to dry up before spring clean up. If you come across any downed branches please throw them off the trail. Anything you do to clean the trail speeds up the whole process.
We went from winter to summer in one week! Hot temps melted all the open areas, but there is still snow in the woods, and much of the snowshoed singletrack still has packed ice. Rain today will take care of some of that. The ski trail still is 50% snow covered.
Regardless, any non snow covered areas will be very wet and frost has not come out yet. If you are trying to ride and slopping in the mud and leaving ruts, please turn around. Those ruts will stay all summer and hold water taking the trail longer to dry out.
Trails are in great shape. Lots of rain means more wet spots than typical.
Mike M from Gearheads has been taking the lead on pruning back the trails, and you will notice new direction signs! These will be put up over the summer, as there are hundreds of them. The Trailforks app is still your best bet for navigating the trails.