Greenbrier State Park - Conditions

[Dirt]

Sunday, 12/5/2004 -

The trails are fantastic. There's enough rock out there that we didn't hit any mud or soft spots all day. The creek crossings were firm and in great shape.

This will be a good place to ride this winter. I'm sure I'll be back.

Peter

[Dirt]

12/12/2004

Even after all the rain, the trails were in good shape. There is one thing that I need to bring up. Some of the sections of trails get wet and have a tiny bit of standing water on them. Greenbrier trails are very firm where they're not rocky, they are pretty well packed. If you see water on the trail, ride in the middle of the trail. Don't skirt it. There are lots of sections that are starting to get a little muddy on the side of the trail because people are skirting. Ride right up the middle and there's lots of traction and no mud.

The sunday ride was great. There was even a little snow falling at the top of the ridge.

Peter

[dsantinor]

Hi,

I am just new to mountain biking. I've been to Schaeffer several times and love the trails. I'm planning to ride to Greenbrier State Park trails (red in particular) this Saturday but not familiar with the terrain :( . Is it as difficult as Gambrill?

Thanks for the tips in advance!

Darwin

[ericbrew]

I had a great time on Sunday. Thanks for the great ride leading. I was very impressed to see you on the same great frame after 14 years!

-----

dsantinor,

Greenbriar is not as technical as Gambrill but your first ride there should be taken with some caution. There are a few slightly tricky rock gardens and fast downhill sections that might offer up a few surprises underneath all those fallen leaves.

Its good place to learn technical skills for really rocky trails like Gambrill where you've got to maintain your momemtum and control your balancing to keep the tires down.

[Dirt]

Hey Darwin.

There are some great things about Greenbrier. Most of the trail junctures have maps posted on signs. The trails are marked extremely well, with colored blazes very often along the trails. The climbs really make you work. It has some nice, long climbs considering that it is a relatively small park.

The technical stuff that Eric talked about can seem pretty daunting to a beginner. If you're patient and wise, you shouldn't have a problem with the red trail. Take your time and don't be afraid to get off and walk a section a time or two before you try to ride it. I'd suggest staying off the Orange trail or walking the rough sections until you're pretty comfortable with the red trail.

With all the rain forecast for later this week, we may be out there again this weekend. I haven't checked with my cruise director yet to see what the timing is like for the ride... or if we'll be riding Saturday or Sunday. If we're riding on Saturday, you're more than welcome to join us. The casual rides are quite casually paced and we wait up for folks to catch on.

Greenbrier is set up so that if people want to do one short loop, they can drop off in the middle and be back at the car in a few moments. Others that want a longer ride can go on with more laps.

If Jason and I are on the tandem, we'll certainly be moving pretty slowly in many areas and will provide all with a lot of entertainment.

Thanks for posting up. We'd enjoy having you along if our schedules match up.

Peter

[TJC1]

No point in starting a new thread when this one will work just fine.

4/5/08:

trails today were great.

a few trees down, particularly on red and blue. not sure how long they have been down as this was my first time to this park. most look like they have been down a while because you can see where people rode around them. none of the trees have a ride over except one across the trail on a nice dh section of orange.

almost everything was dry except the lower half of the orange trail which did have a few nice (rutted) mud pits but you could ride around most of them.

all in all, excellent day. not bad for my first "real" trail ride. :D

[philvw]

Thanks for the post TJ, if your interested, we have a trailwork day there on the 13th, we will be taking care of some of those things you mention. Love to have you out helping give back to our trails.
Philip

[TJC1]

Sounds good. where can i find more details?

[philvw]

Here is the MORE calendar entry (http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2008-4-13&c=2).
Basically meet 9am at the boat ramps. We will have tools and work, no experience necessary, just a willingness to help. If you have specific questions, you can address them to me.

[TJC1]

BEAUTIFUL conditions today. A little busy tho, you can definitely tell "the season" has started.

anyone there? i was the noob on the black iron horse HT riding by myself.

[crashmore]

Did the standard Greenbrier loop yesterday. Current trail conditions were ok. There was some standing water in the gravel sections and the creeks were way up but it was rideable.

I was really surprised by how many ruts and how much overall damage there was from previous riders. I've never seen these trails so rutted up etc. Don't know if it's from folks recently riding in the rain or if it's from the recent race..

[philvw]

Last Saturday, Jim from PVC, myself and my son were out there doing trail work as a follow up to the race. There were some rutted areas, like on the grass near the dam and start/finish which we raked out and tamped, we also did some more water control at the top of the orange near camp loop D, and we also drained the HUGE puddle at the bottom of the long hill at the rear, SW corner of the park. I know there is always standing water on the gravel down in the valley, but I had reports that most of the rest was in very good shape (I did not inspect the entire course myself). Can you provide more detail of the location of the rutting? I need to go look for myself too, but have pretty much stayed off the mtb with all the rain.

[crashmore]

I'll have to sit down and look at my map to see if I can better describe where I saw the problem areas. I've taken to parking in the lot outside the park on Greenbrier road. I do remember some rough spots not long after heading in that way along the red.

Weather permitting I'll probably head that way again this weekend if I do I'll take some photos and notes.

Note I wasn't trying to start up a debate regarding the race again, I honestly don't know who or what rutted up the trails. Just was pointing out what I saw and that it may need some tlc at some point.

This park is one of my favorites in the area. I'll do what I can to make the next trail day to lend a hand in touching the trails up.

[philvw]

No worries. PVC wants to make good with the "campsite rule", leave it in as good or better shape than when you found it. I want to make sure the park management stays happy. I want the racing to continue. (even though I dont race) I'm just trying to make sure I didnt miss something glaring. If you come in from Greenbrier road, and do the red through the low lying area, the race doesnt even run that way, and it is often wet, even without all this rain. I am wondering if thats what you saw.

[crashmore]

That was definitely a part of it but not all of it by any means. Maybe we can get out there when the weather breaks and do a loop and see what needs attention.

I'll speak to my riding buddy I was with as well to see what he recalls. We were doing his version of the loop so I'm a bit unclear on where i saw what since i was just kinda following him around.

[saba]

When I was out there 2 weekends ago I was amazed at the entire portion passing the campsites on the left. There was so much rutting and erosion and standing water I was like there is no way they cannot say the race had no impact. I too am not interested in rekindling that debate just saying as a frequent rider of the park I had to give the descent past the camps to the lake the Earl Hickey

Second sore spot was where 2 trails come together before you hit the rock garden if doing the race loop. Its just after that sweet descent on the back side before you have to hit the log going left if you can picture where I'm talking about? Real muddy there I dismounted and walked around but there were nice bike tracks going right through that deep mud

[euler]

Trails were generally in good shape last night. Didn't head down by the campsite though. Portions of red are still very muddy (if you take the right at the T coming in from the Greenbrier Rd. lot) and were not really rideable. The mosquitos were absolutely horrible! Bug spray definitely required!

[redclayrambler]

Does anyone have an idea if Greenbrier is OK to ride today? I'm not sure how much rain they got up there.
Thanks,
Clay

[philvw]

Greenbrier was absolutely beautiful on 10/12 on the trailworkday. We cleared up the blowdowns and worked on some drainage areas. We have had a little rain since then, but nothing that Greenbrier would not handle well. Enjoy! Its a great park, but remember if you go on saturday that it is within hunting season and although it is not deer season, plenty of other things are in season, and Greenbrier has an active hunting community. Wear blaze orange!

[redclayrambler]

Awww, I missed your post and just did a slow road ride. I'd like to try again on Sunday, is it hunter free on Sundays? Thanks for the response by the way!!
Clay

[philvw]

There is no legal public hunting anywhere in Maryland on any sunday, ever.

I dont know about the managed hunts that they do to reduce deer population like they are doing in Schaeffer in a few weeks, but for those I think they shut all use down 100%