Explore Jakes Rocks: Fantastic Purpose-Built MTB Trails

Ride fantastic purpose-built mountain bike trails in the middle of nowhere in Northwestern Pennsylvania!

Mountain Biking Easy, Difficult, Severe

Description

The Jakes Rocks trail system isn't located on the way to, or close to, much of anything... which makes the superb purpose-built mountain bike trails covering this small mountain in Northwestern Pennsylvania all the more impressive! This trail system was machine-built from the ground up specifically for bikes, and bikes alone! Unlike most trail systems that began life as a cross country ski trail or an old school network of social trails, Jakes Rocks gives the impression of having been birthed as a mountain bike trail system of the finest order.

The original trail construction was conducted by IMBA's Trail Solutions and hired out by the Pennsylvania Kinzua Pathways, along with the Northern Alleghenies Mountain Bike Association (NAMBA). The first phase of singletrack was completed in 2012, but even at the time of this writing in 2021, trail development in the area is still ongoing, with a ton of expansion still planned. Even so, there's already a plethora of ride options available, the best of which you will find detailed in this guidebook.

While many trail systems claim that they provide "something for everyone," not nearly so many actually deliver on the promise. But Jakes Rocks does. On top of the mountain, you'll find a fantastic four-mile beginner loop with engaging swoop and flow that is guaranteed to get any neophyte rider, from knee-high child to retired adult, hooked on the sport of mountain biking. Branching out from there, longer, slightly more technical trails provide fantastic cross-country mountain biking to serve intermediates and endurance riders alike.

When it comes time to descend off the ridge, the going gets much more difficult, with several black-diamond descents on superbly-built trails with tons of technical challenge, jump options, and more. Most notably, Black Snake is the top-tier jump line at Jakes Rocks, and Ursus mixes rock gardens, rock slabs, and stunning rock formations together into an unbelievable rip down the mountain!

And this is just the beginning! Explore the routes in this guidebook to get a sense of the overall network at Jakes Rocks, and then once you've hit these basic rides, begin mixing and matching trails to create the perfect ride combination at this hidden gem in Northwestern Pennsylvania!