The DWG Loop

The "DWG Loop" is my home loop. It's one of those sought-after affairs where your doorstep almost spills out directly into forested mountain bike trails. The ideal is this holy grail situation where there is no car commute to the trailhead, it's a short stint from your garage to some amazing network of singletrack upon the same fat tires that you'll be rotating on those trails.

I'm almost there. I roll out of my garage and ride for a few minutes on pavement around "the block". Suddenly, I swing my wheel towards the woods and I'm on my local trail network. It's not fantastic or big, but it's right there. It's magical. No car keys, wallet, bike rack, locking mechanisms... just jump on the steed and go.

No, the trails are not all magical singletrack, and there isn't 100 miles of it, but it's been evolving and improving as a small group of local riders trim up the trails and slowly add more. And like a lot of local stash ride spots, this all exists in a gray area. And it's also hard.

Immediately after leaving the pavement, you begin to ascend a rocky, gravelly and somewhat blown-out path. You gain a bit over 200 feet of elevation in only about 1/2 a mile. This used to be an old road traversing the hilly national park, interestingly enough. This levels a bit for several hundred feet and then up we go again. Old power lines still run the path, many of the small poles have fallen down from disrepair and dead-fall trees taking the wires and poles with them.

You make a right after passing some downed poles and deceased wiring and once again you ascend for a while. This leg will take you from about 785 feet and top out at 1020 feet at a pipeline break at the top of this ridge. This stretch is just a bit over 1/2 a mile as well, but from here, it's all downhill, as they say.

The top of the ridge "behind" my house

It's downhill in the direction of the photo above. It's basically a steep hill with some humps designed as runoff or ATV deterrents. They kinda work as jumps, however. Grin!

For my "normal loop", you head left at the bottom of the hill and descend gradually on doubletrack. At this time of year, the vegetation is still at its wishful thinking stage of choking the trail until it becomes a veritable tunnel in spots. You're headed for where you started now, but before you completely retrace your steps, you dive back into singletrack at an unmarked location for a bit over a half mile of varied terrain. You've got some log-overs, rock gardens, swoopy stuff and a few dirt mounds. You bounce out of the singletrack onto the old road and you're out. If you time the ride correctly, you can grab a slice of the sunset.

It's nice to take a few breaths and watch the horizon here before pedaling back home on the pavement to my doorstep. That photo kinda summarizes the feeling after the ride following a work day full of bullshit. Just wind it down and calmly stare off into space... maybe crack a beer on my patio where I can see some of this same sunset, albeit lower down the mountain.

[gjn]