Trexler Nature Preserve MTB 6/30/2016

Sometimes, you are motivated by curiosity and adventure, and sometimes, you are motivated by the aforementioned plus a deadline. Trexler has been a location on my radar for some time now, renown for its punchy singletrack and a particular roller coaster ride of a trail deemed "Kill Dozer". Kill Dozer was recently assigned to doom, by way of natural reassignment of the landscape, so I knew I needed to ride it before July.

I did. I rode it. Part of it. I couldn't get the links together to ride the entire thing, despite consulting GPS and trail maps. The way to the top of Kill Dozer was just obscured and obliterated except for those in the know. There was some new alternate route to reach the top of the celebrated trail.

Firstly, it was a beautiful drive to the trailhead through parts unknown to me through the greater Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. We're talking rolling hills and farmlands with distant vistas of Appalachian mountain ranges. I rolled along through hilly rural roads and tiny-town intersections and almost got lost in some slightly decaying small town that nevertheless had a weird integral draw on my psyche.

Once that was all in my rearview mirror, I rumbled onto the access road to the trailhead. The trailhead itself unveiled itself as a hot, dusty, baking bit of parking lot. I got my shit together, oriented myself and hit the trail with my ever-so-luddite paper map and notes in my pocket.

It's not always super fun when you go your own way on a new trail system, but I had fun here. I could get into the swoopy and twisting singletrack for nice sections before having to halt and check my location. There are some great sections not far from the trailhead that have pump track-like elements as well as skinnies to ride. Certainly sessionable if you want to get some skills work in.

Killdozer, the part of it that I managed to ride, was as advertised. It was a toboggan ride that begged for balance and carving huge berms. Without knowing the course, I couldn't get all the lines right, but it was a blast. Big dips that lead into hearty smooth-packed banked turns were plentiful. We can only hope that this trail survives despite the park's decisions on foliage changes.

Trexler Preserve is a nice trail system, but we'll have to see what comes of the changes that are undergoing. Unfortunately, I made the trip there only after the trail system was irrevocably changed already. I'll post my wandering, discovering, halting GPS map below. I'll try to get back there sometime soon, after the literal dust settles after the park changes.

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