BETA Adds New Expert Singletrack
The Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA) puts a lot of time and energy into refurbishing its existing mountain-bike networks, but it hasn’t stopped creating new and exciting trails to ride.
This season, BETA unveiled fabulous expert routes at East Branch Community Trails, near Keene, and at Dewey Mountain just outside Saranac Lake in the Town of Harrietstown.
Both are challenging enough that riders are advised to “pre-ride” the trails, scouting the various features, before committing to a full-on descent.
Luke Peduzzi, the master builder at East Branch, outdid himself with Trail 8 (a temporary name). Like the other machine-built trails in the network, Trail 8 has big berms and optional jumps, but it makes more use of natural and man-made rock features. Whereas most East Branch trails, with the exception of Duzzi, are rated green or blue, Trail 8 gives expert riders a chance to test their skills.
Just getting to the trail is a bit of a challenge. You must climb 2.7 miles, with 735 feet of ascent, to reach the downhill-only trail. The switchback ascent is fairly easy until you pass the start of Trail 7 (another temporary name). After making the next turn, you encounter a rocky ramp. A few more follow, a sign that you have left intermediate terrain.
Trail 8 begins with a bang: a fairly steep roll down a stretch of uneven bedrock that shoots you into a berm. After several more turns, you come to a large jump or rollover, depending on your speed. This is an optional feature.
Next you cross a low-angle rock rib of moderate difficulty. Then comes the pièce de résistance: a long sloping slab followed by a rock-armored drop that ends with a dirt berm. Soon after this you hit a shorter rock-armored drop.
I did a pre-ride of the hardest features. By that, I mean I walked my bike. I enjoyed the parts I could ride, but I was puzzled by one optional feature. I coasted up a jump and stopped the top. Across a gap was a landing ramp, but in between was a tree of sizable girth stretching horizontally from the hillside. Hmmm ... is Luke going to come back and cut the tree? No, as it turns out. Bikers are jumping over the tree!
After 0.4 miles, Trail 8 merges with Trail 7, which descends to the junction with Sentinel Loop. Expert riders might want to take Sentinel Loop to Duzzi, the only other black trail, which descends to Downriver.
“This trail is intended to be an advanced trail both on the climb and the downhill,” Luke said of Trail 8. “It was also designed and constructed to accommodate adaptive mountain bikers (aMTB) and provide a similar challenge for them. Most of the trail system works great for the aMTB (with the exception of Duzzi) but trails that offer advanced challenges for both MTB and aMTB at the same time are few and far between.”
BETA says there is room for one more descent trail and a small loop in the East Branch network, but there are no immediate plans to build these trails. The nonprofit is finishing a skills park at the base of the East Branch trails. Next year it plans to expand the parking area.
Dewey’s New Thrill
Unlike Trail 8, the new trail at Dewey Mountain was built with hand tools by volunteers. Dewey has older expert trails, but many began life as backcountry-ski trails. Fernie is designed for biking and has plenty of flow.
“There is a real hunger in Saranac Lake for more advanced trails,” said Ben Sitts, a village resident who sits on the BETA board. He helped build the trail.
Sitts said the crew finished the trail in the spring, but BETA didn’t publicize it right away. It was added to the TrailForks database in September.
To reach Fernie from the Dewey lodge, follow the climbing route marked by red disks. You’ll be on parts of Backgammon, Boulder Dash, Operation, Battleship, and Sorry. After 1.7 miles and 450 feet of ascent, you come to Fernie, a left turn off Sorry.
A sign at the start warns that Fernie is a double black-diamond trail. Soon after entering the ferny forest, you drop down a short slab, a portent of bigger things go come. The first expert feature is a long slab with a double fall line, ending in a sharp left turn in the dirt.
This is Ben’s favorite part of the Fernie -- “that big rock roll that kicks you down into the berm.”
Three more technical drops follow before you ride off the end off a wooden bridge. Then comes an optional launch off a huge boulder and a pair of drops over bedrock ledges. In a quarter-mile, the trail ends with a roll down a steep (almost vertical) rock face roughly 12 feet high. This last feature can be avoided by turning right before the drop.
Fernie ends on Battleship. Experts might want to continue the descent via Risk. For this option, turn left on Battleship and take it to Sorry. Continue on Sorry until you reach a sign for the ski trail Timinator. Turn right and then make a quick left to get on Risk.
One of Dewey’s oldest bike trails, Risk features a narrow bridge that leads to a gap between boulders followed by a climb up and over a hump of bedrock.
Riders should be aware that Fernie crosses private property. Respect the landowner, who also happens to be a mountain biker.
