Tag: Storm King Highway

Black Rock Forest Adventures! Scouting for Future GrNY Rides

This ride was under the radar: Steve sent an GrNY email to riders who typically join our longer distance group. Key information: Bring the biggest tires you’ve got for your gravel bike and understand that we are riding into the unknown. I have NOT posted a complete route yet, because key connecting roads have not yet reopened (namely Storm King Highway), but they are supposed to open this fall. Expect to see a GrNY ride at that time.

Scouting report: It was definitely an adventure — and a lot of fun! Black Rock Forest has always been a favorite spot, but was badly damaged in the storms from July 2023. I’m pleased to say that all of the roads they list as “maintained” are back in action and still a lot of fun on the gravel bike, particularly if you bring the big tires. These are not Westchester Dirt roads! They are mildly maintained jeep roads. My thanks to Nick, who scouted the eastern side the day before and gave us the heads-up that Old West Point Rd (another unmaintained jeep road) was an overgrown mess. That’s one bit of exploration we didn’t need to do on our own! Thanks to my fellow riders for joining me on this adventure — it was way more fun with some company who were ready for a bit of the unknown!

[As an aside, we started the day with a trip up Bear Mountain, since we were passing next to it and a couple of riders hadn’t ridden it yet. It’s always an enjoyable and nicely-graded climb.]

I have added an annotated map of Black Rock Forest to this post. It shows which jeep roads are in decent shape. Check marks = Good. All of the jeep roads marked in blue were enjoyable to ride — assuming you expect some rough conditions and are up for some adventure. Steve has done all of these jeep roads on skinnier rubber (e.g. 35mm slicks!), but it’s a lot safer and more enjoyable on bigger tires. Steve was riding 2.2″ 650B tires at ~20 PSI and did not regret it, though one of our group members was riding 38s and managed okay.

Blue trail color = enjoyable to ride on a gravel bike, assuming you expect some rough conditions and are up for some adventure. Red X’s = rough and overgrown with vegetation. Definitely not fun or recommended.

This is what it’s like in those sections we marked with red X’s on the map. I have no idea what is under that vegetation. We rode most of it, hitting rocks, branches, holes, and hoping we wouldn’t get knocked off our bikes. It might be worth riding after the vegetation dies down and the snow has melted. Snow melt often takes several weeks longer here at Black Rock Forest than other places in the region.

Warnings about damaged dirt roads and trails in our region

Areas north of NYC experienced torrential rains during a mid-July storm (2023). It’s already mid-September, but some roads and trails have not yet been repaired. Be extra careful if you plan to ride in these areas, below.

Parts of Sunken Mine Rd, in Puntam County, NY were destroyed during the aforementioned storm. I’ve heard from a few groups of riders who found this out the hard way. In one case, a rider went down pretty hard as they approached the destruction. Even on the “better” parts, I’ve heard that the road/trail is pretty rough and there are many downed branches. The photo above the post, with the rider in yellow, is of Sunken Mine Rd. It was taken by Ken shortly after the July storm. Thanks Ken!

NOTE: Many of the dirt roads in Putnam County are in rougher shape than usual. On our last ride, we encountered many more washouts, big potholes, or soft spots (where riders lost traction) than usual. Old Albany Post Rd is one example of a great dirt road, which is rideable, but extra caution is required – particularly when going downhill, where speeds will be high. We purposly routed uphill only for most of our time on that road, with one short exception, which you could consider cutting around by staying on Rt 9 in that direction.

Black Rock Forest is a beautiful place to ride. That said, it should be avoided by bike until the roads and trails can be repaired (consider a hike instead). The trails and some of the other infrastructure at this research forest were badly damaged in that July storm. I think some of that damage will take a long time to repair. Note: bikes are only allowed on the roads / jeep roads — see their trail maps. Currently, trails are open for hiking but they state: “Please exercise extreme caution on trails and roads, and especially stream crossings!”. Has anybody been to Black Rock Forest recently and ridden on the bike-allowed trails? It would be great to understand current conditions.

Storm King Highway still has a section that was washed into the Hudson River. Yes, this is a paved road, but it is also the main way to travel through that area, on a bike, without riding on the side of the highway (9W) with an intermittenly disappearing shoulder (the shoulder turns into a drainage culvert in places), which I do not recommend. You will *not* be able to walk around that destroyed part. One section of the rear slope is a sheer rock face with water running down it, like a waterfall that is ready to carry you down the cliff.

Know about other damaged dirt roads we should watch out for? Let us know! email: track.smart@gmail.com. In particular, we tend to ride in these areas, which are within striking distance of NYC: Westchester, Putnam, Orange, and Dutchess Counties in NY; Litchfield County in CT; and the Bedminster region in NJ. Thanks!

The photo below is the state of Storm King Highway as of recently (September 2023). I’m not going to provide a photo credit since you aren’t supposed to visit that spot. The waterfall-like section is not visible in the photo, but please understand that you will not be walking around this mess. You will be stuck on one side or the other.