Autumn brings cooler temperatures and some of the most beautiful sights to see in NEPA. The cooler months bring many NEPA mountain bikers to the challenging trails at Dick and Nancy Eales Nature Preserve at Moosic Mountain [MMC].  Something unique to MMC is the exposed, rocky trails with fiery red foliage offering stunning views of the valley. The October days of 2024 consistently brought blue skies to contrast the bright red vegetation across 2,250 acres on the preserve.

A good friend of mine, Ana, and I set out to take advantage of one of the many sunny October days and tackle the rocky terrain that she likes to refer to as “Mordor”(insert devious chuckle.)  If you’re at all familiar with Lord of the Rings, you can relate to this comparison between the two. Much like Mordor’s natural mountain fortress, MMC’s rocky terrain also prevents easy “invasion”.

Conquering the Challenges of Conglomerate Trail

Ana and I were feeling zesty so our adventure commenced clockwise into the trail system on the rocky Conglomerate trail that would allow us to conclude with descending Blueberry trail. Ana and I always enjoy Conglomerate, as this is one of those trails that no matter how many times you ride it, it’s unlikely you’ll ride the trail exactly as you did the ride prior. There are countless rock obstacles that require you to pay your fullest attention throughout the duration of the trail. This is the perfect trail to stop for session time; riding up rock faces, dropping off of rocks, connecting challenging sections of trails without putting a foot down, etc. Ana and I did just that. With the proper mental approach, it’s just tons of fun!

The technicality of these trails makes it easy to miss out on some amazing sights and views, so we made sure that before exiting Conglomerate we stopped at the trail marker sign to enjoy the view.

Twisting Through the Boulders of Stonehenge Trail

From Conglomerate, we proceeded into Stonehenge, another trail that brings really cool rock features. There are giant boulders that leave narrow, twisty trails that barely allow your handlebars to pass through.  It’s really fun navigating through this trail. Your bike skills are put to the test. In these ravine-like sections of trails, the path is also full of rocks on the ground, often acting as wheel traps – so you have to be “on your game” to traverse this trail without putting a foot down. Keep in mind, regardless of your fitness level, it’s almost guaranteed that your legs are burning and your breathing is heavy during all of this! It’s imperative that you’re looking ahead on the trail to prepare for what lies ahead, while you’re conquering what’s currently under your wheels.

The double-track is now insight, which means we conquered the techy Stonehenge trail! What that also means, is we get to bomb down the double-track to our favorite trail — High Voltage. We cruise down the double track, make a quick right turn, climb a short section of double-track that brings us into High Voltage,  which again delivers some stellar views!  We stop for a moment to take it in, and then GAME ON! This is a downhill, rock slab style trail guided by stacked rocks.  Pay attention, or you might veer off trail. This trail is full of speed, drifts, turns, rocks, hooting and hollering – so much fun!  We get to the bottom, share a fist bump and now we have a short climb back up the double-track making our way towards Waterfall Trail.

Mastering the Challenging Rock on the Waterfall Trail

Approaching Waterfall trail from the bottom, there is a well-know rock at the bottom of the trail that many like to drop off of when approaching on the decent down. But by starting at the bottom of the trail, this rock is a really cool technical feature to practice getting up and over. It tests your timing, skills and abilities.  Naturally, I had to try it. My first approach was a bit slow, so I didn’t get all the way up and over. To help visualize, it’s a large, 20-24” tall square edge rock. I came at it again, with a little more speed, lifted my front wheel, set it atop of the rock while lifting my rear wheel to hop on top. I got it this time!  OK, now let’s start the climb.

As we make our way into the Waterfall climb, the endeavor brings a more familiar terrain similar to other areas of NEPA. A familiar dirt single track, with rocks and roots sprinkled throughout, with tree cover and lots of fallen leaves this time of year. Our gears shifted down as we cruised all the way up the trail full of switchbacks while chatting and enjoying the scenery. Oddly, the climb up Waterfall is a break for us, after exhausting ourselves on the previous rocky challenge.

A Berry Sweet Stop Along the Blueberry Trail

Waterfall trail spills out to Blueberry trail, known for the trailside blueberry picking. Blueberry is a very exposed and washed out trail with marble-like rocks that brings us back down to the parking lot. PSA – don’t miss the viewing spot for yet another beautiful view that is perfect for photo ops! Of course, we stopped to grabbed a couple selfies and then jumped back on the bikes and let off of the brakes to enjoy gravity fed run down to the rest of the trail!

We ended the day with 10.5 miles and 1000 feet of climbing and all the smiles and an amazing riding memories to reflect on!