New Trails

In 2010, we are continuing our expansion of the trail network behind the new touring center. These trails include the further development of expert trails at the top of Millstone Hill and down the steep slope leading from the top of The Hill, which are accessed from the Grand lookout via the bridge built last year as part of the opening of Roller Coaster. We have already opened a new trail called Hilltop, which takes you all the way to the top of Millstone Hill and leads right onto Roller Coaster, adding almost a third to the all down hill experience. Watch for the opening of a second major all downhill trail paralleling Roller Coaster, which is being built at the moment and is scheduled to open in early June.

The other area of expansion is in the Abbott’s Woods area, presently accessed from the bottom of Roller Coaster. This is a significant area of new trail development, which will be a combination of more moderate trails, with an emphasis on flow, as well of some amazing expert ledge trails comparable to the trails in the Fellowship Ring area. We have significantly expanded the Rock and Roll Trail, begun last year. This is an interesting area of early ledge quarrying and paving stone production, which provides a glimpse into what Millstone Hill looked like in its early years of development. The many piles of rejected paving stones provided us with a ready supply of materiel to create some fun rock features, which will be an integral part of the trails in this area. Check out the new yellow arrowed loop we just opened, incorporating all the best trails in this new area.

Over the summer we will be improving the connections from the touring center to the Abbott’s Woods area, making access to these trails easier for moderate level bikers and connecting these trails to the rest of the network and the touring center in a way that will avoid using Websterville Rd. The reopening of the railroad, allowing Rock of Ages to remove waste granite, which is occurring this summer, will have an impact on some of our trails, so we ask all riders to be aware of this and to keep out of areas marked as closed or active quarry areas.