Played hooky from work on Friday, headed out to Edgewood Preserve in Commack. I've wanted to check this place out for a while, it's only 10 minutes add'l in the car (compared to the drive to Bethpage) and should be a nice mt. bike alternative to the typical BP loops we do over and over.
Good day for it, nobody in the place and the rain never materialized. I was the only car in the small lot on Commack Rd. I remembered my DEC permits and headed out with a printed and colorized version of the TrailForks on-line map.
Basically 4 kinds of trails.
Easiest is the White trail, that's 5.5 miles long, which is basically a set of long straight and wide double track trails that go for 1/4 mile, then turn for another 1/4 mile, etc.... If you own a gravel/cross bike, this would be a fun ride for a couple of loops. Nothing sandy so rideable on 32mm tires.
The side trails are Yellow (7 trails), Blue (4 trails) or Red (5 trails. All the colored trails branch off from and return to the White and were hand built by CLIMB, with Yellow (easiest) twisty and tight single track, maybe an occasional mogul. Blue is more difficult as they have more moguls, Red more difficult yet as mostly moguls and half pipe sections.
I got 10.5 miles in on White, Yellow, a detour on a Blue Hiking Trail and finally a mile out and back on Blue
#13 , which as it;'s reasonably new is a tough grind, all roots, stumps, soft trail surface and some hard and steep moguls. As section 13 was at the end of the ride I bagged and returned to the White and back to the car.
Did I say nobody in the place ?. The entire preserve is the former property of the old Edgewood State Hospital, there are lots of signs of that former activity, so you see a mound of tires covered in dirt repurposed as a mogul. Occasional concrete blocks and the old rail-road track and bed that supplied coal to the since torn down power plant. At the north end you are in new-'ish growth woods and ride right past a steel caged baseball backstop, just surrounded by trees, the old playing field being completely overgrown in the 30 years since the entire facility was closed.
No ghosts seen or screams heard, which I read about when I Googled "Edgewood Preserve" to get some insight into what had been here. Apparently the woods are haunted.
You have to pay attention to the trails system markings as there a a lot of trails not marked that cross the ones marked. Lots of old overgrown roads as well. It's also as flat as a pancake, which means time the ride well as nothing drains, so once puddles develop, it stays wet for a few days.
And I picked up a tick, discovered when I got home, so I'll go back in the fall (I hate ticks).
Good ride though.