Tried out a new riding place today. Mines and Meadows in PA. An easy 1hr 15min drive from home. It was Cathy's first dirt ride in...well, hell I don't remember the last time I got her to ride in the dirt. It was pre-Raptor. The weather today couldn't have been any more perfect.
Overall, I liked the place. Got to meet the owner. Very personable and nice guy. Actually, everyone at this place was super nice. Talked to a lot of different people. All very cool and nice to talk to. A lot of them ride ANF, but agreed a closer place and something open year round was what they were looking for.
The trails were marked as well as Hatfiled McCoy. Nice map to go with it too. I was impressed with the effort put forth to mark all the trails with nice signs that were easy to follow. The parking lot is small. There were probably about 15 or 20 other trucks there today. The main office is one of those modular worksite trailers with a garage behind it. Here is a shot from the parking lot.
Facilities are just a port-a-pot. I guess they are planning to put in a changing and shower facility. The place has only been open a year and a half.
I'll preface this by saying my pics mission was a failure. I didn't get many at all. We got there at noon and the mine ride was at 1:30 (riding in the mine is guided only). We were going to just take the main loop and run back. Only problem was that the main loop was having a new culvert put in at one point. We took a blue trail detour...WOW. The blue trails here make the Blue Hatfield trails looking like riding in the parking lot.
Mud, mud, mud and ruts, ruts, ruts! We ended up turning around part way in after watching a group of Praries get swallowed in a big hole. No cool trail pics, but here are the bikes after run #1
The pics don't do it justice. Spring thaw had turned a lot of the place into a mud hole with some really deep ruts. Anything but a utility would have been pure hell. I asked a few people and they said it isn't normally that rutted but that it got torn up during winter. No one knew if they groomed the trails much or not. We started out with me on the BF650 and Cathy on the KQ. She was not having fun in the ruts and deep mud because she kept getting stuck. In all fairness, she did an awesome job, but these were some nasty places off the main loop. Lots of diff lock. We swapped bikes and doubled back. We got to the parking lot with 5min to spare before the mine ride.
For some reason Cathy started smiling after she got on the BF650. I was getting worried she wasn't having fun, but after switching and getting out of the hardcore 4x4 area, she perked right up and started having a blast. I stayed on the KQ the rest of the time and began to see why she wasn't having as much fun. The KQ was fun to ride, but my dumb ass never took the plow mount off and it made for a great stump and rock anchor in the ruts
I'm almost afraid to take it off this week and see how banged up it got.
A group of about 15 went out. We followed some grizzled 'ol feller in a Rhino who worked for the owner. The Rhino must have been pulling double duty as a bug fogger as it burned through about a quart of oil the first half mile.
This 'ol guy must have wanted to test out the Rhino's off-road abilty because we were squeezing through some tight trails to get out there. I was impressed how well the Rhino did! It was cool to follow and watch. Another guy in our group said the 'ol fella added about 20min to the normal ride out there. It was still fun.
Here is the group that headed out.
This guy was part of the original group of Praries that were hitting the hard stuff. They rode hard but were good and navigating ruts. Very cool to watch them climb the powerlines when we cut through. I loved the Team Green Prarie with Bighorn tires
Ol feller unlocking the gate.
The mine ride itself was short, but very cool. I wish it had gone on longer, but I can see why they do not let people ride around alone in there. You could easily get lost and there are some deep water holes. The mine is 150ft under a mountainside. You ride in at the base of the mountain. Its an old limestone mine. We only stopped once.
They have everyone turn off their lights and tell you a little about the mine. When you turn your lights off it is BLACK. You can't see a single thing. Very creepy/cool. You keep expecting to see red glowing eyes coming out of the darkness as you ride around. There is a 3 acre lake in the mine and they warn you to follow in a line because the water drops off to 8ft deep in sections. We looped twice and then headed back out. Very cool. Only downside is its short. You are in there 15, maybe 20 minutes. Here are a few shots we got waiting for the second group to come out (they split the group in two)
Monster in the mine?
Nope, 'ol feller in his Rhino
Overall, I would go back for sure. Not sure you guys would have too much fun on sport bikes. Lots of AWESOME 4x4 fun though. There are 10+ separate trails and we only rode the main loop. Its a 400 acre parcel of land. For as close as it is, I'd go back for sure. My only regret was that I wanted to ride more, but I wanted to get home in time to wash both bikes before dark.
Nice pic except for the giant headed mongoloid with Cathy
We had a lot of fun today. It was great to get Cathy out riding again. Sorry for the lack of pics. Next time I'll get more.
