West Branch State Park is the land surrounding West Branch Reservoir in Ravenna, OH. It has been hand built by CAMBA volunteers over many years. The result is a fun and varied selection of trails. There are nice lake views and smooth singletrack on the
Lakeside Trail.
The
Quarry Trail seriously ups the difficulty with some really rough ground. The
Southside Trail is a mixture of all of this and really rounds out a ride. Once again, this area is closed due to rain longer than other areas in the region so please pay attention to recent rainfall and season.
There is a nice campground here if you are traveling or looking to spend a night out with the fam. There is a bathroom at the main trailhead.
This ride follows the signed direction of travel through almost all of the mountain bike trails at West Branch State Park.
Starting at the Main Parking Lot at the West end of the riding area head onto the obvious doubletrack dirt path and take a left at its end. You'll almost immediately head into the woods on the left. This puts you on the
Lakeside Trail. This generally follows the edge of the reservoir and is well signed. It does cross the snowmobile trails many times, but it is always obvious which way the mountain bike trail continues.
Eventually you'll end up back on the dirt/decaying asphalt Cable Line Rd. You'll take a left onto this road, through the gate, and then take another right onto the paved Porter Rd. A little ways up this road you'll enter the woods again on the left and this will get you onto the
Quarry Trail. Take this in either direction, although it is usually ridden clockwise. The trail surface can be rather rough, but is a whole lot of fun in my book.
Head back down Porter Rd. and back onto Cable Line Rd., which will be ridden past the
Lakeside Trail exit a ways further until the
Southside Trail entrance is encountered on the left. This trail is once again easy to follow with only much larger snowmobile trails crossing it. After passing through a fun stream gully and past some junk, you'll end up right across from the doubletrack spur that takes you to the parking area.
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