r/bikepack_Adirondacks

Last weekend most of the (remaining) gates opened in the Adirondacks. It's definitely a special time I appreciate each year. My own private forest preserve for about a month between when the snow and ice and peanut butter mud are gone, and the gates open to public vehicles.

It doesn't really change a whole lot of objectives, as by that point the trails are also dry anywhere they already weren't previously (and those that still aren't likely never will be). But it does mean we focus a bit more on single track and bit less on gated dirt/gravel roads.

You can win some great prizes and it might be motivation to sneak in a trip you didn't think you could do especially early or late season. Or maybe it's a road trip to warmer/drier climate for a few late/early season months.

A lot of my trips are S24O where I go last minute, bike in the dark Friday and am home for dinner Saturday night.

Longer trips are great too....there's no rule on lenght on this, just that you bike in, camp out and bike out.

No matter how you get out, this is a cool challenge and (rare for us cyclist) you get a patch if you do all 12 months but prizes are awarded every month.

Enjoy the adventure!

Link: https://ultramtb.net/bikepack-every-month/

An eggshell white Ari Shafer, covered in mud.

TLDR: Last minute trip with 7mi of rugged single track in the dark Friday night. Beautiful night and morning, rainy, misty, cool (almost perfect for me) Saturday afternoon. No bugs, few people, well maintained but rugged single use (hiking) trails.

Stats: Overall 16mi (7 in the dark), ~2000ft gain, contact with 1 person (a suprised hello) and perfect (for me) weather, 3 total cars passed on pavement. Activity Temp around 43F average, Activity Feel 39F average.

I was on the fence about a trip this weekend, but I knew it was my last chance before bugs and people arrived (I won't be back until June). With the weather forecast improving enough that bugs (cold) and rain (vastly improved moving south) wouldn't be an issue, I opened CalTopo and began looking at my options. Gated roads are now open so now we no longer prioritizing those type trips.

The last minute decision meant I was riding in the dark for some, if not all, of the 1st day (night). In hindsight, I should have grabbed my night riding lights and dealt with the bulk and weight. I'm really comfortable riding at night because I do it a lot, but my bikepacking lights are not the same as my trail riding lights. Bikepacking lights are more "just in case". They are smaller, lighter, lower output and less battery capacity. They are meant to get you to where your going but not necessarily with the speed you would ride with dedicated lighting.

The trails were in good shape, mostly dry except where they weren't (your typical 4 season wet sections due to seeps, beaver activity and just routing choice). But they were rugged single use (hiking) trails that are the Adirondack standard, minus the blowdown typically found in other "fringe" areas. Ways I can tell the trails don't see much use despite the maintenance, the mud pits that hikers widen were well contained. I didn't really pass any 10ft wide pits. Most were less than 4ft and much of the trails were 2-3ft tread width.

Elevation was a little more than I expected by quickly looking at the topo map contours. I ended up doing almost 2000ft gain in 16 miles over 2 days which fits in with the general rule of 100-200ft/mi minimum in the Northeast. Most of the riding was single track similar to what you find in Wilcox Lake but with sharper, more jagged rocks spaced just oddly enough to make things spicy.

Overall it was a great weekend and a good basis to begin building more routes in the Eastern Adirondacks, which to this point I've largely ignored.