Back in September 2009 a bunch of us went to Bear Creek Ranch/Resort to go ATV riding. We picked this place for two reasons. One, we hadn’t been there before and two, because this was the first time my girlfriend had gone quad riding and I heard the trails there were pretty tame. A friend of mine at work had been there several times with his kids because it was easy but, he had also informed me there was some pretty good mud pits to play in so this would be a good chance to test out the Grizzly. And test it out I did! You can see some video of that below.
As expected the trails were pretty easy. Actually it was quite surprising to find them in as good of shape as they were. Instead of being the usual highly rutted trails I’m used to in this area, they were more smooth and had some similarities to the trails in Wayne National Forest. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Wayne National, but the trail surface was similar. Most of the trails are short loops, no longer than a mile and there isn’t a whole lot of them. You could easily hit every trail in this place within an hour or two. Even so, it is still fun.
This park does have one intriguing feature however and that comes in the form of a large groomed hill climb. The park’s website claims it to be 200 feet and perhaps it is in pure length but, not in height. Even though, it is certainly an ominous looking sight for newer riders.
The hill climbs surface is gravel and the angle is right around 45 degrees, perhaps slightly steeper. It’s definitely steep enough that you don’t want to find yourself stopped on it. Getting up it is pretty simple. Rev out 2nd or 3rd before the approach and hold it down all the way to the top; there really isn’t any technique to it. This is definitely a good hill to practice on to work on your fear of large hill climbs. If you’re a newer rider, Bear Creek is definitely a good place to cut your teeth!