Natalie Mountain offers some of the most exciting (and beautiful) riding in the area.

The Start

We will meet at our Riverside Adventure Company location at the indicated time. The address is: 476 D & H Avenue, Riverside PA. If that address doesn’t work in your GPS, try 100 Avenue D & H north, Riverside, PA (that was our old address, and not all GPS systems have updated information yet). This is a 5 minute ride from Hess Field, maybe 10 minutes from Geisinger Stewardship Forest and 15 - 20 minute bike ride from Hopewell Park. If you decide to drive: there is plenty of parking

Group size

This trip is limited to 10 people because a larger group gets unwieldy, and this size crowd works well for gear and bikes utilizing our 16 passenger van and trailer. Each group will have two Guides.

The Trails

The trails are not “extreme” but they do offer, rocks, technical riding, some exposure (drops), steep climbs, jumps and descents and a very real fitness challenge. Make sure you are prepared mentally and physically. Your ride will be about 90% single-track with periods of gravel roads to get us from one point to another.

What you need

1. A good quality bike that can handle some rugged terrain.

2. Bike skills that are above average to expert. You don't have to be a Cat. 1 Rider or on the Red Bull Rampage: but you need to be at least very confident on the bike and of better than average fitness. If you are not: you will be exposed.

3. Each participant has to have AT LEAST a Camelback type bag or equivalent. In that back should be the basics of any self-supported ride. If you don’t know what that means exactly: press the “what to bring in your bags” button to see what we recommend to our mountain bike team members when we bring them to Natalie Mountain to ride:

You can also bring a “Road bag” if you like…but don’t get crazy. We only have limited space and we are only going to be out for a few hours. If you don’t know what might be good in a “Road bag” you can read some suggestions by pushing the “What to bring in your bags” button at right.

Itinerary

7:00 a.m - We will meet at our Riverside Adventure Company location at the indicated time. Be on time. We want to leave promptly, as we want to give our riders the most possible time to ride. It won’t be fair to prompt people for us to wait…so we won’t…and no refunds.

7:30 a.m. - From Riverside Adventure Company, we will drive about 25 minutes in our 15 passenger van to Weiser State Park off route 54, just past Elysburg, PA. We will park in their ample parking lot, get ready (quickly) and depart.

8:00 a.m. - We will spend the first part of our trip riding beautiful double track gravel in Weiser State Park. Here we will loosen up our legs, look at the beautiful scenery and ride about 3 miles to the entrance of the Old Natalie Road single track trail. This was an old mining/logging road, that is now overgrown and offers a daunting steady climb to the top of Natalie mountain. When we get to the top Natalie mountain…you will be warmed up, a little gassed, and in the right “docile” frame of mind for what’s to come.

8:30 - 10:30 a.m. - At this point in the ride our Guides will assess what they have seen so far and what they heard in the van ride to the Weiser State forest, and use that information to create the balance of the ride. There will be lots of options from that point. From trails like Big Mountain, that offers epic cross country trails, to Vertigo, that offers hair-raising exposure on both sides of a spine trail, to Canyon, that drops down the side of a canyon and onto a trail of drops, jumps, wall rides and rock gardens. We will piece together something that suits our group as closely as possible. The great thing about having a Guide, is that you can be confident you ride the trails in the best possible direction: and don’t waste a bunch of time riding a trail the “wrong way” only to have ride regret when you leave.

But what if the route doesn’t suit everyone?

Well, this is always a concern and consideration: and it’s why we have two guides. For every line and trail, there will be alternate options available. We do not encourage anyone to ride outside their comfort/skill zone during a group ride. The quickest way to ruin a good group ride is with an injury or mechanical problem. As a result, we want everyone supporting everyone else in positive ways…and not goading folks into riding features they have no place riding. One Guide will always be available for folks needing an alternate line. We want the whole group to be supportive of that need.

But what if we do have “a problem”?

By “problem” we mean an injury or a mechanical situation that we can’t fix in the field. Well, first of all - no person left behind. This isn’t your local ride, so we can’t just leave you where you lay, so we will take care of you the best we can. Most of the Guides have varied degrees of wilderness first aid training. That being said, there is no way to promise that we can’t get into a situation outside of our training very easily. The very best way to make this a “non-issue” is for no one to crash hard, or break their bike. Preparation, and realistic expectations are the best path to that result. Ride within yourself. But if we do have the misfortune of having a “problem”: our Guides will assess the situation, and propose the best solution they can offer.

10:30 a.m. - head back to the parking lot. Don’t worry, your ride will end like it started, but this time with a very fun descent down the Old Natalie Road trail, and then a nice, easy gravel road ride back to the van. This allows everyone to chat and share experiences and photos and stretch it out a little bit before the van ride back to Riverside Adventure Company.

The finish

We will return everyone to Riverside Adventure Company, relatively unscathed, tired, happy and ready for massive amounts of food and drink in town on the way back to Hess Field for the rest of the day’s festivities.