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Ben’s » MTB » Kent’s Trail
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Trail Description
E-bikes NOT allowed on Ben’s » MTB » Kent’s
The Ben’s, MTB, Kent’s loop makes for a fun and fast fat bike ride. It’s close to town and gets packed-in pretty quickly after a storm comes through. The downhill portion from the top of MTB to Phil’s Trailhead is a hoot when the snow is soft and bermed.
At just over 4 miles it’s a pretty easy ride that a beginner can probably handle — and multiple laps will give you a great mid-winter workout.
Depending on the snowfall depth and density, other loop options will open up as fatbikes, hikers, and snowshoers break trail — but this short loop is the most reliable.
It’s a popular area, so expect some hiking and dog traffic along the way. Also, the road to Phil’s Trailhead doesn’t get plowed, so a 4WD is probably required (or just ride a fatbike to the trailhead).
Rode up Phils Trail today. 5 of us, and one person was coming down, so 6 riders helped pack down Phils Trail. Trail was rideable and packed at about 12-15 inches wide. Packed but bumpy. But couldn’t go any further past Chicken. Not tracked and snow too heavy to plow through. Good workout anyhow even though only 4 miles up and back. Your singletrack skills needed to stay in the groove!
Rode up Phils Trail today. 5 of us and one person was coming down, so 6 of us helped pack down Phils Trail. Trail was rideable and packed at about 12-15 inches wide. Packed but not bumpy. But couldn’t go any further past Chicken. Not tracked and snow too heavy to plow through. Good workout anyhow even though only 4 miles up and back. Your singletrack skills needed to stay in the groove!
Oops posted twice – but typo in older post…trail WAS bumpy.
Loop starts out with dirt (frozen this am) and about half way up bens the dirt turns to ice (just on the trail tread). Was not too slippery when frozen. Surely worse as it warms up. No actual snow on the loop. Just dirt and ice.
Snow is pretty thin with plenty of mud during the thaw. No problem on the fatbike, but regular tires really sink in.
Hard packed and riding really well, although a bit narrow, so the challenge is staying in the track and not riding into the soft snow on the sides.
Group of us rode Ben’s-KGB-Kent’s on 1/17 and it was excellent. Keep packing it in!!!
Ben’s is great all the way up to Voodoo-some brave souls were working on Voodoo yesterday
Rode up Ben’s today to MTB and then up to KGB which I built over the last week. It set up nicely but we need to educate foot traffic how to use this trail. Not sure how to do this but we need to let runners/walkers know that if they create ‘holes’ they need to reconsider. Any thoughts on this would be welcome. I want all trail users to have fun and enjoy but ruts suck for everyone when they freeze.
Can we set up a trail or two for fat bikes only? Maybe contacting the USFS would help. Just thinking how to have more fun…
I will create a blog post on the subject. Should be up soon.
https://bendtrails.org/postholing/
I rode up Ben’s and down MTB this morning. Still ridable, but it’s got a lot of deep fatbike ruts that had frozen solid overnight. The higher you go the better it gets. Past 4610 Ben’s got deep and hard to follow so I bailed and headed back down.
Quick update for today Dec 21 regarding Ben’s to MTB. Forget about it. It seems that a fatbiker went up Ben’s part way creating ruts that froze making progress in either direction fruitless. Please keep in mind if the trail is soft refrain from continuing. It will freeze and the results are typically a disaster for all…
Best bet is going up Kent’s and up MTB and returning the same way. Some post holes from checked out walkers….
Loose snow with underlying slush and slush in low spots from melt
Ben’s and Kent’s are packed and riding well. A few runners mucked up the first bit of Ben’s bit it got better. I didn’t take MTB but there was a track on it so I’m sure it was fine. Both Ben’s and Kent’s are packed up to 300, PD and Whoops riding well too. I put in a track on KGB, it was slow but a few more riders and it will be great
As of afternoon 1/15/16 this loop is still rideable and packed snow. However there is a LOT of post-holing to deal with. Especially up on MTB. Ride with a super low tire pressure and it will help even it out a bit.
Still riding nicely with some icy spots under the trees. Especially on Kent’s.