Big Ring Adventure Team
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Bennington H.I.C.K. Ride | Flatlander's Lament v1 | Franklin County Vatican Ride | Haw Ridge | Holly Bay and Bee Rock | Levis Trow Mound | Mitchell Memorial Forest | Monte Sano State Park | Montgomery Bell SP | Raccoon Mountain | Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge SP
Mitchell Memorial Forest
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Key Search Terms: Mitchell Memorial Forest MTB trail; Hamilton County OH park district; OMBA (Ohio Mountain Bike Association); CORA (Cincinnati Off Road Association).
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Update November 2008: That nasty little stump has been removed. Phase 2 is being scouted. We can't wait!
Event: MTB ride at Mitchell Memorial Forest near Cincinnati. Date: Saturday, August 16, 2008. Reporting: Rich Ries. Photos: Rich Ries. Attendees: Julie and Rich Ries. Miles: The trail is 3.9 miles long not including a short connector. Total Elevation Gain: Not recorded.
The Good: Well engineered using IMBA standards. Suitable for users with a broad range of abilities. A fun park with lots of other attractions for families.
The Bad: Has potential for being crowded. Presence of riders with widely varied skills and expectations may create user conflicts.
The Summary: A fun trail and well worth visiting, especially for beginner and intermediate riders.
Comparisons are inevitable, and the trail at Mitchell Memorial Forest conjures comparisons to the best parts of several other trails. It has whoops like the upper pump trail at Brown County State Park. It has the compact design of Brum Woods in Batesville. It has the terrain and feel of England-Idlewild near Burlington, Kentucky. Despite the similarities, though, Mitchell is an entity unto itself.
The Cincinnati Off Road Alliance (CORA) provided tons of volunteer hours in constructing the trails at Versailles. Jonathan Walters (“J-Dub”) and Troy deserve special mention. Those guys were excited when they started work on Mitchell and interim reports were equally enthusiastic. Now that the trail is finished, it (mostly) lives up to its billing.
The rest of the park has lots of appeal. Julie gave positive reviews to the hiking trails she visited, which were wide, clean, and well-marked. Rest rooms were easy to find and clean. There's a small catch-and-release lake, the banks of which were crowded with casual anglers. At 1,336 acres, the park is about the size of Clifty Falls State Park here in Madison.
Because the trail is within metro Cincinnati and because the trail is so much fun to ride, even for newcomers to our sport, we have concerns about overcrowding and user conflicts. Don't let those concerns keep you away; just be sure to bring your patience along for the ride.
Photos
Our visit coincided with the official opening of the trail. Several area shops and organizations were set up in the parking lot.
The trail is mostly tight and twisty with lots of short ups and downs.
There are stretches of easy cruising, too.
The trail is basically one loop, but there is a cutoff at one point. Signage reduces the low likelihood of getting lost to essentially zero likelihood.
The trail builders wisely chose to minimize their use of engineered structures, which drive up cost and increase maintenance demands. This bridge is the only one on the trail. It's well-built with good transitions on both ends.
Update: this staub's gone. Many thanks to whoever went back and did the work.
One of the hiking trails at Mitchell. Julie said the trails were easy, well-marked, and pretty.