The Wilds

In need of some TLC. Several trees down in trails. The trails are fun and has great elevation change. This place has great potential. Will ride again in spite of neglected trails.

With better directional signage this would be the best trail system near central Ohio.

Great trails just off the I70. Well signposted with junction numbers and trial grades. Blues are cool with a few technical rooty and rocky sections. Blacks have some jumps and rock boulders to play with. I met some locals who showed me around. Super friendly folk on the trails. I'm told that the guys at HWB cycles in Zanesville are part of the team that built the trails. I can recommend their shop as they fixed my bike within an hour after I had hydraulic brake failing.

Appalachia Outdoor Adventures maintains these trails. Refer to the organization's website at http://bikeaoa.org/the-wilds/ for detailed information and a traill map.

There is a lot of great, narrow, rocky and rooted singletrack at The Wilds trails, which makes it fun and challenging. The problem is the trails are not exactly the best maintained network. I rode in early October and the leaf coverage on the trail and areas where the vegetation was overgrown provided for poor visibility. I was often getting hung up on rocks I couldn't see. My buddy went over his handlebars when he hit a rock that was buried under some plants/leaves. Where the trails actually go is not always easily discernible. There were several times we found ourselves biking on what we thought was a trail only to realize we were going down some service road we couldn't find on the map or blindly riding through the woods. The signage around the trail is spotty.

Overall, the The Wilds is a great place to mountain bike, if you know where you want to be. Study the map carefully. The "Bumpy Hollow," and "Beaver City" trails are fantastic. The "Playa Trail" has these almost half pipe-like trails, nothing like I've ever seen before and are a blast. Connected to the "Playa Trail" is the "Death Drop," which if you clear is probably something like a 30 foot drop off a ramp... Only for the bravest of the brave and most skilled mountain bikers. Much like the whole system, the trails are either great and clearly marked, or grassy/overgrown brush and not clearly marked.

Thanks aldsw for posting the article link. Interesting write up. I'm going to be in Ohio in late June and early July. Maybe I can find a way to get over to the Zanesville area and give The Wilds a ride. I was already planning on riding Mohican and hopefully "Poto" in SE MI before that. If I ride The Wilds, I'll definitely put up a review.

Trail is worked on every winter by AOA. I ride about twice a month. Many new trails and jumps. 13 miles of trails now.