First, we only rode about 1/3 of the trail before having to turn around as we became overheated unfortunately. This trail is off the High bridge trail about halfway between historic Farmville & the Park Road lot, being slightly closer to Farmville. The trail head for the Rochelle tract is about 2 miles from the Park Road lot toward Farmville. We came to Sandy River Outdoor Adventure Park for the weekend with intentions for one day to be spent riding the High Bridge Trail. I was very happy to see there were 2 MTB trails off of the High Bridge Trail, the Early Trail & the Burnside Trail. We are new to MTB & have only been to the Harwood Mills Trails but wanted to give it a shot. It was 90 degrees outside with 96 % humidity, August. We were prepared but tired from the day before riding the High Bridge Trail. That, along with the heat/humidity, ages 40-50, me out of shape but getting better, it got the better of us.
Either way, I wanted to leave a review, even if it's not a full one as there are none. I could not find anything out about the Rochelle Tract trails outside of one minimum review that mentions them in a review for the High Bridge Trail. It's really a shame cause the terrain is very hilly and what we did ride was a lot of fun.
When you get to the kiosk marker for the Rochelle Tract you go up a gravel road to get to the trail entrances that are on the right. Both the Early & Burnside Trails are labeled as Intermediate (blue) & are only for bikes. The Smyth & Deer Run Trails are labeled as Beginner (green) & are multi use for hikers also. The other review I read about these trails said the Burnside is the more advanced than the Early trail.
I will only talk about the Early Trail as we did not attempt any other. The entrance & exit are both on the gravel road fairly close to each other. The trail is single track & supposed to be one way. Luckily for us when we became overheated & had to turn around, there was no one else on the trail. The trail was dirt that had very good grip to it with many roots, though not as many as Harwood Mills trails. It had rained all day 2 days prior but was not muddy. It is deep in the forest. The part we rode had very decent climbs with some being quite steep. The downhill sections were great & more intense than Harwood Mills. Parts of the trail were slightly overgrown but still very useable. Unfortunately that is all we can say about it as we had to turn around.
It should be noted that apparently the Rochelle tract trails are not frequented much. There was no one on those trails other than us at the time. It is in the forest off the High Bridge Trail which has much more traffic but if you were to need assistance you would likely have to call for it as there is no telling if anyone else would be riding by. Definitely let someone know you are going there!
Finally, we are definitely planning on going back once it starts to cool off! The trail seemed challenging & very exciting. Hope this helps a little.
A cool thing about parking at the Park Road lot is they have a bike pump with guage, bike tools, & restrooms. The fee is $5.
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