Hurd State Park

My recondition for riding this park is that you drive all the way into the park. At the very end there is a sign for river trail. Park there. To the right of the sign there is a trail between to rocks. It's marked white on the tree left of the rocks. Follow white till you get to the winter parking lot then take the trail Parellel to the one your just rode. It will take you back to your car but go past your car and follow the road till you pass where the road forks. Enter the woods. You will see trails marked yellow and orange. Take yellow all the way to the top. Nice view. Stay on yellow down the from the top it will be a bit technical. The trail will change to orange. Stay on orange till your see red. Turn left and follow red down to the river. At the river ride along the water with the water to your left until you pick up red again. Red up hill will take you back to your car. This is about a 3mile ride.

Overall a nice place to ride, although I wish some of the trails were a bit longer. I have seen several maps including the State trail map and a local cross-country ski map, but these are very out of date and colors do not match tree markings since many new trails have been added. So be aware that you may spend some time trying to figure out where you are and where you are heading. From the north parking lot an easy white loop takes you down to the river and back. The green trail (labelled as white on state map) cuts though center of property and has many spur trails off to explore. More technical trails are closer to the river.

This is a scenic, wide open park with a lot to offer. The paved Hog Hill Road runs straight through the park, and numerous trails jump off from there. Several of them hard to find, and not well marked.

At the North end of the park and road's end the White Trail is great for beginners, and is a slight uphill loop starting out as a fire road leading to the park's edge in Cobalt (and a dirt parking lot) and loops back around as easy singletrack.

The Red trail complex is more intermediate, but nothing dangerous. It does get a bit steep heading down to the river.

The Yellow trail connects with the Red, and leads to a short section of slick rock with great views. Use caution in this area. A barely existing trail actually continues down to the river, but is steep and rocky, expert level riding.

Numerous other single track trails zig zag across the entire park. Most are in the intermediate range, but not too long, not too hilly, and the rocks and roots not too severe.

A second fire road leads off the main road and south at a gate near Hurd Brook. It starts out very easy, with some hills, but once you reach the Wildlife Management area, drops along the power lines down to the river, getting increasingly steep, overgrown, and beaten up. Once at the bottom you're in the wildlife area, and George Seymour State Park.

This area has a lot of potential, and with some TLC from the mtb community in trail maintenance and signs could grow into something great.