Mountain Peak Fitness

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Mountain Biking Wildcat Ridge in New Jersey

Joe Azze

The Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area is full of awesome trails that will challenge the best of riders. It is a collection of many lands that preserve over 35,000 acres within the New Jersey Highlands. This dates back to 1991 and the work continues. Many new trails have been built, connecting the lands together. This gives the outdoor enthusiast endless routes and trails to run, hike or ride.

I have never been to this area before and have only heard about it in passing. There was talk earlier this year about running around the Split Rock Reservoir, which is at the north end of Wildcat but we never made it there. Until this week. 

Evan mentioned some possible route options that he found on Strava. Just like that, we uploaded the route to our devices and made our way to the Meriden Road parking area. It was going to be a warm day. Our ride started around 12:30 and it was in the 90’s. 

I didn’t know what to expect. We had no idea how technical the area would be. Unsure if there were many rocks to navigate and steep pitches to climb. 

With the map loaded on my Garmin 530 and just enough water, we were on the Meriden trail that would lead us to the route we chose. We were pleasantly surprised at every turn. The trails are as challenging and fun as they come. 

This ride was about 18 miles and we only hit a small percentage of the possibilities. Definitely looking forward to heading back and not putting my feet down.

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