Raystown Ramble - Overnighter

 


This is a loop around Raystown lake... taking a pretty long way!

The loop passes through a very wide variety of sceneries, from the Mennonite farms of Woodbury, to plenty of doubletrack, and to the remote singletrack on the Eastern shore of Raystown lake.

A good starting point for this route is the parking at the trailhead of the Lower Trail, which is less than 2 h from Pittsburgh. 


There are plenty of camping options around the lake, many of which are marked on the map. The best seasons to ride this loop are spring and fall. In winter there will be very often snow on the peaks; in summer the lake gets busy with tourists.

This route follows all the rideable parts of the Terrace Mountain Trail (TMT), a 26-mile hiking/biking trail along the eastern shore of Raystown lake. There are 6 miles of rough singletrack along the TMT, all concentrated on the north shore of the lake after the "wooden shelter" (see map). The singletrack can be bypassed by continuing straight on John Bum road, instead of turning left for the "wooden shelter". Avoiding this stretch of singletrack will make the route rideable with any gravel bike.

This is a very nice loop, I highly recommend it. 

60% unpaved, 5% singletrack. 




LoL

Guinea Fowl

A hunter's cabin

Plenty of nice views of the lake



The falls at Trough Creek State Park

Obstacles along the singletrack

This is Raystown dam, a short detour from the route

Plenty of farms along the route



The Mennonite community of Woodbury






The wooden shelter on the eastern part of the lake


Singletrack








Terrace Mountain Trail






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