Blue Mountain Bike Park
Photo: Mtbparks.com
Overview:
Blue Mountain Bike Park is located in Palmerton, PA. It offers a surprising 27 downhill trails, making it Pennsylvania’s largest downhill park. Recently, the park has changed management. This new management seems to be putting in more time and money into developing new flow trails which contain jumps for advanced riders, but are also beginner friendly. The park also has many original downhill tracks used for races which are famously loose and gnarly.
Pros:
Blue Mountain is really starting to step up their bike park game since the last time I was there. Recently, a trail called Upper King Tut has been converted into an epic flow trail with seven jumps and massive berms. I’ve also heard of plans to introduce another top to bottom beginner trail on the opposite side of the mountain. For those in search of massive jumps, look no further than Empire. Despite its short length, this trail packs a serious punch with two lines containing wall rides, cannons, and table tops which can also be connected into a trail called Ewok Village for a long jump lap. There are also a few tech trails like Formula and Moto, plus some trails that combine flow and tech, most notably Miles of Smiles which also has some cool wooden features.
Cons:
The one thing holding Blue Mountain back isn’t the trail builders’ fault at all, yet prevalent on every run there: the dirt. This place is covered in loose shale that will destroy your tires at high speed. The dirt makes it nearly impossible to trust any of the corners which really limits the flow trails. On top of this, there are a few trail quality issues like the racecourse feeling more like a wide fire road than an actual trail, and the dangerously close-together jumps on Ewok Village that I’ve heard a few people wreck themselves on.
Rating (Bike Park Scale): 3.5/10
Despite it’s negative rating, all the trail crew has to do to get the score up is do very frequent maintenance, more than many other bike parks, due to the soil. Yes, there also are some trail issues, but I think with better dirt this place would get a 5/10 for having good variety and many trails.
Update (8/16):
Recently, Blue Mountain has built two new trails: Upper Empire and The Swartz and has also done some work on pre existing trails like El Camino. Upper Empire has got some of the biggest jumps in the park and is lots of fun, however my friend pointed out that the speed for each jump is pretty inconsistent which forces you to either pedal or brake between jumps. The Swartz is basically the only loamy trail on the mountain since it’s so fresh, however there are so many rocks on the trail that your tires almost never touch the good dirt. El Camino actually proved to be a pretty fun blue jump trail, but if you consider yourself an amateur, I’d look out as this trail has some big doubles that would definitely belong on an advanced jumpline.