I know some of you are from the st louis area, so maybe you'll be able to tell me if I got off on the wrong trail.
I'd decided to ride river scene trail in castlewood today. Everything I've seen on it rates it as easy, and I've ridden a part of it accidently when I came over from stinging nettle trail. I'd looked at some of the others- lone wolf was one, but it said they were "hilly and technical"- that scares me.
I parked near the entrance to castlewood and rode up the pavement till I saw a sign on the right that said "river scene, start". A short path into the woods to a T. I too the right arm, it went up a hill of loose rocks to lone wolf trail. I turned around and took the other arm. Up and up and up. The hill got seeper, rockier, and narrower, till the steep hillside or bluff was off on the left. The path was sloped down the bluff, and was a lot of loose rocks. I walked my bike. I tried riding a bit, but the steepness as well as the sloped trail made me nervous, and when I got nervous I got wobbly, and it was just too close to the edge. So I walked. I came to a real steep part that looked more like a rockslide than a trail. It was even hard to push the bike up.
I did get passed by another rider, other than that I didn't see anyone on the trail. No markers. I was able to ride a little, but 12" logs and giant root clusters kept me walking on a lot of it. And I'm not one to just get off and walk at the slightest obsticle, but these were too much for me.
I finally came to the bottom, after going way up above the river with sheer bluffs on one side. At the bottom I came to the flat sandy trail I recognized, sort of. It was singletrack for a while, then came to the wider part. I rode it to the railroad land that goes across to stinging nettle and turned around. I rode back to the connector to the parking lot and tried a few of the little trails on the other side of the road. I needed the smooth sandy trail, with occasional dips and roots and dodges around muddy parts- I was pretty demoralized by the first part. Was that REALLY river scene trail???
If that's beginner, then I'm a ways below that still! I think I need to ride lion's club park at rolla several more times to get my confidence back.
I still had a good time; not so much the walking and slipping and sliding trying to climb up the loose rocks pushing my bike, but the ride on the singletrack and wider trails at the bottom.
vickie