Ontario County Park at Gannett Hill

Any given snapshot of a trail at Ontario County Park (OCP) won't give you the impression that it's a particularly difficult spot. For excellent riders, trails are fun. For the rest of us, be prepared to test your technical abilities. Nearly all 17 miles of trails are singletrack. There are many rocks to negotiate. Roots are common to abundant. Errant trees crowd the trail. And of course, there are the usual hills and switchbacks of varying tightness. AT OCP, many of these elements exist in happy harmony at one time.

Avoiding rocks is doable. Staying straight and true over a bumpy root section is doable. Negotiating between two tight trees is doable. But taking on a hairpin turn, loaded with roots, up or downhill, while threading between rocks and trees? This is why OCP is not the best trail system for beginners. But there are enough trails with varying challenges that will leave you a better mountain biker than when you started.

Unlike most trail systems that assign a name or a color to a single trail, OCP has given a color name to a grouping of trails. The following directions attempt to lead you through a combination of easy, more difficult, and most difficult trails. However, it's almost guaranteed that you will find your own way. Download a map the first time you go. OCP is about 400 acres, and having a map will make life easier. Intersections are numbered to help with navigation.

You can always find the most up-to-date map at the Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists (GROC) website. GROC is responsible for the mountain biking presence at OCP.

OCP Mountain Bike Loop

Start off at the trailhead for the Finger Lakes Trail and ADA trail. Right away you'll be treated to a sweeping vista view. Enjoy it. The rest of the ride will be in the woods. The trail leads to the left. This is the Orange Trail, which is also the Finger Lakes Trail. Make sure to stay high and to the left to remain on the orange. When you get to intersection #9, leave the Orange Trail to follow the Brown Trail.

The Brown Loop is ranked a most difficult trail, as it has multiple iterations of all the challenges described above. The trail slowly moves its way to an upper ridge and eventually hooks up with yellow at junction #14. Go straight on the yellow. Yellow is described as a more difficult trail and is enjoyable after negotiating the brown. It eventually leads you to the farthest end of OCP, then swings back toward the general direction of the trailhead. Stay on yellow through junctions #8 and #7 (at this point, yellow is easy, and you can really cruise). When you get to #6, it's time to challenge yourself again. Turn right on the Red Loop.

The Red Loops (there are several) are a collection of most difficult trails. From this direction, you'll be going downhill. Eventually, the Red Loop trails bring you to the bottom of the hill and you'll catch a glimpse of the ADA fishing pond. Follow yellow a short distance and at intersection #4, veer right on the Park Trail. Follow that until you connect back up with orange (or brown). Continue to your right, and soon you'll be back to the Jump Off point and near the trailhead.

GROC maintains the trails for mountain biking, and OCP has earned a reputation as one of the better mountain biking spots. There are races and, every August, a mountain biking festival. OCP, like all other outdoor spots across the Northeast, is a hot spot for Lyme disease. Bug spray is recommended.