This challenging 4.5-mile loop (or 7 miles including Killbuck extension) is a contender for the best course in Ohio. It has a ton of steep climbs and descents and all the technical riding you could wish for.

Perhaps the best trail in Ohio

Its reputation as a great course makes it a popular site where races are held almost every month of the year, one of them being a 24-hour race. Call (330) 264-7636 or visit the Vulture's Knob Web site for more info.

Getting There

Take 71 south out of Cleveland until you come to State Route 83. Get off and turn left, heading south on 83 until you come to Smith-Western Road, where you make a right. Follow Smith-Western until Mechanicsburg Road. Look for the Vulture's Knob sign pointing to the entrance located at 4300 Mechanicsburg Road. It might not look like much when you pull up to the cabin where you can park, but look to the left. That's where the fun all starts.

The Trail

Head down the trail, cross the service road, go up a short climb, and you wind around a little bit. Before you know it, you're at the Rock Tunnel (the first of many named sections, all marked with little signs). The Rock Tunnel is littered with embedded rocks and roots.

After the rock tunnel, go right. If you miss the right turn at the bottom, you're in for a surprise in the shape of an unforgiving rock wall. (There are many places like this on the course where the penalty for crashing is huge, and you can't take your eyes off the trail for a second.) After your turn, go straight for a couple more minutes until you come to a single-track that includes some hollowed-out log bridges. There are now several paths to take.

Going down Fern Gully requires riding ruts. However, if you turn right, you can avoid the ruts and weave through some trees. You can also continue straight on down or turn left. By turning left, you will be rewarded with a relatively easy climb before a steep downhill that ends at a bridge called"The Cradle," named for a sagging bridge that makes a loud noise when you ride it — if you have the skill.

After crossing "The Cradle," weave downhill through some creeks and then start another climb that follows a fire road whose surface is made up of moderately loose rocks. Back into the woods, the trail turns very rocky. After this challenging climb, you're rewarded with a speedy downhill. You have now gone a total of only a mile and a half.

The course does finally become a mellower single-track with some great hills along mostly hard-pack.

Horseshoe Hill follows on this section, which is a rocky downhill with some log bridges. Following this is one of the steepest — and longest — climbs on the course.

Killbuck Extension

Back at the bottom of Fern Gully, you can turn left onto a dirt road and continue on it for a hundred feet or so before making another left. Follow the dirt road all the way down (approximately 0.3 mile) and turn right into some single-track leading to a section called the Serpent, a quarter-mile of all kinds of bridges, including one that runs up into a tree and back down (if you don't clean it, you can fall at least eight feet, so it's a good idea to scout this bridge first and walk it if you're unsure about your ability to ride safely across).