Battle Creek

From MORC Wiki

Contents 1 Getting There 2 History 3 The Details 4 Land Manager 5 Overall Impression 6 Trail Maps 7 Pictures & Multimedia

[edit] Getting There

Battle Creek Regional Park is located approximately 5 miles East of downtown St. Paul, off I-94.

Driving East on I-94, exit on McKnight Road and turn right (South). Drive South to Upper Afton Road. Turn right on Upper Afton Road and drive to Winthrop Street. Turn left on Winthrop Street, and drive approximately one block. Turn right, into the Battle Creek Community Center parking lot. Find a place to park - you're at the trailhead!

The official trailhead is located directly South of the Community Center. Just head South across the grass, until you pick up a well-worn singletrack about 100 yards later. (Note: there is another parking lot available off Pt. Douglas Road - we don't recommend using it, as there have been quite a few break-ins at the Pt. Douglas lot.)

[edit] History

[edit] The Details

Battle Creek offers quite an extensive network of trails, as compared to most metropolitan trail systems. In many areas of the park, it's easy to forget you're surrounded by suburbs on all sides. Battle Creek has something for riders of all technical abilities, with trails running the gamut from smooth, hard-pack ski trails to expert-level singletrack. The terrain is quite hilly, so expect the trails to give you a good workout. Although hilly, the climbs tend to be relatively short, with the longest single climb gaining approximately 110' in elevation. Trails are mainly fast hardpack, with a few sandy sections and a few rocks & roots.

One common complaint with this trail is that there is no one right way to ride it. This leads to confusion on the part of people who are not familiar with the trail. It also causes some scary near misses by bikers bombing around blind corners not expecting to see people coming the other way.

The trail starts climbing right out of the parking lot. Once you're at the top, you head north and bomb down a grassy doubletrack. After wandering around the northwest side of this plot of park, you make your way south, and west across the dividing Battle Creek Road. On the west side of the road, there is some pretty sweet singletrack, and some nice views of the surrounding area. You can make a loop within this area, or you can cross over a paved trail on the north end of this section, hit a trail spur, and drop out onto a road to the west. From there, you continue south on the road and hop back into the park up the biggest climb Battle Creek has to offer. To exit this west end of the park, you back track on the spur that brought you across the road. Back on the east side, you head south on the doubletrack ski trail. After a quick sandy climb, hang a right into some really nice singletrack. This wanders around the south end of the park. Climbing back up out of the valley, you can wander around on the doubletrack to the southeast, or head out for another lap. This trail can get muddy in many spots when it's wet due to areas that have improper drainage. Since it's not a good idea to ride a wet trail anyway... Don't ride this one after a rain. Mudding is not good on your bike, the trail, or land access efforts. Do us all a favor, and stick to dry legal trails.

The most common complaint we receive about the trails at Battle Creek are from riders who can't find the "good" trails. Due to the layout of Battle Creek Park and minimalist signage, it can be a bit challenging to piece a cohesive longer ride together.

Once in a while at Battle Creek you will notice entire areas that have been cleared of undergrowth to eradicate non-native Buckthorn and Black Locust trees. As a result, there are piles of brush, and small areas of the park that can look unattractive. Take heart, there is a method to the madness - the brush piles are soon be burned, and native flora will be encouraged to flourish. In the mean time, watch out for stray branches across trails!

[edit] Land Manager

Ramsey County Parks & Recreation manages the Battle Creek Regional Park. Ramsey County Staff have been very coorperative in working with MORC to maintain and improve the off-road trails at Battle Creek. In 2000, a vocal group of non-bikers tried to get mountain bikers banned from the park, due to the irresponsible behavior of a few riders. The situation has improved markedly in 2001, as Park staff & MORC have spread the word about riding responsibly. Please help ensure continued mountain bike access at Battle Creek by riding only on open trails and by showing respect for other park patrons. You can visit Ramsey County's Battle Creek Mountain Biking Site, by clicking here!

[edit] Overall Impression

[edit] Trail Maps

[edit] Pictures & Multimedia

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MORC Trail Guide Wiki