Riding Storm King via Grand Slam

Today's post chronicles today's ride.  I am doing this in some detail, so that next year when we try to remember where we liked riding, we can refer back.  It has become clear to me that my memory of the trail system here is somewhat lacking.
We started up Ben's.  There was a Dad coaching his son on how to ride the rocky switch back section.  The advice given was to hit the uphill rocks with momentum, level your feet as the front wheel crosses the rock (so as not to hit the rock with the pedal), then mash down on the pedals to get the back wheel to clear the rock.  Rinse, repeat.  The kid had cleaned all but the very last rock, but Dad sent him back down the hill until he got them all.  Pretty cool to watch.  The Dad was riding a single speed.  From this we infer he's a very good rider.
From FSR 300 to the entrance to Whoops is about 1.6 miles of continuous uphill grinding it out.  I was a tired puppy at that point.  See the chipmunk sunning himself?  Is he not adorable?

 

We went down Storm King (which is in really good shape) to mile post 27, where we turned on to Grand Slam.  The first part of GS has several impenetrable sections of rock.  This is one of them.  My beloved took pity on my tired self and hauled my bike through it.  Some people can ride this, but I would not be one of them.

 

Still hauling.

 

After the rocky parts, the trail gets smoother, but the top is pretty steep down, with tight turns which are partially obscured by bushes.  The lower you get the easier the trail gets.  It's a doable trail, but there might be better ways to go.  Grand Slam intersects FSR 4610 just before milepost 22.  We took 4610 to the left.  4610 intersects Voodoo (a black trail), where Voodoo looks very benign.  There is a bike sculpture there.

 

Mountain bike art at its finest.

 

After crossing Voodoo, we made a right onto Phil's just above the Chicken, which is milepost 7.  The bird has a new paint job this year, and is looking fine.

 

Once on Phil's we were happy knowing that it wasn't that far to the truck, and it's a trail we've ridden a lot.  We got 18.2 miles today
I think next time we'll continue on down Storm King to the Cause of Death trail and see how that is.  Do you not love the trail names?