The main parking lot for the mountain bike trial is on S.R. 3 just a few miles southwest of Loudonville, Ohio across the street from the Mohican State Park campground entrance. Do not park in the campground parking as this area has been reserved for visitors and hikers. The trailhead is located at the northwest corner of this entrance. You can get to the trailhead by riding under the bridge that crosses the river at the end of the parking lot then riding through the campground back to the entrance.

The Mohican trail is one large 25 mile loop with only a hundred yards of pavement and a couple hundred yards of gravel. The rest is single track and a few hundred yards of grown over 2-track. The first mile will tax the legs and lungs of those who go out hard without warming up with a selection of long grades and steep switchbacks. At around the 4 mile mark you can split off and return to the main parking lot via a different trail for an 8 mile loop or continue on your journey.

A few more miles of varying terrain will drop you at the bottom of 7 mile hill, the 1st difficult climb on the loop. The climb is of varying degrees of difficulty and when you think you’re done, it climbs one more time taking you to the pine needle trail then to your 1st road crossing. You’ll have one more climb before your roller coaster descent to the valley floor. The down hill portions of this leg of the trip are fast with some technical off cambers and steep switchbacks eventually ending at the covered bridge at about 11.5 mile mark.

Continue on by crossing the bridge and riding the pavement a hundred yards before jumping back on the trail to start your ascent to the top of Mt. Doom. This section of trail has some of the hardest and steepest switchbacks and sometimes feels like it will never end. There are also a few fast sections thrown in so you can climb some more, cross a road and climb one more time before you make it to mile 15 and cross into the parking lot with a pit toilet which is also near the fire tower.

From here is it fast and twisty for the next few miles with very little in the way of hard climbs until you cross the next road after mile 19, your last chance to bail out and taking the easy way back. The rest of the trail is up and down with some cool technical rock sections and a few long climbs. Just after passing the big rocks you will come to a fast downhill left hand sweeper at mile 21 where those who use their brakes probably won’t make the steepest climb following it. Those who make the top can wait on the edge of a vertical ledge that overlooks the river and campgrounds 150 or more feet below.

The rest of the trail is off cambered hillsides, long grades and fast descents before you end up at the campground you just overlooked. Once in the campground continue straight across the bridge and you can reenter the trail on the other side for an easy rollercoaster ride back to the trailhead. The Mohican State Park Trail rocks and much appreciation goes out to those who volunteered their time to build it.

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