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I was shortly joined by Dan, Kurt, and Mike.  So we head out and
quickly decided that the singletrack will be unpassable due to the
heavy snow bending the saplings.  So, we opt for a doubletrack
ride to Batsto Village and back.  It’s a long ride and even longer
trodging through snow.  But, the scenery was spectacular!

The fire road isn’t too bad at this point since some 4×4’s have made
ruts for us to ride in. Every so often we stop to admire mother nature
and Kurt proclaims it’s like being on LSD. With this look in the next
picture and the Target bag hanging out of his helmet, he certainly
looks like he’s on drugs.  More like crack, though.  He said
the bad was an old motocross trick to keep crap from falling down your
kneck.

I would have to say that Mother Nature did a great job today.  The
sky was so blue, the trees so green, and the snow…  well you
know.

Only a couple of miles in and we have the first problem of the
day.  Dan’s derailleur has frozen in granny gear.  Short of
pissing on it, there is nothing we can do.

He continues on spinning ferociously until Mike finally get’s it
working again only to find out that Dan now has a flat.  Knowing
his day is cursed, hge turns around and heads back before the Jersey
Devil gets him.

Onward we go, albeit slowly.  It’s bot a race today anyway and the steady grind courtesy of the snow makes a great workout.

We make it to Quaker Bridge and the Mullica River flowing coldly beneath it.  So peaceful!

We then turn onto some doubletrack.  It looks like one lone 4×4
tried to get through, but judging from all the bent branches it’ll be
one scratched up truck. 

Soon we get to a point where there is a tree across the trail and the
4×4 tracks have doubled back.  We climb over and continue on with
only about a mile to get to the village.

We reach Batsto Village (http://www.batstovillage.org) and stop in the
visitor center to warm up, hit the bathroom, and chat it up with the
friendly old ladies working in the gift shop.  It must be a very
slow day for them, but they love to volunteer and talk about the
village and trails.  They point out a trail for us to take so we
can have sort of a loop back to Atsion.  We walk (out of respect
for their rules) through the village to the trail and take some photos
on the way.

This is the saw mill that is still working and powered by water.

The water comes from the Batsto lake dam.

A few of the village residences from when it was a working factory town in the early 1800’s.

Ah, finally some singletrack.  There are some footprints to start with but that changes shortly in.

Let know one tell you that riding in this stuff is easy.  Also,
the sand that is beneath the snow has not frozen yet making it even
harder.

We stop for a food break at the Batsto river.  One of the three kayakable rivers that run through the forest.

More fresh marks in the singletrack.

Even the king of balance, Mike Air Newman walks this bridge.

More singletrack with deep loose sand underneath.  It was a pedal to match any climb!

We make it to the Batsto River campsite and it looks like some fresh
kayak tracks.  I’m still trying to gather up enough nerve to kayak
in the winter, plus the money for a wet suit just in case.

We then meet up with Quakerbridge Road again and cruise out to the car in slush.

Here’s the topo, profile, and satellite view of the ride.

For you Google Earth folks, here’s the KML:

http://www.schnauzers.ws/batsto.kml