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A taste of everything Nine Mile has to offer.


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Map Key

12.6

Miles

20.3

KM

100%

Singletrack

1,373' 419 m

High

1,196' 365 m

Low

978' 298 m

Up

980' 299 m

Down

3%

Avg Grade (2°)

19%

Max Grade (11°)

Dogs Off-leash

E-Bikes Allowed

Closed from October 15 through May 1. Check land manager's website for an opening date as that can vary depending on conditions.

Overview

This route encompasses essentially all of the singletrack located at Nine Mile with the exception of two short segments. You'll get a taste of varied types of trail; from machine built flow to well aged rake & ride. There are berms, rollers, roots, rocks, flow and gnar all in one ride.

Need to Know

Trail pass is required. $4 for a daily, $25 for a season pass, kids age 11 and under are free. All trail fees collected stay at Nine Mile to pay for operations and maintenance.

Nine Mile is a county forest unit (managed forest) with developed recreation. It is not uncommon to see logging activities during the summer months. If trails are signed or closed for logging please do not ride them for safety reasons.

All of the singletrack is interconnected but there are lots of intersections with doubletrack nordic ski trail. Just cross the ski trail as if it wasn't there. You can ride all singletrack or mix in some doubletrack for speed (some of the ski trail is pretty fun to ride too). The ski trail also serves as short cut in/out of singletrack too.

Description

Starting in front of the ski chalet, jump into The Pines enjoy a quick curvy cruise. You'll cross ski trails multiple times throughout the ride so just cross and continue as if they weren't there. Eventually you'll come to a three-way intersection so continue straight onto Icky Thump until you come to W4 intersection at Ski Trail "Y". Here you can choose to go straight onto Up Nort to ride it counter clockwise or hang a left on Ski Trail "Y" for about 100 yards to catch the other end of Up Nort and ride it clockwise...fun in both directions. When you're finished there head on into Outbound for a smooth cruise up to the Advanced Loop Connector.

Follow the connector to Flower Trail for some old school roots and rocks and a boardwalk section to finish it off. Next up is Super G, mostly an old logging road turned semi-singletrack except for the last section that gets tight and twisting as you gradually climb to Stinger where you'll get your first taste of real rocks. Be sure to watch for a couple of short cuts out to doubletrack midway down Stinger. If you end up on what looks like a gravel road turn around and continue back to the singletrack.

After that rock hammering, you'll cross another ski trail to the entrance of Ho Chi Minh where you'll be greeted by even more rocks. This trail has been around for quite a while so there are multiple line choices. You'll gradually climb and hit a few more rock gardens here and there and are eventually treated to a nice downhill flow section with bermed corners. Don't get too lazy though because the flow is followed by a log drop and a hard left into more rocks and a more twisting, slower, rocky section of trail. The last push of Ho Chi Minh is a short punchy, rocky climb up to Bear Bones which is another old logging road turned semi-singletrack. Partway down Bear Bones jump on to K-Bypass for another rocky rugged ride down and back up the hillside. The last section of the advanced loop is White Knuckle that is a short fun descent into a bunch of white painted rocks. There's more than one line choice here so choose wisely.

You're now back to the Advanced Loop Connector so double back to take the southern section of Outbound. There are lots of machine built berms and flow here as the trail descends and rises multiple times. Each descent is filled with berms and rollers and each climb is a short reload for the next downhill section. After the very last flow section there is a short cutoff return trail if you'd like to do the last berm/flow segment more than once.

Continuing on down Outbound you'll dive in and out of older sections of trail mixed with newer machine built trail and eventually spill out onto Ski Trail "A" - Main Street. Continue straight across onto Chainsmoker which will twist and wind around on well aged rake & ride trail. You'll gradually climb to an intersection with Icky Thump / Chain Smoker Connector just after you pass by a big 'ole boulder.

Stay to the right to continue on Chainsmoker where you'll enjoy a newer machine built twisting descent. Another quick ski trail crossing and your now onto Root Canal for a gradual climb that includes one short punchy rock garden climb. Cross a ski trail and your now onto the section of Root Canal that gives it it's name. This portion has lots of roots, twists and turns and you'll eventually end up where the ski trail crosses Red Bud Road. Sneak around the gates for the east loops.

The ski trail bisects the singletrack loop, on the north side is Yin and south side is Yang. Both are well aged rake and ride trail that have a nice flow to them. Yin has a couple of rock gardens while Yang is twisty and rooty. This loop is fun in either direction. At the east end of Yin / Yang is the Stone Soup loop. This is short but rocky technical ride is fun in either direction. After finishing the east loops cross back to the west side of the road and take the East Loop Connector to Jim's Trail for a fast ripper back to the trailhead.

History & Background

Nine Mile has been well known for it's nordic skiing for decades and singletrack came to be around the mid to late 1980's. Much of the trail corridor was brushed by an archery club that held outdoor competitions including a couple of national championship archery competitions. That corridor was found by local early mountain bikers and singletrack was born at Nine Mile.

The early trail system had some singletrack loops but not much of it was interconnected and required use of doubletrack to link things together. Often thought of as a spaghetti mess of trails that were hard to navigate unless you were riding with a local. That all changed in 2013 when the Central Wisconsin Off Road Cycling Coalition took the reigns and launched a big project to make sense of the trails. All new signage and maps were installed along with 3 miles of new machine built trail that connected the old legacy segments together. The trail project was completed in 2015.

Contacts

Shared By:

Matt Block with improvements by Oliver Post and 1 other

Trail Ratings

  4.3 from 22 votes

#853

Overall
  4.3 from 22 votes
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Photos

Zipping through the last two berms of Outbound.
Nov 13, 2015 near Rib Mou…, WI
Cruising the berms on Up Nort
Feb 10, 2016 near Rib Mou…, WI
Threading the rocky needle
Feb 10, 2016 near Evergreen, WI
A brief look at the advanced loop at nine mile recreation area. The video highlights, Flower, Stinger, Ho Chi Mihn and K-bypass.
Aug 31, 2021 near Rib Mou…, WI
Huckin' the rock on Ho Chi Minh
Nov 13, 2015 near Rib Mou…, WI
Choose your path - intersection of Pines, Icky Thump and East Connector.
Jul 25, 2017 near Rib Mou…, WI
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