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A rooty singletrack that moves quickly around a wooded lake tucked away in Newport News.


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Map Key

3.9

Miles

6.3

KM

Singletrack

107' 33 m

High

14' 4 m

Low

422' 129 m

Up

432' 132 m

Down

4%

Avg Grade (2°)

20%

Max Grade (11°)

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

Open sunrise to sunset. Helmets required for bikers.

Need to Know

This was formerly called Lake Maury but the name of the park and the trails have been changed to Mariner's Lake.

Description

This is definitely one of the longer ways out to the end of the trail system without overlapping at all. It involves taking rights at every fork you come across, with the exception of those times it dumps out onto the access road.

Start out heading down from the street side parking on Gatewood along the lake. You'll soon come to a fork, up or down. There's a 30 foot long skinny if you go up (right) otherwise the trails meet up again shortly. You'll soon approach another fork, again either way will take you to about the same spot soon there after the access road.

Continue straight down the access road - do not go across the road immediately, this is a dead end. After about 150 yards the road goes right, but the trail goes straight up a small hill. If you continue up this trail you'll be to the meat of the singletrack.

There are numerous possible routes to take through here. I've found if you take the right option when available you get the most track in without retracing your path. Again though, numerous possibilities are available, and there's a teeter-totter if you trend left by the lake.

In about the middle of this area there's a terrain park with several doubles, a table top or two, and a couple other features. It's not a whole lot, but pretty good quality for what is there.

After the terrain park, continue across the bridge at the bottom and stay to the right. You'll come to an elevated singletrack section that traces around an area with lots of bamboo. This was clearly a man-made area, presumably from the initial creation of the reservoir. There are a few other features in this area and it's an interesting ride around and through the bamboo if you're interested. If not, keep going and you won't miss much.

Past this there's more singletrack winding through the woods until you come to the access road again to cross a small creek. You can either turn around or continue on to the other side. The mainstay of the area is behind you, but there's new ground ahead for mostly an out and back type.

You'll cross a couple of bridges and come up to street level a couple times, though always staying on the dirt/grass, and eventually ending up at a no biking sign. At this point you can return the way you came or look for one of the few exits to head back via streets to your car.

Contacts

Shared By:

Tyler Quesnel

Trail Ratings

  3.8 from 34 votes

#826

Overall
  3.8 from 34 votes
5 Star
21%
4 Star
44%
3 Star
29%
2 Star
3%
1 Star
3%
Trail Rankings

#18

in Virginia

#826

Overall
22 Views Last Month
9,455 Since May 25, 2013
Intermediate Intermediate

3%
3%
66%
14%
14%
0%

Photos

Nice teeter-totter if you can find it. Hint: trend left.
Jun 1, 2013 near Newport…, VA
Lake Maury skinny.
May 9, 2022 near Newport…, VA
Easiest to find bamboo forest during the winter.
Oct 8, 2015 near Newport…, VA
Keep your eyes scanning to the left to find the emerald bamboo forest.
Oct 8, 2015 near Newport…, VA
Huge Teeter. As of August 2015 there is a significant crack on the left support beam.
Oct 8, 2015 near Newport…, VA
Some jumps to play on.
Jul 10, 2013 near Newport…, VA

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Weather


Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 13 days ago
Add Your Check-In

Check-Ins

Feb 14, 2023
Ben Kopp
May 29, 2022
Matt Johnson
1h 30m
May 3, 2022
Jaci Callaway
5.1mi
Apr 24, 2022
Miguel Ramirez
Mar 14, 2022
Tyler McNally
fun 3mi
Oct 14, 2021
Jacob Clauss
Not maintained and probably can't safely ride the whole trail.
Jun 9, 2021
Adam T
5.8mi — 1h 22m
May 6, 2021
Tommy Honaker
2.9mi — 0h 48m
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