Starting at Skedalaskog Vastra entrance (or cycling in from town on the back trails, coming soon). This is the most wilderness loop available in Skedala. If you are looking to get away from the hikers, and do a long ride on tough single track, than this ride is for you. This route has segments that are Black difficulty, with some drops with serious potential for injury. There are steep climbs, fast descents and a lot of fun to be had. GPX files.
Total climbing: 235 m
The trail starts by heading left into the woods, it’s wet, and this segment is better ridden in reverse, it has a great technical descent with a couple of worthwhile jumps. (You can see it on Strava as HLR Tack.) Pushing clockwise means having to dismount, or you could skip the left-hand segment and just stay on the gravel road. At the top there is a variation trail, which this course takes, as the descent back to the road is incredibly muddy.
Follow the gravel road for 500 m, if you are looking for more adventure, keep your eyes out for a trail going off to your right, it’s mostly a climb, but it’s a lovely addition (It’s not on this GPX file, available here).
The gravel road ends in a turn-around with a small hunting camp, and the red trail begins properly. It’s going to be wet, some of the bridges have chicken wire, some don’t, a lot of times there’s just no bridge, however, this trail is worth the effort. The first few climbs are tough, but short, and worthwhile. Eventually, you will get up onto a flat section, here you are on one of the highest points in Halmstad. If the lack of oxygen is effecting you, it’s not the altitude, it’s that the climbs are kicking your ass.
The first descent is a segment named ‘Captain Haddock DH‘, and it is short, but one of the few pieces of trail deserving of the name Downhill in the park. It’s tough, if you come off, it’s going to hurt. You want to be on a bike with good suspension to ride this successfully.
Once you’ve picked up all the pieces, get ready to ride. The trail disappears into the woods to your left, and this is a fast, hectic, fun piece of trail. It descends for about 1km of pure moutain biking enjoyment. By the time you hit the next gravel road, your hands should be shaking and you’ll be looking for somebody to high 5. Please do not high 5 hikers, they are already quite scared of mountain bikers. You are covered in mud, you smell funny, you are likely bleeding…only another mountain biker is willing to touch you.
This is where things get sad. Where you come out used to be a beautiful pine forest, but it had an infestation of some type of worm. The entire area had to be clearcut. So, when you descend, do not go all the way to Green and the gravel road, you should be turning right and climbing what looks like an elephant’s graveyard. Do not descent this, it will tear your bikes to pieces. This used to be another amazing downhill section, sadly, it’ll be a long time before it gets cleared, if ever. You have to climb up to the stairs to the lookout. BE CAREFUL carrying your bike on these stairs, this is the most dangerous part of the entire trail.
Once on top, count the members of your party, and head off to your left. There is a nice long section of trail that has 2 highly technical downhill sections that will eventually spit you out at Toftasjön, head to your right, up a lovely soft climb, a little gravel road and back to the starting spot!
matching set available at the giftshop.
One thought on “Skedala Red Loop Clockwise”