TA Report: Gay City/Blackledge Falls

   

Date:March 30, 2011
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Gay City/Blackledge Falls
Town: Hebron
Trail Conditions: Good, very little mud
Observations/Information I rode Gay City and Blackledge Falls Wednesday afternoon. The trails were in great shape. They were dry for the most part, although that might change by the time you read this, and well ridden. Just a few soft spots, no mud to speak of, and the streams were running. I rode the red, blue/red, yellow, white and blue trails. They were as they always have been; well used put holding up just fine. I rode up to Birch Mountain Rd on the blue road. Part of that road, just above the gas line, is badly eroded (see photo). I took the Ribbon Trail back down into Blackledge Falls. The trail is in great shape except for a trashed pallet bridge- most of the slats are missing requiring that you either avoid it entirely or ride across the parallel runners.

Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes

TA Report: Trout Brook

Date: 03-30-2011
Report Type: TM Report
Trail Name: Trout Brook
Town: Weston
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: Met with Lisa Brodlie to how out and review projects for 2011. Hiked out blue and came up with 7 major projects to start the year.
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TA Report: Roosevelt Forest

Date of Activity: 3/30/11
Location: Roosevelt Forest
Condition of Trails(s): Excellent
Observations: Only one other car in the parking lot, one other person in the forest. What a difference a few days make. Today I rode without an outer jacket, without winter gloves, without a balaclava. Earlier in the week I was dressed for the cold weather and the cold winds.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

TA Report: Case Mountain

Date:3/29/2011
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Case Mountain
Town: Manchester
Trail Conditions: Good
Observations/Information: The trails at Case are in fairly good shape. Although, the fire roads did not do well this winter. Lots of washed out areas. There was some mud but it was draining well. It was good to see that there has been substantial trail work since I last rode at Case. There has been some good work done to enhance trail drainage
Trail Ambassador Name: arthur roti

TA Report: WIlton Woods

Date:03-29-2011
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: WIlton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: Met with WCC for a 1 hour meeting in the morning getting approval to open up the park back up for mountain biking. Went to the park and rode for 1.5 hours
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Rocky Road (cockaponset)

Date:3-29-2011
Report Type:TM Report
Trail Name:Rocky Road
Town:Chester
Trail Conditions:Boggy
Observations/Information: Cockaponset State Forest, Pattaconk section.
Solo trail-maintenance activity.
Armoring boggy section of trail: moved a 1400-pound flat-plate boulder into place. This required transporting it 30 yards using a variety of improvised rope hoist rigging. It gave me a 4:1 advantage plus that of the come-along; I'm assuming the entire setup was around 10:1. The biggest problem was having to constantly re-rig due to the short action of a come-along versus a grip-hoist. A grip-hoist would have made the project about 1.5 hours instead of the 5 it took me.

   

Equipment: 2-ton come-along, 4 pulleys, 5 caribiners, nylon ropes, webbing, a steel cable and a rock bar.
Trail Ambassador Name: Bryan McFarland

TA Report: Roosevelt Forest

Date of Activity: 3/28/11
Location: Roosevelt Forest
Condition of Trails(s): Excellent, dry, clear, one new blow down, I will return when I have more time to clear it.
Observations: Cold, brisk day, enjoyable ride
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

TA Report: Bradley Park

Date: 3-27-10
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Bradley Park
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Dry, leafy, a few spots with mud (rare)

Observations/InformationWeather was sunny and although a bit nippy - not bad at all once you got riding. Went out for quickie as I've been hammered with a lot of paperwork these days.

Did the Orange Trail counter clockwise, then the Blue and a bit of the Red and headed back out on the White. Trails were surprisingly very dry and rideable, just a bit of mud up top on the ridge.

The interior trails were very leafy and, unless you know the park well, hard at times to distinguish the tread. At one spot I tossed a small log on a small curve to visually illustrate which trees to go thru (yep - I missed it!).

The center of the park--usually a semi-dry swamp--was now a shallow lake and the water flowed fiercely under the boardwalk bridges

TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date:  3-27-2011
 Trail Name:  Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town:  Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions:Some wet spots here and there and a little mud

Observations/Information:  Took my daughter out for her first Mountain Bike Ride on her new Mountain Bike, a Cannondale Chase. We rode over to Upper Paugussett State Forest and then up the Poly Brody Trail to the top of the mountain and turned around and came back.  There is still a lingering wet/muddy area in the middle of the Poly Brody about 100 or 200 yards past the entrance and be careful because there is big pile of dog pooh in the middle of the trail.Except for the stream running down the the section of the trail after pooh everything is dry but there are some soft spots

TA Report: Huntington

Date: 3/27/11
Location: Huntington
Condition of Trail(s): Single track is good except for a few problem areas that are that way all year round.
Observations: Very few ruts, a few wet or soft areas, and the carriage roads are still muddy in places. Vernal pools abound, and the frogs are singing. Parking lots were filled.
Trail Ambassador Name:Paula Burton

TA Report: Hurd State Park

Date: March 26, 2011

Location: Hurd State Park

Condition of Trails: Good & dry

                                        

Observations: Paula and I rode here on Saturday afternoon. It was cold, raw, and windy, a lot like the last time we were here, in mid-December. The trails were in great shape. This park slopes to the West and gets a lot of sun, so I knew it would be dry. There were a few muddy areas on the dirt roads but they were easy to get around, and the streams were running.  The trails were clear of fallen sticks and limbs and many trails were clear of leaves, as if they had been raked. We also saw evidence of recent chainsaw work.

These trails are fun and hilly but not very technically challenging. There are several "dragon's back" rock features that are fun to ride. The videos were taken on one of the milder ones. If you like fast, twisty, relatively smooth but hilly trails you should check this place out.

TA Report: Huntington State Park

Date of Activity: 3/26/2011
Condition of Trails(s): Dry mostly
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Observations: Some sections were muddy at the end of the Rock and Roll Trail, but other than that the whole park was pretty dry

TA Report: Penwood State Park

Date:3/26/2011
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Penwood State Par
Town: Simsbury
Trail: Conditions:good
Observations/Information: It was my first time out on the MTB this year and boy was I surprised at how good the trails were. We certainly need to get into the woods and cut up some blow downs and clean up some the the trails that have been eroded by the winter. Even with this work to be done the trails are in good shape with little mud.
Trail Ambassador Name: Arthur Roti

TA report: Waldo State Park

Date: 3/25/11
Location: G. Waldo SP, Southbury
Condition of Trail(s): ok, but still a few problem areas
Observations: Snow finally gone except for a few small piles. Trail is in ok shape, but please be careful and sensitive. There were two major wash outs of the trail, which are still ridable, but please don't make ruts or widen the trail. I pulled out my first trash of the season.
Trail Ambassador Name:Paula Burton

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 3/25/11
Condition of Trails(s): Dry, a few damp spots
Observations: First order of business was a meeting with Patricia Sesto and Mike Conklin from WCC regarding some park issues, we utilized the current trail map to pinpoint the problem areas. Mike also gave me some new tools they purchased for the shed, a Rogue hoe and McCleod, which Chris K and I can share for projects at both WW and Bradley parks. Went to Witon Woods and hike out to a overhanding tree, which I managed to cut and remove. I then hiked the entire trail system determining if I could recommend that mountain biking be able to begin again. Based upon 95% of the park now dry and there are only a few short problematic areas with wetter conditions, I email the WCC asking to reopen the park to biking. I am hopeful that next Monday/Tuesday I can take down all the trail closed signs. After my hike I drove to the Sackett Preserve shed and dropped off the tools.
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TA Report: Wadsworth Falls State Park

Date: March 25, 2011
Location: Wadsworth Falls State Park
Condition of Trails: Dry to muddy

Observations: A quick afternoon ride revealed the trails to be in great shape for the most part. The singletracks are moist but not wet, and have less leaf cover than usual for this time of year. The double tracks feature mud in a few places, but it is easy to get around. There are still a fair number of blowdowns littering the trails. I picked up what I could, concentrating on the singletrack. There's also a new tree across the yellow trail (see photo), but I expect it to be cleared soon. I ran into another rider, a local racer unfamiliar with the trails, and gave him the tour.

If you're looking for a place to ride around Middletown this weekend, Wadsworth would be a good choice. I'd avoid the blue trail between the red and yellow, and the red trail south of the four corners- they're still too wet, but everything else is good to go.



Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes

TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Wet and muddy on the Poly Brody

Date: 3/22/2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown
Trail Conditions: come ci com ca

Tracks in the mud on the Poly Brody

Observations/Information: While the Upper Gussy Trail is in fantastic shape, getting there can be a little sloppy. Lots of mud and water on the Poly Brody and don't even bother with the Mulkin, there are trees down and it's like Mama Bear's bed, way too soft to be ridin'. Al's trail is good.  

There was a tree down on the lower Mulikin that was easy to take care of.

There is another one further up the trail that needs to be cut because it's too big to move.  Further down the Gussy, just past the ROW there is another big tree leaning against another that is kind of precarious and needs to be dropped.

TA Report: West Rock Ridge State Park

Date: 3/22/2011
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: TA Report: West Rock Ridge State Park
Town:Hamden
Trail Conditions:Some mud, mostly OK
Observations/InformationThrew my loppers in my backpack and took out a lot of the prickers on the red trail leading into the meadow area. It wasn't a lot of fun but I think it helped a lot and will make that passage a lot more comfortable for all trail users. Now I just have to go back and do the rest!

TM Report: Cockaponset

before

Date of Activity: 3-21-2011
Location: Cockaponset State Forest, Pattaconk Recreation Area
Condition of Trails(s): Needed work.
Observations: A wet sloppy mess with snow/rain mix.

During

Work Accomplished: Began armoring long marshy section of the Rocky Road Trail and accomplished 23 feet. This section is 90% complete with some stone stabilization needed. See photos of before and after.

Trail Ambassador Name: Bryan McFarland

after

TM Report: Trout Brook

Date of Activity: 3/20/2011
Condition of Trails(s): Damp
Observations: Ryan, Kyaiera and myself hiked out to plan 2 major trail reroutes on the blue trail. The first project is at the beginning and will need to have a retaining wall built for the turn that will be located on a steep hillside, project 2 is a reroute of a 450 foot walkway up on to an adjacent hillside, options were discussed and a final to stage approach was agreed upon
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort, Ryan Tucker, Kyaiera Tucker

TA Report: River Highlands State Park, aka The Blow Hole

Date: 3/19/2011
Location: River Highlands State Park, aka The Blow Hole



Town: Cromwell
Trail Conditions: Nice

Observations/Information: NEMBA member's ride at the Blow Hole. We had 8 people in total show up and Glenn led us on just about all the trails.

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 3/19/11
Condition of Trails(s): Most trails sections just damp, but some areas extremely muddy
Observations: Hikes to Red trail to get water to drain off trail, will require additional armoring.
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TA Report:Waldo SP

Date: 3/19/11
Location: G. Waldo SP, Southbury
Condition of Trail(s): Wet, not good
Observations: This trail is normally dry, but a 3 foot snowpack, then 5 inches of rain in one week , has made for a wet trail! Please use your best judgement when deciding when and where to ride. The ground is still thawing underneath, and what may seem like an ok trail, probably isn't. Give the trails a few more weeks. I picked up quite a bit of sticks, and old flagging tapes. I have some work to do, since there are springs where there never has been anything but dry ground. I thought there would be more blowdowns, but there weren't any requiring the chainsaw. There are still patches of snow here and there.
Trail Ambassador Name:Paula Burton

TA Report: River Highlands State Park.

Date: March 18, 2011.
Location: River Highlands State Park
Condition of Trails: Dry trails to mud. Still some snow and ice in places.
Observations: Spring has come to the Blow Hole! Our friend the Sun has made a triumphant return and chased Old Man Winter away, at least for the time being, and bringing blue sky, temps in the sixties, and a warm breeze.

Most trails were amazingly dry, except for a few particularly shady places where the snow is still melting and creating a little mud. Only a thin coating, though. The yellow trail is one of those places. There is still enough snow and ice to make riding difficult and requiring of a little courage, especially over the bridges. It's also wet near the swamp. This place doesn't have a mud season per se, but holds on to snow due to its Eastern exposure.

   

I rode for two hours and spent about 30 minutes of that time clearing sticks, twigs, and one large fallen limb. I saw horse tracks on the double track, and also some fresh dirt bike tracks. I also saw mountain bike tracks (Nevegals I think). At least one rider had been in before me.

River Highlands is a great place to take the first ride of the season after a long winter of forced separation. The hills are short and the trails are not very technically challenging but they are fun. Feel free to join us tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:30 for the pre-meeting ride. The park is at 125 Field Rd Cromwell.
Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes

TM Report: Cockaponset

Date of Activity: 3-17-2011
Location: Cockaponset State Forest, Pattaconk Recreation Area
Condition of Trails(s): Needed work.
Observations: Mostly dry trails with some runoff here and there.
Work Accomplished: Marked stone caches along rocky road trail using GPS waypoints; marked new treadway to be well armored.
Trail Ambassador Name: Bryan McFarland

TM Report: Cockaponset

Date of Activity: 3-16-2011
Location: Cockaponset State Forest, Pattaconk Recreation Area
Condition of Trails(s): Needed work.
Observations: Wet and tacky surface mud only.

Trail Ambassador Name: Bryan McFarland
Trail Ambassador Email: czimborbryan (at) sbcglobal.net
Town: Chester
Trail(s) Ridden: none
How did you use the trail: TM
What was the time of day: 3:30-6:30PM
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): 1/4 of a mile
Work Accomplished: Red Trail Reroute tweaking; armored root protection over large exposed root, stump removal, tread grading, trail definition, removal of flags and surveyor's tape, raking, added several tear-ducts. The trail is now 99% complete.

TA Report Wadsworth Falls State Park

Date: March 12, 2011
Location: Wadsworth Falls State Park
Condition of Trails: Wet!

Observations: Paula and I hiked Wadsworth Falls on Saturday. Not surprisingly, the place was wet, and will take another week probably to dry out. I'd recommend against riding here as it wouldn't be any fun and you'd do a lot of mud damage to your bike. Also the trails are literally carpeted with bike eating sticks, twigs, branches, and trees that fell over the winter. We picked up what we could. There were a lot of hikers and dog walkers on the trails, and quite a few people photographing the Little Falls (see photo). There was a lot of water running down and, as Paula said, the light was good.

This place is in need of some serious brush clearing. Keep an eye on the blog for TM sessions in the near future.

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 3/12/11
Condition of Trails(s): Wet, Snow, Extreme Mud
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Observations: With the recent snow melt and then 4" of rain the park is officially a mess, so much so that I recommended to the Wilton Conservation Commission to shut down the park to mountain biking until it has adequately dried. WCC posted park closed signs and will remain in effect until conditions improve. This was my first time in 2011 to really check out what the winter damage has done and I have my work cut out this Spring. Most trails have new temporary streams running across them, something I have never seen before, many sections of trail have lost up to 6" of top soil, exposing rocks and roots (like the trails there aren't rocky and rooty enough!) I hiked up blue east and the trail reroute I did in the fall was the driest section in the park and looks like it did last year, onward to the orange I went where a bridge was partial moved by the rising river and much debris is on that trail. Also on the orange I came upon a pond that was never there engrossing about 100 feet of the trail and my rock armoring project from 2 years ago was under 6-12" of water.

    

 The problem was the run off area was completely clogged by logs, branches and leaves. After 2 hours of moving debris, water was flowing back to the river and I could noticably see the water level receding. The blue west is a mess up by the first stream crossing with heavy leaching from the hillside, I installed 6 knicks to slowly get the water off the trail and the hill past the stream lost a lot of soil so I think a trail reroute away from the fall line is a project in the next month or 2. At the park entrance I added armoring to allow visitors easement to the trail head without having to walk through 10 feet of mud and stream.

TA Report: Rocky Neck SP

What most trails look like!!

Nice and Dry!!

Date of Activity: 3/8/2011

Location: Rocky Neck

Condition of Trail(s): not much Snow, Ice, or even that much Mud!! But, there is SOME areas, so ride on, but do it with care!

Observations:  Got to the upper parking lot and there was a bunch of mud puddles and being it was later in the afternoon I guessed the frost melt added to all the rain from the day before would have softened the top surface. So instead of hauling out the bike I decided to hike and see what's going on in the park. Big mistake! I kept figuring I'd run into mud and slop with all the weather added to the last of the ice/snow melt...? but,... NOT!!  I guess the high winds and such did their thing because the trails were pretty much dry. Sure there were a few spots here and there with some light "grease" but they were few and far between and rather small, little sections, nothing more than a few feet long. Obviously the rivers and streams are flowing rather heavy. And I did find that in the one spot that is always the last to dry out was an actual pond on one side and snowy slop on the other.

The one real Wet Spot!!

  

Pond on one side ...............                      ............ Snow on other

But all in all the place is rather dry and rideable!!
And, until the April First we can ride on the south side of the Train Tracks!!

Inshort, Stay away from the upper fields, the single track down hill from the upper field to the lower (shipyard) field that parallels Rte 156 and keep clear of the fields along the Pavilion Road... everything else is a go!!

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date of Activity:  3/6/2011
Conditions:  Snowy and very, very wet

Observations:  Haven't been to Upper Paugussett since I taco'ed my front wheel the evening before Christmas and wanted to see how the trails in the forest were holding up.  Rather than heading up the Poly Brody Forest Road I bushwhacked between the Forest Road and the Blue Trail that runs along Lake Lillilohnah and in my wanderings I made sure I only went through cuts in the stone walls that the farmers from long, long ago made. Snow cover is pretty consistent and if it weren't for snow shoes I would have given up rather quickly.

The Rock Monster

Monster foot print

Looks like there might have been an ATV in the forest again.

I lost the ATV tracks where the Horse trail splits off the Gussy and I assume the ATV went that way.

The snow on the Gussy was pretty virginal

Condition on the trails:  Not Rideable

Trumbull-Pequonnock

I was curious how the trails in the valley looked, I haven't been back since Dec and wanted to see how much melting had occurred after so much snow this winter. A few photos in the North End (entrance and rail trail to north bridge connector) shows a lot of snow and ice still everywhere..

      
north Bridge Connector                               whitney Entrance

I hiked in and met Steve McAllister by the North Bridge, where we sussed out conditions in the vicinity before hiking up to White. We then headed north on the White where Steve pointed out a fallen tree, right near the town playground. Altho' it was easy to get around it (a little braiding had already begun) - since it was right next to the playground, I notified the Town to clean it up.

--fallen Tree--

We then proceeded a bit north and I blazed the Blue Trail back to the bridge (this was never done) picking the obvious most-used trails to blaze. This extra stretch of the Blue completes the last leg of a logical White and the Blue loop -- the full length of the park.

--blue Blaze--

Trail Ambassadors: Rich C