TM Report: Naugatuck State Forest

Date: Dec. 31, 2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Naugatuck State Forest
Town: Beacon Falls
Trail Conditions: An obstacle course of blowdowns
Observations/Information: I hiked in the Naugatuck Forest West Block in Beacon Falls, starting from the lower parking lot by Cold Spring Road. The trails are a mess of large and small blowdowns. On the woods road near the base of the waterfall, there are a number of large trees across the trail. Virtually everywhere there are tree crowns blocking the trail. I had brought my hand saw and ended up using it a lot more than I wanted to, cutting a fraction of the blowdowns out there, but making the trails considerably more passable than they were before we started. I went back with my larger handsaw, along with a friend who brought an axe, to clear three tree trunks along one trail. This was intended to be a hike, and ended up being an impromptu work party. The woods road near the base of the waterfall is showing an unbelievable amount of washout and erosion with a foot to two feet deep of gravel simply washed away.
If you go, I recommend starting from the trailhead at the junction of Rt. 42 (west of Rt. 8) at Old Litchfield Tpke. This trailhead bring you into the forest in an area of woods roads around the reservoirs where you can warm up before you hit the hills. Download a map before you go from http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/stateparks/maps/NaugatuckEastWestBlocksTrailMap.pdf
The forest is a great place to ride with a mixture of double and single track. Nothing is blazed and some roads and trails end unexpectedly, so pay attention to where you are going.
Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

West Rock Ridge SP

  

Date: Dec. 30, 2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: West Rock Ridge SP
Town: Hamden
Trail Conditions: Muddy in the usual spots, firm otherwise
Observations/Information: I walked the Red Trail south of the main entrance up to the South Overlook, checking for blowdowns. I found a few small branches hanging here and there, which I removed, but the trail was generally free of any problems.
I cleared out some culverts, in particular the one in the pictures. I was pleased to see that when I shoved a branch through to clear it, the area drained like a tub when the plug is pulled. I came back two hours later and even the water on the trail itself had drained away, leaving only mud behind. This portion of the Red Trail had some mud issues because the drainage ditches and culverts have filled, so the water just runs across the trail in spots.
The state has done some work with digging a drainage ditch and installing culverts, but more needs to be done before that works is effective. Along the trail, I found this split tree, which is a natural playground for bikers more daring than I am.
I had previously put up a "No Bikes" sign on the Blue-Blazed Regicides Trail at Judges Cave. Today I found the sign in the woods. I put it back on the tree, not that I expect it to remain there for long. Whoever took off the sign may not like the idea of "No Bikes" on the Blue Trail, but that's the current park policy. Also, the action of removing the sign is technically vandalizing state property, which is a crime.
I submitted a proposal to the state Trails Committee to change the trail usage policies at West Rock. I actually am recommending that this particular stretch of the Blue Trail (the Westville Feeder from the ballfield off Blake Street to Judges Cave via the Regicides Trail) be opened to bikes as the trail surface was constructed from native rock and is very durable. I also recommended that the Red Trail from the base to the top of the South Overlook be closed to bikes as it is not suitable to bikes with elevations up to 30 percent (by my estimate), the large steps in the picture, and a heavily eroded surface in general. For now the Blue Trail is officially closed to bikes, while the Red Trail is officially open. I will post an update on this topic when I have one, but that process will likely take months. One of my future trail plans calls for blazing and restoring a trail that parallels the Red Trail at the base of the South Overlook. When this project happens, I will recommend that that trail be opened to bikes, and that will create an excellent loop of single to double track.
Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 12/24/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: damp
Observations/Information: Completed re-route of 100 foot section of orange trail that was destroyed by a blockage in the river and over flowed the banks. Benching was easy, just need to blaze
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 12/19/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: Finished cutting down some widow makers on the blue trail; flagged the re-route on the orange; began chain sawing the trees blocking the river on the orange trail; Also had a 1 hour meeting with WCC regarding projects. (2 hours TM / 1 hour meeting-planning)
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 12/17/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Damp
Observations/Information: Armored about 30 feet of the end of the Red trail and dug a drainage ditch to help remove water. Continued armoring by Raptor. Will need to chain saw out a large limb in order to move the trail over about 15 feet to higher drier ground
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Wilton Woods

   

Date: 12/11/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Wet
Observations/Information: Continued work on the Re-routed an approved 300+ section of the blue trail which required extensive benching and rock armoring; Also raked in a temp trail on orange as trees fell in river creating a dam and the water now has crested the bank and the river is now going down the trail for 50 feet then going back in the river


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Wilton Woods

   

Date: 12/10/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: WIlton
Trail Conditions: Wet
Observations/Information: Re-routed an approved 300+ section of the blue trail which required extensive benching and rock armoring; we had 4 NEMBA workers (Ryan T., Paula B., Chris K and myself) along with 2 park riders

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: Trumbull-Pequonnock

Date: 12-3-11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Pequonnock River Valley
Town: Trumbull
Trail Conditions: Wet in Lower Areas, Dry on the Ridge
Observations/Information: Finally had a moment to return to the trails (it's been over 6 weeks!). I met Steve McAllister at the Daniels Farm and we hiked in to scout out conditions on the connector trail between the Yellow (Mullholland) and the Main Blue/White.
In our walk in, much of the lower areas were still muddy and leaf cover naturally was everywhere.
Prepared to see a soggy, rough rock washout; our destination the trail was actually fairly dry and in good shape.
It looked like the rock strewn short climb on the curb was "readjusted" for a nicer ride. Pleasantly surprised to not have to resort to build a reroute (our original intention), we just dug out a few knicks where needed on the lower stretch.
We then walked back to the lot and headed up to Whitney to knick and bench a few spots that I remembered were getting kinda funky. I knew the trail I had built in the early fall had a narrow section I wanted to widen but upon arrival, I noticed riderrs had already cut a small shortcut there so I just benched the shortcut a little better. (Being Trumbull, it was best to simply fix the shortcut then to try and block it--especially since it was only a few feet long. )
I took a short break from the Park to stop over at John Lauria's. He had a copy of the Fairfield County Weekly that featured a real nice photo spread of the Valley hike I co-lead back in Oct. 85 plus people showed up for that! It turns out (as I found out later), the magazine is also available over at the Corner Deli if any one is interested.
After finishing up some other TM near the Whitney Lot, we rode for a couple of hours. The weather had warmed up considerably. We hit the Red Trail (north of the Copper Creek) and rode the Yellow slab rock trail thru the Central Maze, Trails were dry up on the ridge. Surprisingly there were hardly any riders in the park!
I'll notify the Town re the Blowdown up north where the Red meets the White - there's a braid there now but it's still best to get this one cleared. Other fallen trees along the Red were cut or had real nice stone-assisted up and overs.
Fun ride / great weather -especially considering it's Dec!
Trail Ambassador Name: Rich C

TM Report Upper Paugussett State Forest

Yesterday's ride is in Blue.  Walked and re-routed in Red

Date: 2011-12-03
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Benched

Observations/Information: After riding Upper Gussy Friday I felt that this turn really needed to be fixed because I find in low light situations I am always losing the trail and it doesn't have any flow.

 Paula met me at the Echo Valley lot and we hiked up the blue trail to the right of way portion of the Gussy and walked in from there. The turn is between the Wet Spot and the big tree that came down as a result of the Tornado that was not officially not a Tornado in Newtown but in Southbury, Roxbury, and Woodbury.

After raking off the new route we set to benching and benched the sloped section leaving the flat area to be self compressed by bikers and walkers.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie, Paula Burton

TM Report: Cockaponset SF - Weber Woods section

Date: November 28, 2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Cockaponset SF - Weber Woods section
Town: Clinton/Westbrook/Deep River
Trail Conditions: Good shape with usual mud areas
Observations/Information: I wanted to get in a decent ride and also clear that downed tree on the unmarked by the beaver pond; warmed up on the western dirt road then on to the southern green; about a hundred yards in I came across a women and two dogs covered in orange blaze; one dog flew towards me and the woman kept screaming "Carly, no bite...Carly, no bite..." at the top of her lungs- not what a biker wants to hear; I slowly rode by them all with no incident; rode a few on the interior trails, then headed over to the northern green south to the unmarked which was blocked by the tree; it had quite a few thick limbs that were a pain to cut with a hand saw, then drag into the woods; on a break I took a look at what broke the tree eight feet off the ground- beaver work at the base which weakened it causing the snap; this made sense because the trail comes within 20 feet from the pond; it took a while to cut and drag the limbs off, and it was dark by the time I finished;

I got on my bike, cranked on my Magicshine to take an "after" photo when a loud smack on the water's surface 30 feet away actually caused me to jump; I could see in the moonlight large ripples in the water; after a couple more whacks I realized I was having my first encounter with a beaver and he was trying to scare me off- very cool; packed my stuff and headed out with my light beam leading the way; got back home feeling pretty good about my experience and the fact that the last tree blocking a trail at WW was now cleared. 

Trail Ambassador Name: Don Hazuka

West Rock Ridge SP

Date: Nov. 28, 2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: West Rock Ridge SP
Town: Hamden
Trail Conditions: Generally clear, but muddy in spots
Observations/Information: As a reminder, be sure to do a tick check and take a shower as soon as you arrive home. Yesterday, I pulled a tick off my back that looks like a female deer tick (the bad kind that carry Lyme Disease). I most likely picked up this tick while helping my brother clear some invasive plants from his yard (No good deed goes unpunished), and did only a quick tick check afterwards, and held off on the shower because I was road biking later on. I brought the tick to the Milford Health Dept. (where I live), which is sending it to the state Department of Health for testing (no charge to me). In the meantime, I will watch for symptoms, and any changes to the bite area. Fortunately, the tick came out easily and did not look like it had begun to feed. When I came back from this trail session, I did my tick check and headed straight for the shower. No ticks.
Back to my trail report. I did a circuit on mostly non-biking trails to continue the storm cleanup. Trails generally were clear, other than some minor blowdowns. I walked the White Trail from Purple back to Lake Wintergreen. There are numerous muddy spots, plus some soggy areas, and the watercourse at White and Purple had some water in it. Until I get around to doing a reroute in 2012, be prepared to get muddy. This trail violates the major principles of sustainable trail design as I learned from IMBA. The surface is soft, organic matter. The trail is laid out at the bottom of the ridge on flat ground with no place for water to run off.
Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 11/27/11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: wet
Observations/Information: cleared the last of the trees and armored the red trail
Trail Ambassador Name: dave Francefort

Collis P Huntington SP

  

Date: 11/20/11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Collis P Huntington SP
Town: Redding
Trail Conditions: Good
Observations/Information: We were on a mission to finish cleaning up the brush from the storm. We had permission to drive down to south pond through the park and that took quite a while since we had to clear as we went. The carriage roads to the south pond are now clear. We worked on the new section of trail too, removing flags, blowing leaves and exposing a new roller. Then we headed over to Burned Loops. A number of big trees were blocking the lower loop, so we did a couple of short reroutes. Folks were riding all over the place to get to some of the features.

    

Hopefully, they will stay on the new reroutes. A good day!It is great to have riders come by and want to help. FCNEMBA ( Tuckers, and a few others) and Glenn Vernes were there too for a total of six people.

Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton

TM Report: Pole Bridge Preserve

Date: 11-13-11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Pole Bridge Preserve
Town: Newtown
Trail Conditions: ok
Observations/Information: Great turn out to work on trail building today. We had a bunch of volunteers from Sandy Hook Elementary School show up, mini-rakes in hand. I need to addd a few to my tool crib! We cleared and raked and did some benching. And everyone enjoyed the cider and donuts after.

  

Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 11/26/11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Wet
Observations/Information: Worked on the large tree across the blue trail by the boas lane lot...30+ inch tree quite the challenge....but nearly done
Trail Ambassador Name: Dave Francefort

TM Report: Airline Trail

Date: 11/24/11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Airline Trail
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Damp
Observations/Information: Continued trail clearing of trees and branches
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: West Rock Ridge SP

Date: Nov. 19, 2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: West Rock Ridge SP
Town: Hamden
Trail Conditions: Dry with some blowdowns
Observations/Information: In past postings, I have discussed work I have done on removing invasive plant species and people may wonder what does that have to do with mountain biking. This photo of a dead, fallen tree wrapped with vines shows the answer: everything. Vines weaken and kill trees, and then they can fall on the trail. I spent time on the Red Trail up to the "Hang Glider" overlook, and the Red-White Trail from the Hill St. parking area out to the Gravel Road clearing blowdowns from the October blizzard. There were numerous small blowdowns from tree crowns along both trails. One hiker who passed me on the Red-White Trail looked at my handsaw and said that I was not going to be able to clear the blowdowns with just that saw. A couple of hours later with decidedly sore arms, the job was done. I encountered a couple of mountain bikers who were headed up to the Red Trail, so they were pleased to hear that I had just cleared it. I asked them about the Red Trail heading down to Lake Wintergreen where I reported four large trees to the state. They said the trail was clear. As I walked back to Hill Street in the rapidly fading light along the Red Trail where it's a gravel road, I opened up one blowdown a bit more, cleared a second one, and steered clear of a third tree that was totally wrapped with poison ivy. I'm still clearing out the case I caught two weeks ago while working on the vines on Baldwin Drive. I'll report those blowdowns to the state. In the open field, I cut back some autumn olive (another invasive) that was encroaching upon the trail. The trail surfaces were generally dry and firm, excepting the part near the pond where an armoring project is on my list of trail repairs.
Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date: 11/19/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: Worked on clearing a 2 foot diameter tree that was up rooted and was blocking the trail, 2 hours of chain sawing and the trail is back open. Then proceeded to Boas lane to begin work on cutting up another verg large tree
Trail Ambassador Name: Dave Francefort

TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

 

Date: 2011-11-13
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Awesome, now!

Today's route

Observations/Information: I ventured up the Poly Brody this afternoon to find it completely opened up! Looks like the State came in, evidenced by the truck tires in the mud.  It's a little wet in places but alas back to a means to an end.

I met these hikers snacking at the intersection with the white trail, which is thoroughly blocked by the way, and the leader of the group asked for directions to the Lake Trail (aka Al's Trail) back to Pond Brook.  I pointed them in the direction they needed to go.

However, there were blockages on the Gussy still that took care of, three major problem that my little TA handsaw took care of in a jiffy.  I think I mentioned this earlier but the Fall Line descent to the Taco Stand is closed so I blocked it off today.  Hopefully people will respect that.  Eventually the trail will go back that way but that's yet another idea in the offing which might even include a quasi/ad hock pump track!  Probably a next year project.

The Gussy is completely opened, a little leafy in places but very, very rideable. The reroutes that I did the other day need a little more work because they are still too soft.

I need to do another re-route on the flat area after you climb up from the last stream crossing to improve the the flow. The trees that came down in that section make the turn kind of tight, it has always been this way, but with the trees down it's now the next project.  In fact a local bike shop whose owner loves riding the Gussy now wants to plan a trail building session so stay tuned for details on that.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie

TM/TA Report: Hop River State Rail Trail

Date: Nov 12, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Hop River State Rail Trail
Town: Vernon, Bolton, Andover
Trail Conditions: Fair
Observations/Information: It has been a tough 2 weeks in the Vernon area....powerless for 9 days! The October storm damaged so many trees along the Hop River Trail. Pedal Power (Vernon) organized a "trail clean-up day". Safety helmets, bow saws and loppers were borrowed from the Vernon Parks and Recreation Dept to aid in this task. Twelve members from the LTRA biking group pitched in to help, including TA's Peter Blume and Mike Lefevre. A section crossing RT 30 headed to Center Rd. has been cleared of branches and downed trees less than 6" in width. The town will take care of all trees larger. This 2 mile area was cleared in 2 hours with 35 volunteers!
The Thread City Cyclers (TCC) from Willimantic worked their way from Bolton Notch down to Valley Falls. Chain saws and many hands helped clear major blow-downs. The trail is ride worthy, however.....PLEASE EXERCISE CAUTION!! Many trees/branches are still hanging over the trails. As winds pick up it is sure to leave debris along the way. Night riders please slow down speeds and have bright lights to help your visibility. The efforts by the community are appreciated!
After the work, our bikers enjoyed a ride to Burnap Brook.
Trail Ambassador Name: Peter Blume