Brandford Supply Pond

Date: April 20, 3013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Brandford Supply Pond
Town: Branford
Trail Conditions: Good, dry
Observations/Information: Rode Supply Ponds Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately I forgot my iPhone so no pictures. The trails were in good shape and for the most part dry, clear, and well-ridden.

There are basically three sections of trail here. The first is a small network of relatively new trails west of the pond. These trails are narrow and twisty and feature a lot of rock gardens. The rocks are not large but they're square-edged and seem perfectly place to catch your front wheel and send you over the bars if you're not careful.

The second section are the loops on the east side of the pond consisting mainly of the purple trail and some short spurs that run off it. These trails are older, faster, and smoother and are a good place to warm up.

The third secgment is the "lollipop" that runs north into the preserve and consists of old, wide double track that gets a lot of use from ATVs and has bermed corners. This is the least satisfying trail in the park but it's a good place to put on some qick miles.

Supply Pond is a pretty cool place but could certainly be made better and CT NEMBA is working on getting permission to do some work there.
Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes

Brandford Supply Pond

Date: July 21, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Brandford Supply Pond
Town: Branford
Trail Conditions: Not bad, a little mucky in places.
Observations/Information: I hit the Supply Ponds on the way home from TM at Bluff Point. This place is one of my old haunts, and the ride was a blast from the past, complete with squeaky brakes. These trails are nothing t get excited about by today's standards, but twenty years ago we found them gnarly. I rode the Singletracks on the Weatern side of the park, and the fast double track across the power line. Trails were in decent shape although not very well tended ( lots of blow dawns). There's a nice new bridge by the bench across the powerline.
Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes

Brandford Supply Pond

Date: 3/7/12
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Branford Supply Pond
Town: Branford
Trail Conditions: Awesome, dry, a few damp area, a few muddy area
Observations/Information: Three of us met to ride the Brandford Supply Ponds trails. We found some new trails and rode them as well, some did a loop, some dead ended. There was much evidence of quads and atv use as the trails were wide, clear of any obstructions and worn out, unfortunately prone to much erosion come the heavy rains.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

Brandford Supply Pond

Date: 7/7/11
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Brandford Supply Pond
Town: Branford
Trail Conditions: Nice!!! A few mud puddles, all rideable
Observations/Information: Went back to Branford Supply Ponds and found a bunch of unmarked intermediate single track, some technical elements, nice change from the places I usually frequent.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

Branford Supply Pond

Date: 7/1/11
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Branford Supply Pond
Town: Branford
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: The lower trails, or old dirt roads have been 'rehabed' with gravel. I have not been there in a while, I forgot how much rolling dirt road trails are in the park.
I parked in the back of the parking lot, away from the other cars so that I could change into my riding clothes. A dog walker and her dog immediately parked on my right and quickly left. Then an elderly couple arrived and just sat there in their car, then had their picnic lunch in their car and would not leave. I finally took a chance and quickly changed under cover of the back seat. While I left the woods at a different point from where I entered, I was greated by the same couple, still sitting in their car as if they were waiting for me.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

TA Report Branford Supply Ponds

Date of Activity: April 10, 2010
Condition of Trail(s): Well used.

Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton, Glenn Vernes
Trail Ambassador Email: glennvernes33athotmaildotcom
Town: Branford
Location: Branford Supply Ponds
Trail(s) Ridden: Yellow, red, silver, purple, unmarked
How did you use the trail?: Hike/Mountain Bike
What was the time of day?: afternoon
Duration (Hours): 2
Distance (Miles): 8 or 10

Observations: Riding seems to be taking off here again. The last time I was here- last summer- I saw no evidence of mountain biking, although the trails were well used. This time, though, there were bike tracks everywhere, and real mountain bike knobbies too. Maybe one of the local shops is sponsoring rides.

There were some wet spots- our bikes got dirty. We never got past the chain link fence, but that's usually the wettest part. The trails can best be described as "smooth one-and-a-half track". They've been here for a long time and get a lot of use from a lot of different types of users, including dirt bikes, ATVs, and even Jeeps on some of the trails. The dead hemlocks have been harvested in one area, and it looks like the old Juice Box trail- the longest, twistiest, and most challenging trail in the park, has been obliterated.

TA Report Branford Supply Ponds

Date of Activity: August 15 & 20, 2009

Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes
Trail Ambassador Email: glennvernes33athotmaildotcom
Town: Branford
Location: Branford Supply Ponds
Trail(s) Ridden: Yellow, red, silver, purple, corkscrew, switchback
How did you use the trail?: Hike/Mountain Bike
What was the time of day?: afternoon
Duration (Hours): 4.5
Distance (Miles): 20

Condition of Trail(s): Dry, dusty, well used.

Observations: This was a popular riding area in the early to mid nineties, with weekly group rides. But it fell out of favor with the freeride craze, since it doesn't offer much of that type of riding (and it's only a few miles from Westwoods in Guilford, which does). Then a threatened golf course/housing development put its future in jeopardy, but the development never happened and the place is now a nature preserve (thanks in part to NEMBA fundraising).

I hadn't been riding here in over ten years, and the 4.5 hours I spent hiking and riding the trails proved two things: most of the older trails are still there and remain much as I remember them, and there are also new trails of the same character as the old ones. One of the new ones is blazed purple and includes a boardwalk which is a little too narrow for wide bars (see picture below).

Supply Ponds is the home of fast, smooth, dry and dusty Southern California-type trails. They seem to dry out pretty quickly in most places. They are too wide to classify as singletrack but not doubletrack either- call them somewhere between. It would be a great place to learn the sport, a great place for race training (just take it easy near the ponds), and a great place for the simplified bikes (one gear, no suspension) that are becoming more and more popular. It's a stacked loop layout, with a smooth, easy trail around the pond and relatively tougher stuff as you radiate outward.

I rode the infamous Corkscrew downhill- considered a radical, steep and extreme descent back in the day but nothing too frightening by today's standards. My efforts to locate the Juice Box trail- the longest and most technically demanding trail in the park (and so named because a discarded paper juice box, with straw, was found on it) were unsuccessful.

If you live anywhere near Branford and you're looking for fast, smooth XC trails you should give this place a try.