Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 4/18/2015
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Good for the most part

Observations/Information: The mud hole near the parking lot at Echo Valley is back and I found out the hard way that the water is cold and dirty.

Further up the Brody, it's wet and will probably stay way until summer.

The Gussy, however, was golden. 

Even looks like someone re-armored one of the stream crossing.

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 1/11/2015
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown
Trail Conditions: Powdered Sugar
Observations/Information: Upper Paugussett is riding really nice right now with an inch of new snow and frigid temperatures hardening up all the soft spots.

Be careful of the ice on the Poly Brody just after the log jumble. Walk your bike on the sides. Further up, you probably want to walk as well with all the ice covering the forest road.

The rest of the trails are really smooth and riding nicely.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 12/21/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown
Trail Conditions: Wet and rideable for now
Observations/Information: Last night's snow made for slippery surfaces on all the roots and rocks on the Gussy today but the trail is holding up nicely despite all the precipitation.

What is not holding up at all is the Mulikin Trail. Please stay off this trail until either the ground freezes or there is a significant snow fall. It is pure mush on the downhill section and if people keep riding it its only going to get worse.

 

Found a used Gu at bottom of the Gussy that I policed up.  Seriously?  Can't blame that one on the hunters.

Bees on the Upper Gussy

Got this from a neighbor:

“About half way down the single track descent Justin crashed on top of a ground nest and the bees went crazy - miraculously he didn't get stung. He carefully extracted his bike after about 15 min. then we started riding off and one chased us and stung me in the calf!”

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 8/27/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT

Trail Conditions: Was Bone Dry but after Wednesday night's rain ...
Observations/Information: I am writing this report the day after my ride and the conditions have already changed. Yesterday it was bone dry but after last night's rain I would venture a guess that the conditions have changed somewhat. If it get's really warm, then I would expect greasy conditions.

Aside from that, the Gussy is looking really good and you can tell by the way the trail is getting ridden in, there are a lot of mountain bikers utilizing it.

Not much in the way of changes. Someone ramped up the log drop where I did the benching, re-route, hairpin turn after Hurricane Irene and it looks like someone did a little rock adjustment in the Wet Spot.

I did not have time to ride the Unauthorized and Unapproved Trail but from what I am hearing around it's starting get ridden in as well. Same thing for the Reach Around.

Word of caution: Hunting Season is coming up and lately I have been seeing a lot of pick up trucks parked at the various entry points to the forest and the back windows are adorned with hunting stickers. Upper Paugussett is an actively hunted forest so if you are not going to ride just on Sundays make sure you are seen (wear blaze orange) and heard (have a bell)!

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 8/4/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: B-b-b-buggy
Observations/Information: Quick ride on the Gussy Monday after work to see if there were any issues after Friday's storm and you could say that was a bit of an understatement.

Poly Brody was wet again in the usual place. Further up the forest road, there is a small diameter tree, leaning high above as a quasi widow maker. Moved another smaller branch that was all but blocking the forest road.

At the Mulikin Trail Head I came across threefold riders getting ready to try DSP in a southward direction.

There is a new up-and-over on the Gussy resulting from Friday's storm. Seems, riders created a way to get over it but I found the modifications lacking.

Got a few more rocks from the woods and ramped the north side of the up-and-over so that it now rolls like butter in both directions.

Looking down from the Brew Crew Roller, the foot raking to the new drop now makes a lot of sense.  You can hit the curve to the rock jump or just bang down the original trail.

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 7/31/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Buggy
Observations/Information: Lots of riders at Upper Paugussett now. Today I saw two groups of three riders each. There was even a shirtless runner on the Gussy that reminded me of that Czechoslovakian Catholic Priest I saw wandering shirtless on the Gussy a few years back!

New stuff popping up, too. There is a new drop off the Brew Crew Roller that wasn't there last week. Someone foot raked it and it looks kind of good but there is no flow leading into it.
Trail Ambassador Name: Mark

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 7/27/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Soft yet rideable
Observations/Information: Been awhile since I have ridden at Upper Paugussett and needed to get acclimated to New England riding after being down south for a week.  Noticeable signs of a big storm were everywhere that must have came through last week.

Upper Gussy appears to be seeing a lot of traffic lately due to the way the trail appears to be settling in even more. There is one go around that seems to be taking shape that needs blocking. Came across two riders on the Brew Crew roller.

Haven't been on the Mulikin in awhile so I took that on the way home and someone seems to have applied some TLC down where the white trail comes in by cutting up the blowdown and making a new corduroy through the wet area. I don't bother with that section and prefer my bypass that I have been riding for years.

There were two riders headed down Al's Trail as I was bombing down the Mulikin.

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 7/2/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: Haven't been on the Upper Gussy in quite some time and it looks like "Trail Gnomes Gone Wild!"

One of the blow downs from a past hurricane got cleared and there is a new challenge on the old part of the trail now.

Further down, the new trail to the Three Bears Roller has a new rock armored ramp over the downed tree which is really fun to roll.

Also, looks like someone did some clearing on the Reach Around, too.
Trail Ambassador Name: Mark
Trail Ambassador E-mail: ctnemba [at] gmail [dot] com
How did you use the trail? MT Biking
Trails Ridden: Poly Brody, Upper Gussy, Reach Around
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 1
Approximate Distance (Miles): 5
Image Description(s)/Instructions:

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 5/12  & 5/19
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Some soft spots but overall not bad
Observations/Information: Last week (5/12) I was on the Poly Brody and it's still pretty wet and probably even more so after Friday's deluge. It will be awhile before that dries out.

Some soft spots are developing in the usual places and some new ones, like in the Wetspot (pictured above). Kind of ironic by the name but it's usually bone dry, even in spring.

A week later, the Gussy is doing really well, especially after Friday's rain. I did not, however, ride Poly Brody front side, rather the back side.

The first thing I noticed (to the right of my bike pictured above) is that someone foot raked a path to roller that is parallel with this section. That's cool, but down from here and around the corner someone cut out this up and over!

I know it's a tough feature but c'mon, if you can't ride it that doesn't mean you have the right to change it.

The Sanford Road access point is also a little worse for wear so if you can help it when you get to the end and you forget to do the Reach Around, ride back up the trail and take the bail out after the Vajayjay roller by Sydney's house to get back to the Parking Lot at Echo Valley, or just hit the Blue Trail back to the lot because not too many people know what I am talking about.

Orlando and John

The bottom section of the White Trail, north of the Poly Brody and where it meets the Mulikin is really muddy and I advise staying off of it for awhile. Met up in the lot with another rider who said the top part of the Mulikin is a slop fest, too, and you should stay off it till it dries out.

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 4/20/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Mixed bag
Observations/Information: Again, the Poly Brody Forest road, from the Echo Valley Lot to the dog leg is still wet but there is no mud.

The Corduroy I improved last Sunday is riding well.  At the northern most stream crossing on the Gussy, however, I armored the east bank because it was getting really muddy.  It's a pretty good line, could use some more flatties but I was out of time.

Some soft condition issues are starting to arise here and there.  Lots of ruts in the wet spot because people are riding the easy line and not the harder one where isn't muddy.

 
There is a new foot rake section that actually made sense, too! Little did I realize until riding it the other way did I notice it line up perfectly with a rock that you could launch off of. It's at a weird angle so I don't know how much launch you are going to get.

Rode back up the trail and down the Yellow Trail. Fun but very unsustainable. There is also a really wet section that needs a serious reroute.

Took the white trail down to the Mulikin Trail and discovered that it's a quagmire. I would advise staying off of it.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador E-mail: ctnemba@gmail.com
How did you use the trail? MT Biking
Trails Ridden: Poly Brody, Upper Gussy, Reach Around, Yellow, White, Mulikin
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 2
Approximate Distance (Miles): 8

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 4/13/2014
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Wet, soft, but rideable

Observations/Information: Found more logging going on at the southern section of Upper Paugussett State Forest. It seems the loggers ran out of room to store their logs in the parking lot so they are storing them further down the Poly Brody and making quite a mud wallow.

I spent a good half hour fixing a corduroy someone had attempted to start but left the water section muddy so I fixed it by armoring and changing the approach.

On the Gussy Trail I found that someone cut the log that was sticking into the trail from last fall that I had not gotten around to. Thanks to whoever did the work!

I found the trail to be somewhat soft in a few places especially after taking a digger coming off the log ride short. Good think I was wearing armor. Otherwise, the Gussy is looking really nice right now.
Trail Ambassador Name: mark lurie
Trail Ambassador E-mail: mark [at] cyclesnack [dot] com
How did you use the trail? MT Biking
Trails Ridden: Poly Brody, Upper Gussy, Reach Around
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 2
Approximate Distance (Miles): 6

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 2/17/2014
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: 3 Feet of Snow
Observations/Information: Snowshoed at Upper Paugussett and did a whirl wind tour of the singletrack, as well as, a little bushwhacking, too.

Walking on top of three feet of snow makes low hangers a lot more interesting, almost to the point that one might think some more cutting is needed, when it's really OK.

Looks like someone rode the Gussy a few snowstorms ago because of the depression in the snow along the trail.

The Gussy was mostly untouched until you get within a quarter of a mile of Echo Valley and that is where someone came in and then decided to double back.

Stopped at the Brew Crew roller for some refreshment before heading down to the Yellow Trail to head back to the parking lot.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador E-mail: CTnemba@gmail.com
How did you use the trail? Other Trail use
Trails Ridden: Al's, Mulikin, Gussy, Yellow, White, and Bushwhack
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 3
Approximate Distance (Miles): 5

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Your's truly taking a break on the Dingle Brook

Date: 1/2/2014
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown
Trail Conditions: Frozen ground and inch of snow (but there is more to come)

Observations/Information: Did a quick north to south rip today. Coming in from the boat ramp I found a tree down in the middle of the stream making the crossing problematic.

Rode up the Mulikin Trail and it looks really good in the snow. There are some corny, purple blazes that someone put on some trees and rocks but otherwise nothing much else worth mentioning.

Mulikin is looking pristine in the snow

There is another tree down on the Snowtober Reroute, just past where the Hornets' nest was this past summer. I couldn't move it but two people could or if you had a pry bar handy.

Rest of the trail is looking really sweet, especially in the snow!

Looking down into the Sandy Reroute

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador E-mail: ctnemba a la gmail dot com
How did you use the trail? MT Biking
Trails Ridden: Mulikin Trail to Gussy, to the Reach Around, and out on the Jeep Trail
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 1
Approximate Distance (Miles): 2.5 miles

Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date: 10/26/2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown, CT
Trail Conditions: Dry and Leafy

Picked this up along the way - hunter trash

Observations/Information: Headed out for a quick rip before work Friday morning at Upper Paugussett.

I rode down Sanford Road on the look out for hunters that might park there at the Jeep Trail Head but there were no cars nor any cars in the lot.

There were a few branches down on the trail that I took care of but otherwise the Gussy is pristine. Along the way I noticed that the wasps nest just off the trail looked pretty inert.

Found some more branches down on one of the side trails near the other end of the trail that looked as though someone was trying to block the trail but didn't do a good job of it.

3/4s of the way down the trail I noticed that my bell was missing but didn't have time to ride back up the trail to look for my bell.

 
Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador E-mail: ctnemba@gmail.com
How did you use the trail? MT Biking
Trails Ridden: Poly Brody, Upper Gussy
Time of day: Morning
Time/Duration (hours): 45 min
Approximate Distance (Miles):  6