BCSP Trail Conditions

[lenlog]

I am going to keep the BCSP trail conditions thread pruned down to only those posts relevant to current conditions.

 If your post is of "archival quality"  please use another thread.

..moderator

[Shark]

Now that I got my smart-ass comment out of the way, let me tell you what I found today.

Yesterday there was a small water-filled spot on GV that I rode by (figured it was small, it'll dry up). Guess what? Today it was still holding water. Every time a rider goes through it, it'll cause a deeper hole in the mud, or riding around causing the trail to widen.

Now....on to the stick-drained locations, at least 3 - 4 good ones on GV alone. I'm talking 12 - 24" across and a couple inches deep. They were bone-dry today. The two guys I was riding with couldn't tell which spots I had drained. Hell I had a hard time on a couple I didn't think they would have dried up so nicely based on how bad they were yesterday before I drained them.

I'm not arguing that true work-day trail maint with proper tools is the best way to do things, but simply draining problem spots & scraping the leaves & mud away from the downside (think hockey stick lol)  is pretty good preventative maintenance I think. The spots I opened are now totally dry & will likely drain quite well for the next few months.

If more riders would do simple things like this, there would be many less "problem areas" that have to be addressed by full-on trail work days.

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

 I wasn't trying to say that your effort weren't worthwhile or appreciated.  My point is that we also need to have organized trail work days at Brown County. 
Whenever I talk to State Parks or State Forests about more trails, their biggest concern is whether or not the mountain bike community can maintain more trails.  It is the most important thing we can do to allow us to continue to get access to build more trails.
Organized trail work days are important for several reasons.  First, it is how we teach mountain biker how to maintain trails.  New riders likely do not how to work on trails.  It is dangerous to encourage people who have not worked with experienced trail workers to do self-paced work.  If we want to continue to instill in mountain bikers the need for mountain bikers to take charge building and maintaining our trails, then we need to promote and lead organized trail work days.
Another reason is that there are many tasks that need to be done that require planning and tools.  We need to strive to make long lasting repairs.
The best strategy is to be preventive.  That means to address issue prior to the trail being damaged.  While riding, you are likely to only notice spots that have become issues.  If you walk the trail, and know what to look for, in many cases you can spot areas before they become issues and easily address them. 
The bottom line is that organized trail work days are required to continue to build new trails at BCSP.  I would really like to see some local riders step up and organized some regular trail work days at BCSP.  When I feel the trail maintenance is under control, then I can focus on building new trails. 
 

[too_many_cats]

There was a tree down on HP before the storms came through. It was uphill from the bridge. 10-12", I think, and directly in the trail. Folks moved it aside to ride around it, but it was still there when I left as the rain started.

Also, turns out Mike Pence was staying at the Aynes House. I was taking a break at the top of Aynes when he and two friends walked up. I didn't know who he was, so I treated them like I treat all hikers. They were going to walk the fire road but wanted a longer hike than that, so I directed them around the Aynes loop and gave them one of the spare maps I carry. Then Pence introduced himself and shook my hand. If I hadn't been really surprised by the whole thing, I would've said something other than 'have a nice hike.' That's probably a good thing. Hopefully he got a sense that mountain bikers are a helpful, friendly lot.

However, it's too bad I know too little about the state's involvement and that someone else who does know enough wasn't there to give him the trail advocate word. :/

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

First, please report trail issues on the trail issues forum thread.

Second, we error on the side of leaving logs on Schooner.  Schooner does not need to be 100% Rideable.  Please leave the logs for now, until we have time to get some eyes on them. 

Paul

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

Not forgotten,  more like bundled.
By that I mean that I have been working on the much larger picture this Summer and Fall.  While we did get formal approval for the Hobb's Hollow Flow trail and conditional approval for the HP Bowl Trail, we still don't have final approval of the whole next phase (Limekiln Return, HP East, Weedpatch Connector, HP Bowl, and Hobbs Hollow).  The problem with getting approval for one trail at a time is that changes to one trail can impact other trail alignments.  That was what happened with HP bowl.  Changes to the Weedpatch trail required us to make some changes to the HP bowl.

We expect final approval for the whole phase soon. 

And we really picked up speed this summer at Yellowwood State Forest. I have just put together a rough concept for the South East Park of Yellowwood State Forest. 

In the next few weeks, I hope to have approval for some work at Yellowwood.  So I will likely hold hold a meeting at BCSP/Nashville to discuss the big picture.  There are some trails that we will need to fund raise for and completely build professionally, some will be all volunteer built, and some will be a hybrid of both. 

So HP Bowl is not forgotten, we have just been working on the much bigger picture.

Paul

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

We have volunteers who are approved for chainsaw work.  If you have chainsaw experience and safety gear (helmet, chaps, ear, and eye protection) and would like to do chainsaw work for HMBA you could work with me tomorrow and get on the list. 

But we also need non chain sawyers.  Typically when big stuff is down there is also lots of little stuff that can be moved by hand or sawed by hand.  Also want to have helpers for the chain sawyers. 

It also is a good time to look for sections holding water and doing routine maintenance.  So we can put everyone to work.  I will also be bringing the needed tools.

Paul

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

Red today, while much of the trail was drying up, the spring seeps are really running.  Until the leaves come out and the trees start sucking up some water, the trails will take a full day to dry out.

Also, we need to get the leaves blown off the trails asap as they are holding water on the tread.  I expect yellow conditions by tomorrow afternoon, but the trails need TLC to stay ahead of the spring riders. 

The HMBA leaf blower is at Hesitaion Point Bike Shop.  If you have time to leave blow a trail, please contact Tad and arrange to pick up the blower. The leafs are holding moisture on the trails and blocking drainages.  Clear the tread and in wet areas, blow the leaves off the back slope and out of the drains.  We took care of pine today.  Please post up if you leaf blow a trail so that we know what trails have been cleared.



This photo shows leaves that are dry on top and yet are holding water on the dirt underneath.



Also please note the new gates on Pine Loop. Pine requires extra time to dry out, and we do not want to wait until Pine drys out to turn the status to yellow or green.  There are now gates on both ends of Pine.  The good news is that armoring we did last year really worked and we did more armoring today.  By protecting Pine in wet times and staying ahead of the maintenance, Pine will be ready for lots of use this summer.  Please respect the trail closed gates.  We will open Pine as soon as possible.

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

It is very hard to predict trail conditions this time of year and trails can change from good to bad or bad to good very quickly.


Things to remember.


1) With shorter days, colder temps, and no vegetation to soak up water, the trails will take much longer to dry from any precipitation.
2) Conditions can change quickly.  A trail may be frozen first thing in the morning, a muddy mess late morning, and then dry out by late afternoon.
3) Some in inaccuracies in the weather forecast can drastically impact trail conditions.  For example, I have had to cut rides short when AM temps were not as cold as forecasted.
4) At times sections of the same trail may have very different conditions.  Sections of trail exposed to the sun will melt much faster than sections in the shade.  Often riders say "most of the trail was in great shape" but those of us who work on the trails say that "some of the trails are getting heavily damaged"


We all have an impact on the trails, even on perfect days.  The key is try and minimize our impact.  Even those of us who have been riding a long time get caught by trail conditions worse than we expected. 

1) If you are leaving tire ruts, then bail out ASAP. 
2) Have a back up plan.  Most of our State Parks have excellent paved roads or pathes to ride on.
3) Support your local trail crews.  volunteer or donate. 


Looks like we will see temps stay above freezing this weekend.  It is possible that the trails at BCSP will be ok in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday. 

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

We have worked with Brian for a long time with respect to trail conditions for races.  We understand the efforts put in by Brian and the commitment riders take when scheduling races.  The go / no go decision will be made by Brian and we (HMBA) are ok with the race happening in less than perfect conditions.  But ultimately we are all at the mercy of mother nature. 


The good news is that the trails are currently in good shape and pretty hard packed.  The trails can handle a decent amount of rain on Saturday and be fine on Sunday.  One thing that helps is if riders are respectful of the trail in the days leading up to the race. We often see riders make bad decisions in the week leading up to a race, because they just have to get in a pre-ride of the course.  The damage caused by these riders impacts the trails ability to drain and dry quickly. 


Because the race is limited to just a couple of trails. It is possible for the race to go on, even if all the trails at BCSP aren't dry enough, so the race can go one in some cases even when the overall trail system is rated as "red" on the trail indicators. 


I have worked closely with Brian in the past to help make some tough calls at Town Run and we made some tough calls to allow the race to go forward, where Brian and I took heat from non racers about letting the race go on.  Ultimately those involved in making the race / no race decision understand the trail conditions and the ability of the trail to handle less than perfect conditions.


The other big thing that racers can do to help us allow races in less than perfect conditions is to volunteer.  If racers don't come out and volunteer, there is less incentive for those who maintain the trails to welcome racing and to repair trails after less than perfect weather.


I do often hear riders say that they skipped a race that went forward because they were concerned it was too wet.  I can't speak for all race promoters, but Brian has always proven to make good race / no race decisions.  So if the race goes on, don't feel bad about racing.  We do understand there races can have some impact on trails even in good weather and that conditions can change quickly even mid race.  If the race is held in less than perfect conditions, race and then come out in the next few weeks for trail work.


Ed Stroble leads trail building sessions on Monday nights at Brown County State Park.

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

The bad news is that with all this rain, cold temperatures, short days, no trees to suck up moisture and heavy leaf cover, the ground is not going to dry up any time soon.


The good news is that we do have cold enough temperatures coming to freeze the ground.  So the only opportunity we are going to have to ride off road in the near future is when the ground is frozen.


Keys to riding frozen trails


1) Ride either very early or after sunset.  Even if temps are below freezing the trails can thaw when the sun warms the ground.
2) Get off the trails at the first sign of the trails thawing.  The trails are very fragile as they thaw out and a year's worth of damage can be done in a very short period of time.
3) Have a back up plan.  It is hard to predict frozen trail conditions and slight changes in temperature, wind, cloud cover, snow, etc.. can through off even the most experienced mountain biker.  There are lots of great road and gravel road rides to be had that are close to many of our trail systems.

[Dan71]

I am NT lookout and about 50% of the trails appears to have standing water, still sprinkling at 5:10. 

[Jsmoon66]

Are the trails really green? We've been getting swamped in B'ton. Just curious!

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

I was having trouble logging in to update conditions yesterday.  Trails are Red.

[Fett]

I rode the roads in the park last night and ducked in a few spots to check out the trail. Trails are handling water well but are definitely red. 

All of the drainage work that the trail crews have done will definitely pay off once this monsoon stops.