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Sunny Hollow (Camp J Trails) 9/7

BackLoafRiver

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Nov 19, 2008
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Augusta, Maine
Another huge thanks to JD for this one.

Woke up at 6:45. My body is still on teacher time despite having an extra day off. Decided to hit up Sunny Hollow on my way out of town. Turns out, it is 5 minutes from where I grew up. Too bad I was a fat, lazy kid in high school. I missed out.

Only one other car in the lot when I got there. It was a little scary hearing the sounds of gunfire in the distance. These trails are close to Camp Johnson, a military base in Colchester.

Followed the double track to the first sign of single. Hit the main trail you come to. Pretty flat with the occasional jump built in. A couple log ramps here and there. At the first intersection, I followed the signage to Brook Crossing.

Long, sweeping downhill that can get pretty deadly if you let loose. Got going too fast one time and almost took a header off the edge. Stupid. At the bottom, you come to a bridge that crosses, you guessed it....the brook. On the opposite side, there is a pretty steady climb. Nothing too intense.

Followed the signs to Moose Hill, another intermediate trail. Initial climb was fine right up until you get to the Hill itself. Pretty steep. Had to walk a majority of it. Totally kicked my butt. At the top, ran into the owner of the other car. Turns out it was a hottie with her dog. We exchanged pleasantries and she asked how to get out. I pointed her in the direction I came from and we parted ways.

Followed Moose Hill to the connector for North Plateau. This is where the trip took a turn for the worse.

Somewhere, I must have missed a sign pointing me in the right direction. The trails were still in excellent condition so I thought I Was going the right way. Eventually, I ended up on the Camp Johnson Base. Not good. I did a 180 and booked it out of there asap. After about 20 more minutes of following my intuition, I ended up back at the parking area. Again, not following any marked trails. Got back to my car, saw that the girls car was still there. Got freaked out. HEaded back in the direction of the riding and saw her again. Turns out some of the climbing got the best of her. I decided to ride for a bit longer. Saw some signs for Blueberry Loop and burned through it. Nothing overly complex. Just fun, fast riding.

I'll definitely go back when I am not in a massive time crunch and can explore a bit more. The only maps available are to Fellowship of the Wheel members.

Fellowship of the Wheel in Vermont (http://www.fotw.org) is a great organization that has done a lot of work on many of the trail systems in the Champlain Valley. Even though I am a casual visitor, the $30 membership fee is pretty reasonable considering all the great riding and info you get for it.

Thanks for reading.
 
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