Nassahegan - 11/2/08

[Greg]

Ended up being a solo ride for me. I decided to skip all the stuntry being alone and just try to log a bunch of miles, and maybe do some exploratory. I did both. Banged out 8.26 miles in under 2 hours! My longest break was about a minute.

Got started a bit after 3 pm and did the normal warm-up. Crossed Scoville and scoped out the 3' ladder drop. Definitely will be done soon. Looks pretty doable, but again being solo, I skipped it. I cranked through the swamp twisties, crossed E Chippens and then hopped on the Tunxis. Stayed right at the junction towards B street continuing on the blue trail. Made the first tricky climb on the second attempt. Never made the next one, but I was close on a few attempts.

Took the right down towards the SW corner of Sessions Woods. I've only been on this trail once back in July with Brian and Jeff and was thinking about doing an out and back on it. I scoped the first ledge and then went for it without incident and continued on right down the second. No problem despite being choked with leaves. I then headed down towards Beaver Pond. Once back to where E Chippens comes into view, I decided to just keep going, hell hike-a-bike or not. There's a point where the trail has some junky bridges over the swampy mud/water. Right after that I noticed a trail to the left. Bingo!

The trail wasn't well traveled and with the leaves it made it tough to follow, but I was continually encouraged seeing logs with that tell-tale sign of teeth marks (chainrings, not animals ). I pressed on. Eventually I came back to the blue, but I wasn't sure at what point. It turns out it was right before the hike-a-bike. I backtracked looking for a route as a bypass. I finally found one which eventually took me to the waterfall where it sorta just vaporized. I think it headed up the hill to link with the blue right after the hike-a-bike which is what I was hoping to find to score that sweet downhill. With daylight fading, instead I decided to just cross the river and quickly found the waterfall path from the gravel loop.

Rode the gravel loop for a bit and then hopped on the blue trail. Eventually I started heading more northeast and then paralleled 69 and up B street. Didn't clear the ledge heading up today. Too leafy and I misread the line. Took the mudhole twisties back to Scoville, crossed and took a shorter variation of the swamp twisties crossing the chicken wire bridge. Got back to the car a bit before 5 pm and I was spent. I was also having contact lens issues with the cold air and lack of eye protection.

Not big on solo rides, but all in all this was a great one. Lots of fast miles, very little stopping and some exploratory that lead to the discovery of a good trail that opens of a whole new loop option around Beaver Pond without the need to hike down a cliff with your bike. Glad I got out. Here's the Crankfire record:

http://crankfire.com/trails/data.php?dataid=511

Here's the comparison of the tracks I did this afternoon and the hell hike-a-bike I did with Jeff and Brian in July:

http://crankfire.com/map/index.php?tid=7&t=429,511&w=0&k=&h=

 

[o3jeff]

Sucked that you missed the good DH, but at least you got out riding today.

Would like to hit that loop again with all the rock gardens and stuff.

 

[bvibert]

Nice ride! Sounds like a good time. Good job on the explorations too! :beer:

 

[rueler]

that trail that cut you towards the waterfall is something that we're going to give some attention to...it's a much easier way to get to the nice downhill after the crazy ledges hike a bike section...

it doesn't sound like you made it all the way to the downhill that dumps you into sessions though...hmmm?? sounds like you were right near it though.

 

[rueler]

After further review of your two GPS tracks and throwing the Sessions gravel loop into the mix...look at your blue and green tracks when they are running parallel with each other right around where the topo map says Negro for Negro Hill....at that point there is a small bypass that you probably can't see with all the leaves down right now....it is a SHORT mostly rideable up to the nice flowy downhill. A couple guys I ride with spotted it this summer...it's a nice way to get the downhill and avoid the crazy ledges!!

look just below the really steep stuff on the map to see where you can traverse over...trust me, it's there...it's just really lightly traveled. It goes right alongside the high side of the waterfall JUST BELOW the hike a bike ledges. I'll work on getting someone to improve the visibility of that trail soon!!

 

[bvibert]

After further review of your two GPS tracks and throwing the Sessions gravel loop into the mix...look at your blue and green tracks when they are running parallel with each other right around where the topo map says Negro for Negro Hill....at that point there is a small bypass that you probably can't see with all the leaves down right now....it is a SHORT mostly rideable up to the nice flowy downhill. A couple guys I ride with spotted it this summer...it's a nice way to get the downhill and avoid the crazy ledges!!

look just below the really steep stuff on the map to see where you can traverse over...trust me, it's there...it's just really lightly traveled. It goes right alongside the high side of the waterfall JUST BELOW the hike a bike ledges. I'll work on getting someone to improve the visibility of that trail soon!!

If I read his report correctly he knew, or suspected there was a way to get to they DH from there, but he was worried about taking that long route and still having enough daylight to finish his ride.

I'm definitely very interested in seeing this bypass for myself. It sounds like it could make riding out there much more bearable.

 

[Greg]

After further review of your two GPS tracks and throwing the Sessions gravel loop into the mix...look at your blue and green tracks when they are running parallel with each other right around where the topo map says Negro for Negro Hill....at that point there is a small bypass that you probably can't see with all the leaves down right now....it is a SHORT mostly rideable up to the nice flowy downhill. A couple guys I ride with spotted it this summer...it's a nice way to get the downhill and avoid the crazy ledges!!

look just below the really steep stuff on the map to see where you can traverse over...trust me, it's there...it's just really lightly traveled. It goes right alongside the high side of the waterfall JUST BELOW the hike a bike ledges. I'll work on getting someone to improve the visibility of that trail soon!!

If I read his report correctly he knew, or suspected there was a way to get to they DH from there, but he was worried about taking that long route and still having enough daylight to finish his ride.

Right. With the leaves down I could actually see the ledges, but like you said with the leaf cover the trail was hard to follow. I knew I was close to the start of the downhill, but just opted to cross the river. If I knew I was within a few hundred yards as the GPS tracks suggest I might have taken more time to find it. Next time. The bottom line is this trail opens up a whole new option for a mostly rideable southern loop. It's a little damp in there, but there looks to be a number of rock outcroppings that could be used to incorporate some stuntry as well.

 

[rueler]

I agree with the potential for great trail developments there...unfortunately, most of us that would consider doing that are very apprehensive (other than some light raking) due to the proximity to the blue trail and the fact that we are SMACK dab in the middle of DEP monitored land...being that it's on Sessions Woods WMA property.

We could always apply for a trail permit to build a legal bypass with the land manager...stating that it would promote "better accessibility and safety for all trail travelers" over the existing ledge route that limits the ability of some users to enjoy the trail section to its fullest potential.