Nassahegan - 7/12/09 (evening)

[Greg]

Got out for an evening ride after spending 3 hours at the beach with the family. Got rolling around 5:30 or so. Hit the cemetery which is rolling nice and dry. Up the FKC to the big rock, then over to Stone. Did an abbreviated loop around Stone. One weird thing I noticed was the far Northeast loops that head off the blue trail were blocked. Not sure what's up with that, but I respected it, and just took the blue all the way back to Stone Road, cleaning the rock garden and flying down that last rocky downhill before the road.

Then the climb back up to the Cornwall downhill. I took the fire road route which is pretty gradual. Still some muddy spots before the smooth downhill, but it's improving. Flew down the Cornwall DH likely reaching my peak speed of the ride of over 19 MPH. Then took 69er back south. Repeated much of the cemetery twisties and then took the fire road down to Resevoir Road and headed across 69 and up into Sessions Woods. Made my way to the truck trail and took that straight back to the car. The only rough spot was the wall crossing just past the four way. Saw a deer, heard likely another deer and almost ran over a skunk.

Got back to the car about 8:15. About 12.4 miles in 2 3/4 hours! Not bad:

http://crankfire.com/trails/data.php?dataid=590
http://crankfire.com/map/index.php?tid=7&t=590&w=0

 

[rueler]

Hey Greg, how badly were the trails on the northeast side blocked?? were they the trails I refer to as the Northside Woods trails?? When you ride UP from the middle shelf of the dentist twisties, you hit the blue/red trail...if you start heading left/west there is an entrance right there on the right...is that what was blocked?? If so, I believe it was probably blocked by one of US (maybe CNR), to keep the dude who is riding the horse over on Stone out of those trails...by all means, don't let the blockage stop you!! The only trails that the guy hasn't hit have been the Northside trails and the Hobo Cave trail...other than that he's been putting some sizable hoof prints in all of the singletrack over there. The other problem he is causing is that it appears that he is pruning back the trails and making them super wide to allow better access for his four legged friend...Im all about sharing trails...but, I feel that this trail user is not being totally considerate of others that are using the trails. He's left his clippings (big ones) right in the middle of the trails for derailleurs to snag...it took a couple of us a bit of time to clear up their mess...some of which was serious "horse chips". Anyhow, ride those routes you know that are blocked...my intel tells me it's just a smokescreen for the horse and rider.

 

[MLegg]

Checking it out

I'll be over to that spot with the dogs this morning. It wasn't blocked off Friday, just "covered up" a little to make it hard to find as Rueler said. Will report back later.

 

[o3jeff]

I noticed a lot of hoof prints there Friday when I rode out of Stone too and last month when I rode the Devil bypass I noticed the deep hoof prints in the muddy areas and a lot of branch clippings on the trails and assumed they were from the recent T storms, but no it makes sense.

 

[bvibert]

Nice ride Greg, sounds like you're really liking the new bike!

The last time I was at Stone I noticed the hoof prints and droppings. Some of the hoof prints were really deep in the mud too. Apparently some horse owners have as much good sense to stay off muddy trails as many MTBers do. :roll:

 

[Greg]

Hey Greg, how badly were the trails on the northeast side blocked?? were they the trails I refer to as the Northside Woods trails?? When you ride UP from the middle shelf of the dentist twisties, you hit the blue/red trail...if you start heading left/west there is an entrance right there on the right...is that what was blocked?? If so, I believe it was probably blocked by one of US (maybe CNR), to keep the dude who is riding the horse over on Stone out of those trails...by all means, don't let the blockage stop you!! The only trails that the guy hasn't hit have been the Northside trails and the Hobo Cave trail...other than that he's been putting some sizable hoof prints in all of the singletrack over there. The other problem he is causing is that it appears that he is pruning back the trails and making them super wide to allow better access for his four legged friend...Im all about sharing trails...but, I feel that this trail user is not being totally considerate of others that are using the trails. He's left his clippings (big ones) right in the middle of the trails for derailleurs to snag...it took a couple of us a bit of time to clear up their mess...some of which was serious "horse chips". Anyhow, ride those routes you know that are blocked...my intel tells me it's just a smokescreen for the horse and rider.

Yep. That's the spot. Thanks for clarifying. I noticed the horse shit and prints too. I can share trails, but the clipping shouldn't be done.

 

[rueler]

that horse and rider have stomped over many a trail at Nass. Most of the traffic seems to be located on the Eastside of Stone...but, it extends to other areas as Jeff and others have mentioned. Some of the hoofprints have settled in all right and aren't going to be much of a big deal...BUT, it is clear that this guy rides out there when it is really wet because there are some marks that are more like "post holes". I agree Greg...the clipping has to stop...so does the leaving of mega sized horse chips...

 

[Greg]

so does the leaving of mega sized horse chips...

As long as there's a horse in there, you're not going to avoid this. You can't exactly ask the guy to hop off and pooper scoop a load like that! :lol: Maybe push it off the trail, I guess, but somehow I doubt even that will happen, even if the rider notices the horse dropping one. They pretty much do that while plodding along, no?

 

[rueler]

I know that the rider isn't going to pick up the plops...it's just an added impact to what he's doing...I'd be satisfied with him picking DRY days to ride over there...I'll deal with avoiding the plops if he helps keep the trails intact and not erode them in a terrible way by riding in wet conditions.

 

[Greg]

I know that the rider isn't going to pick up the plops...it's just an added impact to what he's doing...I'd be satisfied with him picking DRY days to ride over there...I'll deal with avoiding the plops if he helps keep the trails intact and not erode them in a terrible way by riding in wet conditions.

I hear ya. Tell all the rogue MTBers too. That stone wall crossing on the way back to Lamson from the truck trail four-way is a mess. And that rocky area at the end of the cemetery seems to have 3 or 4 routes in spots. It's almost hard to distinguish the original route now, but I've been trying to stick to the most worn one. Also, that little downhill that leads to the little ramp at the bottom has three distinct routes now.... :???:

 

[rueler]

it was a matter of time before some trails at Nass became like WH Res. That is why you are seeing a large effort made by locals to block the secondary paths know as "P@#sy paths". West Hartford is not single track anymore...it's dreadlock tracked...there are squiggly, wildlike singletrack routes all over the place on the same piece of trail. It appears to be like a 3-4 lane highway in places. Unfortunately the cemetery twisties are deteriorating faster than anybody could possibly keep up with them. They get ridden now more than I feel that the Scoville twisties get ridden. There will be some efforts made in there soon...i just don't know how much good they will do for one...and many of us who help keep these areas up don't want to waste our time there....HAve you seen ALL of the painted trees that will be harvested?? we feel other areas that are free of paint should get some love first...fyi-CNR and I will be working on making Dick Tickler's a more user friendly trail. I will keep you guys posted.

 

[MLegg]

Observation and a couple of thoughts -
the eastern-most entrance to the Stone Road Northside Trails is still disguished with branches and leaves, as Scott mentioned. I agree that this is being done to discourage the horse from entering although from the rider's viewpoint, most of the trail can easily be seen making the cover-up somewhat moot. Some new blockage has been added to the area between the entrance and exit of the lower jug handle on the northside trail making the handle the primary trail. Not a bad idea since that's how we ride it anyway.
We (wife, dogs) walk the Stone Trails at least five days a week year 'round in the mornings and rarely, if ever, see anyone, making this area somewhat a private paradise. There are many others who view this place the same way I'm sure. She is constantly on my case though about publicly exposing and promoting these trails through the forums and NEMBA trail reports - she feels that the more exposure it gets, the faster it will turn into Scoville or worse, The Res. She may be right. It's a funny dilemma and somewhat like finding a secret fishing spot - on the one hand, you want to share the good news with your friends, but on the other hand...what will happen to your secret spot when it's no longer a secret?

I think the traffic on Stone East will remain light for quite some time. History shows that most of the trails there were created a long time ago and became overgrown through lack of maintenance/lack of use even though the Scoville area grew in popularity. The Stone area is not that easy to get to and lacks parking (compared to Scoville) and is, for the most part, hilly. Factors that don't really encourage crowds.

Mark