Frenchtown Preserve Conditions

[SAM]

It's such spaghetti that there are probably as many ways to ride these trails as there are riders.

I'm a planner, so always riding from routes I planned. At first, I was riding a bunch of different routes at Frenchtown, but it'd get confusing and I'd make wrong turns. After I learned the trails, I finally settled on a favorite route that I ride most of the time. That way, turns are from memory and I can do it without the map.

I like to add a couple miles of canal/trail (and a little road) by parking at the Giving Pond.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10253683466

 

[SAM]

This reminded me that I wanted to tweak the plan so that I ride the Googly-Mon Trail down instead of climbing it. Basically reversed the loop so now I climb the Kingwood Trail and descend the Googly-Mon Trail.

I think it might be more climbing but the Googly-Mon down may be worth it.

I'm happy to see the "Googly-Mon" and "Trash Valley" trail names added to Trailforks.

 

[chemgirl]

I still disagree with the changes on Trailforks. I requested to be an admin but was not granted permission. Yes there are many diffferent ways to ride here. Regardless of the route, a trail marked Blue should not be called Red on Trailforks. If you look at the original trail map, there is logic to the Blue, Orange, and Red trails. The Red and Blue are totally confusing now the way it was changed on Trailforks.
TrashValley and Googlyman are new since the original map was made. Those trails were made by mtbers but are still labeled Yellow Horsetrail on the Trailforks map? You have to click on the Yellow Horsetrail to see what their names are. Both trails parallel original Green Horsetrail, but are in no way 'Horsetrail'.
And who ranked the ability of these trails as blue square trails? They are all super easy, beginner, green circle trails except for a small section of Yellow, a small section of Red (which has a go around) and TrashValley (which has go arounds).

@audionerdio I don't know if you live out here or how much interaction you have had with the horse groups, but please remove the Yellow Horsetrail labels from the Trailforks map. The dotted trails in the above map are what was agreed upon for horses when built (they are actually the original trails if you rode here back in the early 2010s). It's hard enough to get mountain bike permission in Hunterdon County, the AEA already has their own trail network out here that they ban bikes from, we don't need to be giving them more trail.

@SAM both Googlyman and Trashvalley ride better descending!

 

[Norm]

I still disagree with the changes on Trailforks. I requested to be an admin but was not granted permission. Yes there are many diffferent ways to ride here. Regardless of the route, a trail marked Blue should not be called Red on Trailforks. If you look at the original trail map, there is logic to the Blue, Orange, and Red trails. The Red and Blue are totally confusing now the way it was changed on Trailforks.

I'm an admin. Just let me know what you want to change and I can do it.

 

[Patrick]

I still disagree with the changes on Trailforks. I requested to be an admin but was not granted permission. Yes there are many diffferent ways to ride here. Regardless of the route, a trail marked Blue should not be called Red on Trailforks. If you look at the original trail map, there is logic to the Blue, Orange, and Red trails. The Red and Blue are totally confusing now the way it was changed on Trailforks.
TrashValley and Googlyman are new since the original map was made. Those trails were made by mtbers but are still labeled Yellow Horsetrail on the Trailforks map? You have to click on the Yellow Horsetrail to see what their names are. Both trails parallel original Green Horsetrail, but are in no way 'Horsetrail'.
And who ranked the ability of these trails as blue square trails? They are all super easy, beginner, green circle trails except for a small section of Yellow, a small section of Red (which has a go around) and TrashValley (which has go arounds).
View attachment 228220

@audionerdio I don't know if you live out here or how much interaction you have had with the horse groups, but please remove the Yellow Horsetrail labels from the Trailforks map. The dotted trails in the above map are what was agreed upon for horses when built (they are actually the original trails if you rode here back in the early 2010s). It's hard enough to get mountain bike permission in Hunterdon County, the AEA already has their own trail network out here that they ban bikes from, we don't need to be giving them more trail.

@SAM both Googlyman and Trashvalley ride better descending!

Looks like changes you proposed are happening

https://www.trailforks.com/region/frenchtown-preserve-32257/

also strange is that i don't think i had admin powers there, but now i do.......

 

[SAM]

WTF?! The Googly-Mon is GONE. My friend said it best when he saw it "This is why we can't have nice things."

 

[audionerdio]

I still disagree with the changes on Trailforks. I requested to be an admin but was not granted permission. Yes there are many diffferent ways to ride here. Regardless of the route, a trail marked Blue should not be called Red on Trailforks. If you look at the original trail map, there is logic to the Blue, Orange, and Red trails. The Red and Blue are totally confusing now the way it was changed on Trailforks.
TrashValley and Googlyman are new since the original map was made. Those trails were made by mtbers but are still labeled Yellow Horsetrail on the Trailforks map? You have to click on the Yellow Horsetrail to see what their names are. Both trails parallel original Green Horsetrail, but are in no way 'Horsetrail'.
And who ranked the ability of these trails as blue square trails? They are all super easy, beginner, green circle trails except for a small section of Yellow, a small section of Red (which has a go around) and TrashValley (which has go arounds).
View attachment 228220

@audionerdio I don't know if you live out here or how much interaction you have had with the horse groups, but please remove the Yellow Horsetrail labels from the Trailforks map. The dotted trails in the above map are what was agreed upon for horses when built (they are actually the original trails if you rode here back in the early 2010s). It's hard enough to get mountain bike permission in Hunterdon County, the AEA already has their own trail network out here that they ban bikes from, we don't need to be giving them more trail.

@SAM both Googlyman and Trashvalley ride better descending!

I honestly have no idea how the “Horse” labels ended up on here. The only horse trails are the green trails, as stated by the official map.
I requested to be admin as I’ve been asked to be a member of the Frenchtown Environmental Commission, the managing body for the preserve. Someone has been doing a lot of trail naming on Trailforks and I’d like to get ahead of that, so would the rest of the FEC members. In the event of an emergency, we can’t have a trail called “Trenton Trail” which gives EMS no indication of where to go and we can’t ask them to download an app when time is of the essence.

I think we can all agree that the signage and trail names need work. But they should be the same everywhere. When the FEC was asked by the state to put blazes on the trails, they were given 5 color blazes. That’s it. And they did their best with that at the time. There is a plan in place to update the map (already being worked on) and, hopefully, renaming or re-blazing some of the trails.

 

[audionerdio]

It's such spaghetti that there are probably as many ways to ride these trails as there are riders.

I'm a planner, so always riding from routes I planned. At first, I was riding a bunch of different routes at Frenchtown, but it'd get confusing and I'd make wrong turns. After I learned the trails, I finally settled on a favorite route that I ride most of the time. That way, turns are from memory and I can do it without the map.

I like to add a couple miles of canal/trail (and a little road) by parking at the Giving Pond.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10253683466
View attachment 228182

That’s a great route. You hit nearly everything.

 

[SAM]

That’s a great route. You hit nearly everything.

Thanks. There were quite a few iterations before I got the one I wanted.

 

[chemgirl]

@audionerdio thanks for the update. I have been granted permission to modify and will hopefully get the Trailforks map back to cooreseponding to the FEC map this week. You are very correct, in case of emergency, we can't have a trail named Red when it is blazed Blue. Googleyman and Trashvalley do parallel (within feet) green blazed trails, so for emergency use, that should be considered when putting up signage.

@SAM I've stashed some art in these trails as well and it has all gotten stolen (several times). Sad. What I had left totally blended in with nature and by no means would be mistaken as trash. Not sure why people feel the need to take/destroy the creativeness that others leave behind. There are just some un-fun people out there.

 

[chemgirl]

Conditions yesterday may be the worst I've ever seen. Wet areas on all the trails.

 

[SAM]

I was there this morning around 8:30 and it is good IMO. There are some short slick areas on some trails and a few standing water puddles in the usual places but nothing major. I have seen much worse. Some parts of the trails rode crunchy (frozen frost heave) but most were dry and firm. Maybe it was the time of day and it would've been sloppier later.

This is one of the wettest areas and it was just a short stretch of water with trails beyond mostly firm.

 

[one piece crank]

Just got home from a week on the road. I really want to hit these trails before the next rain!

 

[chemgirl]

Over the past few weeks @audionerdio updated the Trailforks webpage and app and they look spot-on for these trails. Should be easy to navigate now. Thanks.

 

[audionerdio]

Over the past few weeks @audionerdio updated the Trailforks webpage and app and they look spot-on for these trails. Should be easy to navigate now. Thanks.

Thanks @chemgirl for reviewing and catching my mistakes.

 

[Brian Sipler]

Hi everybody, I’m sorry if my question about what exactly the sign at the private property says sounded weird and silly. I have obsessive compulsive disorder so sometimes I ask weird questions.

Anyway, the reason I asked what the sign says is because sometimes there are public right of ways for trails on private property.

 

[Brian Sipler]

Good morning everybody, the other day, I finally followed the Green Trail to the southern boundary of the Frenchtown Preserve. I saw the sign but I don't remember exactly what it says. However, like chemgirl said, there's a fence at the end of that trail and a fenced in area means keep out. I finally have the answer to my question so I won't ask about this anymore. Everybody have a great day.

 

[audionerdio]

Good morning everybody, the other day, I finally followed the Green Trail to the southern boundary of the Frenchtown Preserve. I saw the sign but I don't remember exactly what it says. However, like chemgirl said, there's a fence at the end of that trail and a fenced in area means keep out. I finally have the answer to my question so I won't ask about this anymore. Everybody have a great day.

Sorry, just came back to this thread after some time away. Glad you found your answer Brian! TBH, I couldn’t remember what the sign said or exactly where I had seen it. I’ll take a look again next time I’m out there.

 

[audionerdio]

Good morning everybody, the other day, I finally followed the Green Trail to the southern boundary of the Frenchtown Preserve. I saw the sign but I don't remember exactly what it says. However, like chemgirl said, there's a fence at the end of that trail and a fenced in area means keep out. I finally have the answer to my question so I won't ask about this anymore. Everybody have a great day.

Was able to snap a pic of the signs up at the end of the Green trail heading south out of the park yesterday. Just in case anyone else was wondering.

On another note, there is some serious erosion from the recent rain as well as a couple of large trees down. Trails were mostly great though and the trees will be removed shortly.

 

[walker33]

Is the small lot on Horseshoe Bend Rd. the only place to park? looks like it might get crowded.