1st visit since June: Erosion!

A

al415

Banned
I pretty much avoid driving up Ocean Avenue from July until the end of August each year. So I got a shock this Sunday, when I rode Hartshorne for the first time since the end of June... Some trails were unrecognizable from how they looked when I was riding here 3-4 times a week in the Spring.

My question to those in the know: Is this a reflection of the dry Summer we had or does the place get a lot more traffic in Summertime (with our influx of northerners etc)?
 
I personally think its the dry summer; Allaire is fairing just as bad as Hartshorne by the sound of it.
 
My take is that it's the result of the extremely dry summer combined with those few intense downpours that have gone through the area in the last month. You can see all the sediment that has been displaced, piled up at the bottom of all the hills. I don't think it's down to any increase in user traffic. The sand at Huber is as bad as I've seen it as well, and that place gets a fraction of the use Hartshorne sees.

I've had the same reaction in the few times I've ridden there since Memorial Day, I've been surprised at the intensity of the erosion. Conditions yesterday were actually better than most of the summer, thanks to the soaking we got last week.

It's a dead horse, but that place really needs some love.
 
Allaire sure has become extra sandy in places. I guess it's more dramatic at Hartshorne because the rocks and roots creat deeper chanels than I see at Allaire.
 
my opinion is that Hartshorne is in the worst shape.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the shape Allaire is in. one expects Allaire to be sandy in a dry summer.

but Hartshorne's condition is a real shocker to me. that place has sand along entire stretches of trails that NEVER had a hint of sand in the past - eg, the "devil's elbow" hill in Rocky Point is thick sand the entire length up..wtf?

Huber is sandy but the "transformation" is a little different than Hartshorne. In Huber the existing "sand pits" that exist in certain locations have just gotten bigger (which is not a huge surprise), but again at Hartshorne it seems like sand has appeared out of nowhere.

the erosion has really made Hartshorne a bit tougher than it used to be. for example, doing Rocky Point counter-clockwise (down the elbow) is a bit tougher than it used to be since there are tons more exposed roots and loose rocks. makes it a bit more challenging.
 
I can't believe that since their water bars aren't working they thought if they dug out trenches on either side of the bars that would work...Thats an accident waiting to happen. It's really dangerous for everyone and I don't think it will fix anything. Runners and hikers can easily roll an ankle and if you're weighted a little forward downhill on the bike you're OTB. Its really to bad, its a fun park but its getting ripped apart.
 
al415 said:
Allaire sure has become extra sandy in places. I guess it's more dramatic at Hartshorne because the rocks and roots creat deeper chanels than I see at Allaire.
Click to expand...

It is also more dramatic in a park like Hartshorne as opposed to allaire and 6 mile due to the amount of love those parks get...
 
Glenlivet12 said:
I can't believe that since their water bars aren't working they thought if they dug out trenches on either side of the bars that would work...Thats an accident waiting to happen. It's really dangerous for everyone and I don't think it will fix anything. Runners and hikers can easily roll an ankle and if you're weighted a little forward downhill on the bike you're OTB. Its really to bad, its a fun park but its getting ripped apart.
Click to expand...
We were talking about this yesterday. There's barely any work done on the trails, and when they do finally get out there, they trench out the water bars.:confused:

Let me add that my ongoing complaint is with the way the MCPS handles this stuff, not the volunteers who are occasionally allowed to go in there. As I noted above, this is a very dead horse being beaten here.
 
Maybe someone from JORBA should reach out to the Park Supervisor & see if we can get involved. :D:D:D:D:D:D

I forgot, they know what works best for their park & terrain.
 
6 smiley faces = sarcasm!

On the other hand - 6 mile is amazing - like a giant concrete pump track with some dust to make it interesting. If you haven't tried it and have the means I highly recommend it. :D
 
The rain did help the trails alot. I was there saturday and there was way less sand than there was 2 weeks before when I was there. The "improvements" to the tiger traps.... I mean waterbars, are scary.

Maybe we need a midnight TM session. :rolleyes::D
 
Monmouth County has many parks to give love to, unfortunately they do not have the man power. They must schedule accordingly so they spread out to all the parks, unfortunately the traffic at Hartshorne warrants monthly tm sessions to keep up with it. I would like to ask all of it's regular users to support Mon.Ctys. tm sessions at Hartshorne. Yes, their methods may seem rather "old school", but at this point it's better than nothing. ?
 
Since it will be getting cooler out there (Fall season) that is, if you know when they are going to or if the riders can get together to do some trail work. Count me in.. I'm always down to help...
 
Hartshorne Woods is the closest riding zone to me yet I haven't done a ride there in months. I have more TM hours at Huber and Hart than I do ride hours for 2010.

Like everyone has said - it's a dead horse. I get so fustrated riding it's blown out trail so now I just don't. Just got back from VT where there is plenty of misty 8" ribbon that it is shelved and armored to maintain that shape and flow and more and more going in. I got my sniggle fix in up there and will just go ride DJ's for the fall. Riding should be fun not fustrating.

Like I've said before, with the terrain at Hart and it's amazing location by the water, with some thought out trail building and layout that place could be one of the best spots on the east. Allaire has half the potential but it's twice the place because of workers like Frank and his crews.
 
don said:
Like I've said before, with the terrain at Hart and it's amazing location by the water, with some thought out trail building and layout that place could be one of the best spots on the east. Allaire has half the potential but it's twice the place because of workers like Frank and his crews.
Click to expand...

That sums it all up very well.
 
The Way it is at Hartshorne Woods

gt2brew said:
Monmouth County has many parks to give love to, unfortunately they do not have the man power. They must schedule accordingly so they spread out to all the parks, unfortunately the traffic at Hartshorne warrants monthly tm sessions to keep up with it. I would like to ask all of it's regular users to support Mon.Ctys. tm sessions at Hartshorne. Yes, their methods may seem rather "old school", but at this point it's better than nothing. ?
Click to expand...

. first off thanks SG for this post it put a smile on my face...

Allow me to elaborate Folks,
I am one of the trial crew leaders and trainers for MCPS, it is unfortunate like many have stated here this park does not get the attention it does warrant. We try to have the volunteer coordinator speak with each park manager to setup trail dates and sometimes she doesn’t hear back from them for months and then the dates must go into the next years calendar, believe me i speak with her once a week for updates and i have tried for many, many, many years as the past JORBA rep for MCPS to get things done, and Brian took over for me when i retired from it. Brian too was meet with the same frustrations i had for 18 years of trying to plan. At some point we had to step back and let a sleeping dog sleep. The volunteer coordinator understands the issues and we are trying are very hardest to have the upper managers understand this too, but sometimes you can’t change policy from 10 years ago when it works fine. So i do ask if you want to help us please attend the next TM training class by calling Karen at 732-842-4000 ext 4283 and tell her you want to help. Please keep this in mind Monmouth County is a privately funded park through the taxpayers money and is run by the MCPS employees it is not a state run park system so their rules apply.
Secondly,
When we build trials their they are very thought out and planned with every consideration in mind, i am one of the only voluneteers who makes recommendations as to the layout and design changes sometimes the day of the trial build and they eothertake my adivice or not. I have to point out a comment that someone made in this post about waterbars and going around them.. We in NO WAY put in roundabouts around waterbars, this is not park policy or part of any training we give. our policy is if the waterbar goes in it has to be installed as per the trail standard and design, if you see go arounds blame this on the people who dont wish to go over a waterbar but go around them causing trial erosion and widening. THIS is NOT acceptable and our trial teams have to fix this all the time. stay on the trail go over obstacles, dont move them, remove them or modify them. if you can’t handle the trail then take the bunny trail.
Thirdly, briefing on trail user groups and MCPS;
back in the early 1990's there was a group (who i will not mention) who sponsored Hartshorne just like JORBA ( JORBA did it better) who felt since they adopted a trail in the park they could do whatever they wanted..yes they came to their trail dates they setup and worked, but things got out of hand( i won’t say why its past history) and they burned their bridges with the Park managers and were booted from the park. this has left a very bitter history and the park system doesn’t want to have to Deal with a user group adopting a trail and having a repeat of past history so they chose not to allow adoption of any trials or organized user group adoptions going forward. Yes i am upset with this too i feel it will hurt the park and they could use our help due to budget cuts, layoffs it could only help them, but as i stated MCPS is old school they were burned 2 times by volunteer groups and they don’t want a third so we must let a sleeping dog lye for now and maybe someday we can try again, to push this issue would only make them push back even further.
as one of the master volunteers for 20 years with MCPS i want to say your comments don’t go unnoticed i read them and i do speak with the managers about your concerns and issues and suggestions, please now that i am one of you and i will do my best to move things forward for the better of our sport. if you have any questions, issues or concerns you can PM me anytime and i Will get back to you.
so if you can help us please reach out to Karen Livingstone and sign up to become a volunteer for MCPS parks, i hope to see you on the trials,

blessings and Happy trails
Mike
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trail Conditions

Current Conditions

powered by Trailforks.com
Back
Top Bottom