I'm curious about trail shortcutting...

Rocksrgood4u

Well-Known Member
Hello, My name is Paul and I have lurked and posted on these forums occasionally for some time. I figured I should be more social and introduce myself before initiating my first thread. So hello to all. I appreciate this site very much as it is the best resource for nj mtber's that I've found. Kudos.

I have a query for all who are concerned- what is your opinion on shortcutting trails?

As in switchbacks or just cutting corners on trails... I see this quite a bit at Lewis Morris and I'm sure it happens in other parks. As someone who rode Chimney Rock when it was mostly dirt, Watchung when it was open, etc., I am concerned about behavior that may change the trails...

So what do people think? Cheers, Paul
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Hello Paul! Thanks for checking in, hopefully see you at one of the group rides, if we haven't already....:D

Cutting/rogue does cause problems - while it kinda sucks when a hiker cuts off a switchback, then people start riding it because it is open.
the park people don't like it - unchecked speed on DHs, and poor water shedding. Rogue trails are worse, the park people don't want to see
them, because of the location/evacuation issues - not to mention sensitive areas.

Couple of our park liaisons could speak to this also. You'll find most of us piling up sticks when they open up.

There are some great relationships between the park people and the JORBA reps - and there is a process for adding trails. It differs by county and park.
They do the best they can.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So what do people think?
For whatever reason some people take it upon themselves to re-route trails to there liking. I want to say its usually hikers who blaze a trail right down a hill instead of using switchbacks, but its probably mountain bikers doing it as well.

Part of trail maintenance usually consists of closing rogue re-routes with large volumes of branches and logs. We usually do TM about 1x/month during the summer months and fall at Chimney Rock, join us if you can and be an active member in Jorba. http://www.jorba.org/

Cheers
 

mwlikesbikes

Well-Known Member
People that cut shortcuts, cheater or strava lines need to be duct taped to trees. There's a couple in hartshorne that I've closed off a number of times.
 
Top Bottom