Penn Branch Conditions

[Zed]

This morning, 6:30am to 9:50am.

Going counter clock-wise, many huge trees downed blocking trail first 10-12 miles from storm 2 Thursdays ago. Some of the trees are huge Oak and Pines that will require heavy equipment or a chain saw crew to clear. Added about 45-60 min to the ride, real pita.

There maybe a way to use the first clockwise half coupled with a road, need to look at a map.

Most of the destruction is centered near Jemima - ages old trees snapped in 2 from 5' to 30' up - crowns resting in trails, not just trunks.

Dry conditions made for fast spots, especially heading back into Batsto.

Cool temps at start, minimal ticks (deet seems to work). Beautiful morning!

ed

 

[slingblade_uhhuh]

Thanks for the report. Yeah Saturday was perfect. We cleared the remaining blowdowns from the Huckleberry Trail and then south on the PennBranch/Firetower Trail. So that 9 mile loop is ridable.
We'll be heading north on the PBT with the saws on Monday to start working on the rest.

 

[Davesnhere]

First MB & Penn Branch ride...

I rode the PB Trail early yesterday(7/3). This was my firat MB ride on my new bike (and actually, my first MB ride in 10 years)! By the time I finished, I felt like I'd ridden 75 miles on the road, then lifted weights for 2 hours!!! All in all came out feeling good. Got kinda scratched up (damn near lost an ear to a stray limb), and am not sore at all today (all the road riding must be doing some good, lol!). I covered myself with Sportsmans Deet, and it is definetly the way to go, I thought for sure I'd be covered in ticks/chiggers, but all is good, no ticks, or itching!
Great job on the trail marking guys, I only lost it once, and that was my own fault for not paying attention when I came out to the second jeep trail and made a right instead of going straight across it. You can really fly in sections, but some I found myself getting off to go around blow-downs about every 40 feet or so.
A great morning, and I'm sure plenty more to come!

 

[Zed]

Help for cleanup

If you folks are going out early, I can be available to help if need be... or some future outing. The trails are great and I'm nearby.

If you need to transport in anything big(ger) than hand saws, I may be able to strap it to my DS M/C and get it in there for cleanup.

ed

Thanks for the report. Yeah Saturday was perfect. We cleared the remaining blowdowns from the Huckleberry Trail and then south on the PennBranch/Firetower Trail. So that 9 mile loop is ridable.
We'll be heading north on the PBT with the saws on Monday to start working on the rest.

 

[slingblade_uhhuh]

Thanks! Rick and me are leaving Batsto at 7am on 7/5. We posted the 2010/2011 fall/winter/spring WSF trail maintenance dates on jorba.org and can hit you with an off-board email for the impromptu TMs.