Watchung News 12/9/2016

CrankAddictRich

CrankAddictRich

Well-Known Member
stilluf said:
Our current understanding is that the county wants these trails to be bike only in order to minimize user conflict.
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Correct... it sounds as if that's the county's intent, but I'm 100% certain that other users will use the trails and I think the question is, "what do we do, as riders, when we come across non-riders on the trail?" Do we yell at them, as they'd do to us, in the rest of the park? I'd say no. I think we should greet them happy and further encourage their use of the trails, but also try to document the occurrence somehow. I think that if we can encourage more and more peaceful interactions on "our" trails, that only bodes well for eventually opening up the whole park to multi-use.
 
TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
KenS said:
We say "hi", yield trail and continue riding the freshest, most awesome trail in Union County. We take the high road, as we have done throughout the process. We can also email union@jorba.org if we want to share the experience.
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What he said.

And add my thanks for the update. Good news long awaited.

Lonerider
 
overbrook

overbrook

Active Member
think of all the lucky kids (and parents) who will grow up riding in watchung, this is a wonderful outcome and wise choice for watchung and hopefully serve as another example of the positive benefits of riders sharing trails

Looking forward to news about giving back by volunteering to help create the sustainable trails that watchung has lacked for so long
 
qclabrat

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
Shorepoints said:
We expect the first JORBA volunteer trail building days to be early/mid January after the holidays, weather permitting of course. Iggy, Kurt Mills, myself, and the county rep had a productive route-scouting hike yesterday. Lots of potential in them'thar woods.
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awesome, has anyone stepped up to be the JORBA rep for this park yet? not volunteering, just wanted to congrat the fella/gal
 
Patrick

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I suppressed the sarcastic urge!

Great job and best of luck.
 
TheLonerider

TheLonerider

Well-Known Member
Shorepoints said:
We expect the first JORBA volunteer trail building days to be early/mid January after the holidays, weather permitting of course. Iggy, Kurt Mills, myself, and the county rep had a productive route-scouting hike yesterday. Lots of potential in them'thar woods.
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Awesome...glad to see things moving along.
When the time comes i will be there or be square... I imagine others will too.

Lonerider
 
Xler8

Xler8

Well-Known Member
Can anyone say what is possible as far as what "can" be built by the riders for the riders?

For example, can we build berms? Wall berms? Wooden obstacles, similar to what you would see in CR? Etc...
 
S

Shorepoints

Well-Known Member
Xler8 said:
Can anyone say what is possible as far as what "can" be built by the riders for the riders?

For example, can we build berms? Wall berms? Wooden obstacles, similar to what you would see in CR? Etc...
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Dirt berms should not be a problem. There will also be multiple wood bridges as there are many small (and not so small) streams/gullies to cross. Logovers also not a problem. As for wood-berms, TTFs, etc., we shall see....
 
w_b

w_b

Well-Known Member
with reverence to the rookie of the year (where did dat guy crawl off to? ) we should name our new trail "BikerOnly"
 
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1speed

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Congrats to all who made this happen! Just read through all that nonsense from the Watchung Res thread after seeing the nomination for ROY. Wasn't aware of any of that while to was happening. Based on all that crap, it's kind of satisfying to see this one working out for access. I only ever rode Watchung one time - back in the mid-90's, it was my second ever MTB ride, and all I remember about it was a lot of suffering to keep up with the guys I was with. I'd love to check it out sometime. What kind of mileage are you looking at ? Would it be worth a drive from Philly? How would you describe the riding there? Any parks it closely resembles?
 
pooriggy

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
1speed said:
I'd love to check it out sometime. What kind of mileage are you looking at ? Would it be worth a drive from Philly? How would you describe the riding there? Any parks it closely resembles?
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We are looking at putting in 14 miles of new trail. The park resembles Chimney Rock terrain and is located east of CR between rt 78 and 22. I'd like to think that it would be worth the ride from Philly once we are done building trails. If you are into the endurance thing you could drive to Watchung, mtb for 2+ hours then drive 20 minutes west and mtb for another 2+hours at CR.
 
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thegock

thegock

Well-Known Member
Due to scheduling conflicts we will be unable to host a trail builder on Sunday.
Thanks to those that signed up, hopefully you get this message.
Saturday is still on, if you know anyone that signed up for Sunday please pass the word along. If you have not signed up to volunteer Saturday, please do so here.
https://www.volunteersignup.org/7LREQ
Thanks

Above is @pooriggy post. The Sunday 1/15 TM sessions in the Watchung Reservation are cancelled due to Parks Dept conflict.

Saturday, 1/14 sessions still available.
 
thegock

thegock

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately we will not be building trails this weekend at Watchung. The county pulled the plug due to inclement weather and the weekly deer hunt prep. I am bummed however I am looking forward to the next trail build.
Below is the email Jamie sent out to those who signed up to volunteer. Stop by Hilltop Saturday morning if you can.
Thanks

Hi Everyone,
Just got word from UC Parks that they must postpone Saturday’s trailbuilding event in addition to Sunday, due to possible inclement weather and conflicts with the deer hunt. We will establish the make-up date this week and inform you all as soon as it’s finalized.

To get ahead of things, all of you are encouraged to attend a Watchung Trailbuilding meeting this Saturday at 10am at the Summit Hilltop Bikes location. We will get the waivers filled out and give an overview of what to expect during the trailbuilding sessions. Coffee/Donuts will be served!

Apologize for the late notice. We are under the direction of the County Parks crew and we must adhere to their protocols. I was able to hike some of the marked trail today with UC Trailbuilder Mark Stallone, and he and his crew are making rapid progress clearing the route. It looks like it’s going to be an incredible trail. So hang in there. we will get it done.

Hope to see as many of you as possible Saturday morning, 10am, at Hilltop Summit (314 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ).

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Jamie, Chris, and Andrew
JORBA Union County Chapter

@pooriggy latest post on the Rides subforum above
 
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