Wawayanda State Park Conditions

Lots of mixed emotions from racers on that Prolog run. I reported the blowdown to the Park superintendent because I'm on these trails every day and help inform them of problems like this. This trail is used by many hikers, bikers, horse riders, and snowmobiles.
 
Off The Road Again said:
I thought the Prolog was a good idea to spread the field out before Pumphouse rock bridge. Last year it was a bottleneck disaster on a relatively easy crossing.
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In theory the prolog is a good idea. I think the 4 mile of road/dirt road was kinda overkill. It seemed the group was thinned out by 2miles or less. I think having the Open Men go first with at 1 mile prolog then everyone else start 3 minutes later with a 1 mile prolog would be fine. The start could be at Furnace then take road to the single track.
 
pooriggy said:
In theory the prolog is a good idea. I think the 4 mile of road/dirt road was kinda overkill. It seemed the group was thinned out by 2miles or less. I think having the Open Men go first with at 1 mile prolog then everyone else start 3 minutes later with a 1 mile prolog would be fine. The start could be at Furnace then take road to the single track.
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I agree, the 4 mile road trip is overkill. Your idea is good too. Or the start could be by the furnace (which is Doublepond Tr) and go up to the lake where Wingdam starts and around to the beach area by the bath house which is where Pumphouse tr starts and goes up the hill and makes a left onto Pumphouse single track. That's only 3/4 mile start though. The 3 minutes head start is a great idea.
 
chris12453 said:
There is also a big blow down like that at the top of Tombstone right before the pipeline and crossing to Pines. Was a bit tricky to get through it although I probably could've walked around.
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well this one on tombstone is still there. huge mess. ended up walking around it by what looks like the remains of a rock wall. the tree on red dot is still there too. the poison ivy (or oak or whatever, it just sucks) is REALLY bad now. trail there is starting to become overgrown as it looks like most are bypassing it and taking twin bridges instead. surprised this hasnt been cleared yet as i always assumed red dot was the most popular trail in the park for the hiking crowd. prickers at the top of pines and tombstone are getting bad too.

one good thing is that it looks like a gravel bridge was partially built in that damn swamp area towards the pipeline on old coal. kind of looks like they ran out of material halfway through, but with the current water level it's enough to ride over finally
 
I don't think the park even knows about blowdowns on the trails. They don't have the staff to check on trail conditions.
I know Blackbear Cycling has done lots of trail maintenance over the years, but I don't know if they have a regular schedule for checking on trail conditions. I'm on the Wawayanda trails quite often and when I see a problem I report it to the park superintendent and also try and send Blackbear an email to let them know. Small things I will attempt to fix, but most are to big and chain saws are needed, and that is out of my league. I think our best bet is to post these problems to this web page and I will try to check them out and let the park know about them. How long it will take them to respond is another thing. Here is what I saw today and what I reported on to the park and Blackbear Cycle.

 
Reading the complaints about the Tombstone trail blowdown, I decided to visit it today. Yup, it's there! I had my small handsaw with me, but this is too much for it. I sent a photo and a note to the trail maintenance Gods in hopes of a cleanup, they really do a stellar job!
As I traveled the rest of the trail and farther down the trail I removed the top half of a smaller tree that was broken and blocking the trail. The whole trail looks good now except that big blowdown.
 
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There was one on the north side of the entrance road, haven't been there recently. I think the trail is iron mine or iron something, whatever the AT crosses up there. You can climb over but def need some chainsaws.
 
Blair said:
There was one on the north side of the entrance road, haven't been there recently. I think the trail is iron mine or iron something, whatever the AT crosses up there. You can climb over but def need some chainsaws.
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The powers that be have been notified as of yesterday and they will respond shortly.
 
chris12453 said:
Tree is still down across red dot. Rode it today 7/25/15
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That's too bad, back on the 15th. I notified the Park, and NYNJ Trail conference, and Black Bear Cycling, all of whom do trail maintenance in this park. NYNJ Trail conference did respond back then saying they were in contact with the other groups and they hope to get a chainsaw crew out there. There are two other problems I told them about too. Tombstone trail and Iron Mountain trail.
 
trees are still down on red dot and tombstone. i'm ready to declare the tops of tombstone and pines as just about unrideable. in addition to the tree, the damn thorns are really thick. tore my shirt and shorts and lost a lot of blood there today. tried to spend some time clearing some of the thorns and the mosquitos ate me alive. not fun:(
pipeline between pines and tombstone is pretty overgrown as well, not sure i remember ever seeing the weeds that thick. definitely use rattlesnake if you do find yourself up there. clear and fun
 
Bring a pair of pruners out and cut the stuff up on the top of Tombstone and pines.

As far as the blowdowns are concerned people that do the work do have other things on the agenda beside dropping everything and running to clear a couple of trees. Sorry but there are limited resources when it comes to blowdown removal and quite honestly I have not had the time to take care of them with other obligations.
 
Yeah I don't recall asking you to do anything. I'm giving a simple conditions report, which is what this thread is for I thought. That said, it's ironic that the park is never in better shape than it is right around the spring cleaning or bearscat. After that you're on your own. Bring shears when you ride and good luck
 
There's not a blow down on pump house. I would bring my chainsaw in and cut some trees, but the park officials told me its not my place. I had some choice words and kept on riding.
 
I checked Pumphouse today and it is in great condition from the bathhouse parking lot all the way over the stone bridge. Farther than that I can't comment on.
 
Was there last week Thursday rode it end to end. It was perfect. The stone bridge was above water at the time.
 
Kudos to whomever cleared the thorns at top of tombstone, rattlesnake and probably pines but I didn't have time to check it. Free and clear with no blood today.
 
was a great day yesterday riding in the light flurries, I think the official slogan for your picture, *fatiscoming
 
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