Wildcat Ridge WMA Conditions

Stef

❤ Brownie Biatch ❤
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I feel like almost that whole section of blue from the batcave to the moto area should be rerouted with some parallel singletrack slightly higher up. Would that effort just be futile with all the moto traffic though? Were you the one who passed me on the raw hardtail 29er on blue?
@trailhead looked into re routing this already
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Twas great this morning for a sunrise ride! Warming quickly now tho. I'd think give it today to thaw, then hit it midday tomorrow at 60 degrees. Should be good by then, right @JimN ?

I don't think it'll need any time to thaw, go hit it now!
 

trailhead

JORBA: Wildcat/Splitrock
JORBA.ORG
Just aligned the family calendar and amazingly have the weekends of 1/18 and 1/25 available! @JimN or @trailhead or whoever, Pick a weekend day and i can do some Sourlands Trailbuilding, LLC consulting work at Wildcat.

just to clarify the "whoever" not self promotion. I have been advocating for mountain bikes in the WMA's since 2003, some years more successful than others for various reasons. The NYNJTC also tends to contact me with regards to trail issues in Wildcat. That being said I have no authority to green light projects. As the NJDEP WF&G does not see it as their mission to provide cycling opportunities the current situation is no new trails for us. I remain at the position to provide a point of contact, to avoid closures, maintain the network, and facilitate volunteer opportunities. Given that, I think we have been successful in developing a real great network and fixed many problem areas. We put in over 200 Hours last year and provided some new options. @JimN is among several awesome supporters, and without their hard work and encouragement much less would have been done.

There has been an extensive amount of rain which does bring out more flooded sections and perhaps trails conditions not best for use. These areas should be considered for improvement, but as you pointed out, also need to consider the impacts created by motorized use and affect on wildlife. I suspect the area above the current trail has a bear den which is based on first hand experience.

It is the "off" season for trailwork as the ground can be expected to freeze, but I am currently working on the bridge replacement project stated in the other thread. You can expect non ideal condition through the winter, downfall cleanup will wait till spring and work will resume. Enjoy the trails as they are, consider it "adverse conditioning" and you will appreciate them all the more when buff in July.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have been advocating for mountain bikes in the WMA's since 2003

Norm, thanks for the detailed response and for everything you have done over the years. Maybe we (meaning you :)) can get permission for a re-route (not a new trail?) of the that last section of Beach Glen, sort of like a continuation of the previous project many years ago. Although if there is a bear den above the woods road, then maybe that's off the table regardless. Anyway, I think we did some good stuff cleaning up some old trails and rock armoring some regularly wet sections this past year. I'm down to continue helping with whatever we are allowed to help with.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
just to clarify the "whoever" not self promotion. I have been advocating for mountain bikes in the WMA's since 2003, some years more successful than others for various reasons. The NYNJTC also tends to contact me with regards to trail issues in Wildcat. That being said I have no authority to green light projects. As the NJDEP WF&G does not see it as their mission to provide cycling opportunities the current situation is no new trails for us. I remain at the position to provide a point of contact, to avoid closures, maintain the network, and facilitate volunteer opportunities. Given that, I think we have been successful in developing a real great network and fixed many problem areas. We put in over 200 Hours last year and provided some new options. @JimN is among several awesome supporters, and without their hard work and encouragement much less would have been done.

There has been an extensive amount of rain which does bring out more flooded sections and perhaps trails conditions not best for use. These areas should be considered for improvement, but as you pointed out, also need to consider the impacts created by motorized use and affect on wildlife. I suspect the area above the current trail has a bear den which is based on first hand experience.

It is the "off" season for trailwork as the ground can be expected to freeze, but I am currently working on the bridge replacement project stated in the other thread. You can expect non ideal condition through the winter, downfall cleanup will wait till spring and work will resume. Enjoy the trails as they are, consider it "adverse conditioning" and you will appreciate them all the more when buff in July.
Thanks for providing the background and all the work you have done. I tend to get a little over anxious at times when i have an idea for great trail. I knew you were the JORBA rep so that's why i tagged you in the first place. I wasn't gonna go and do anything rogue, just wasn't sure how much leeway you had in the park. I've seen a lot of crowd-sourced TM going on here so i thought this was possible, but i get it: maintenance is very different than new trail. I'll just continue exploring and enjoying the awesome trails that are already there.
 

A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
Too wet, turned around cleared a log
IMG_20200126_131152.jpg


MVIMG_20200126_131244.jpg
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Dawn patrol this morning was good and frozen. There will be a couple muddy spots when thawed but overall, pretty dry.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@trailhead not sure if you have any contacts with the power company or whoever would care about this, but there are several fairly large fallen trees on Darlington that are being held up seemingly exclusively by the power lines. Three down near the bottom just past the gate, and another smaller one closer to the top. You can ride under all of them for now, but they'll need to be addressed at some point.
 
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