Chimney Rock Conditions

[hls811]

Ugh, I went and turned around. I don’t like getting me or my bike too dirty. I did upper blue and trudged through some thick, yucky mud. Detoured to the creek crossing on white to wash my tires off and then back to my car. Needs a few more days (based on my personal preferences).


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Blue is never the place to go when conditions are iffy. You’ll still have to clean your bike over the rest of the park, but blue is the last to dry up. (CR in general doesn’t dry as well as most other local trails).

I rode black, yellow, orange, green/pink and red today, even better than yesterday. Mostly dry dirt, a few messy spots to navigate through but overall good.

A great day, just in time for the rain tomorrow and we’ll get to start the mud-watch all over again!

 

[natlady10]

I’ll be riding this afternoon if it doesn’t rain. What do you think conditions will be like? Mostly dry by now?

 

[Robin]

I’ll be riding this afternoon if it doesn’t rain. What do you think conditions will be like? Mostly dry by now?

I’m guessing still soft and greasy. We have been in freeze thaw this week

 

[Jrzjoe]

If anyone has a chance to take a look please report back. I was hoping for dawn patrol Saturday, obviously depending on conditions.

 

[jdog]

I’ll be riding this afternoon if it doesn’t rain. What do you think conditions will be like? Mostly dry by now?

please report back on Cromwell. Eager to get back digging there.

 

[hls811]

I was at Cromwell Wednesday, you can get back to work! That was mostly fine. Some of the newer dirt, next to and behind the basketball field, and the high split on the Stop Sign trail was soft… and a few random spots held water - like the old trail near the chimney - but overall Cromwell was holding up nicely. There is a big tree down at the climb trail across from the end of the Shed Trail, either have to go around it or climb the gravel path.

Yellow was in good condition. The pink cut through was a river. Green was dry-ish, but the trail off Miller Lane has 5 or 6 big trees down across the trail, that’s needs some TLC with a chainsaw. (Pics are all from green)

Black was its normal self - lower near the water was dry, the upper section was a mud pit. The connector to Cromwell had its rough spots.

My friend rode the other side yesterday. Bottom of blue and top of red were very soft. White was white.. good until that random mud puddle.

Overall it’s rideable, but you and your bike will get dirty. That’s just how it is at CR this time of year.

More rain expected tonight in Bridgewater, not heavy, but enough for an early morning ride to be less than ideal - but I’d guess mid-day and into Sunday should be back to normal for March conditions.

 

[natlady10]

I just got back. I did most of the park except blue and I stuck to the reservoir side of white and red. Other than some soft patches, it was riding surprisingly well. My bike and I got a bit splattered but that’s par for the course at this time of year.

A few trees were down which I’ll cover first.

This tangle of brush is positioned just so that you will need to dismount and crouch under. It’s in the loop behind the ball fields.

This bigger fallen tree completely blocks that section of yellow with the baseball and football sized rocks along the water.

And this fallen tree fell is in Cromwell near the flow trail section that has that never ending leftward berm. It’s lying right across it.

I came upon these fallen branches in Cromwell too near the main building and cleared them. Before:

After. Yay! 🤗

And I came across this mess at the top of orange too.

So I cleared this as well. Some of the branches were quite heavy for me but I did it! ✌️It’s not 100% unobstructed so you will need to ride to the edge of the trail to get through. Be careful around the thigh level debris poking into the path of travel.

 

[natlady10]

please report back on Cromwell. Eager to get back digging there.

Yup I can say some sections were just soft enough that I was leaving tire tracks but not soft enough to leave ruts. There were also some trees down as mentioned in my prior post. Overall, still very rideable and grippy and I only noticed one or two mud patches but none in the machine groomed flow sections.

I’m no expert at this but the lips still looked, ummmm, lippy.

Cromwell also has its fair share of natural beauty too. This cascade over a mossy slab near one of the stream crossings caught my eye.

And this section of flow on black? is always scenic no matter what time of year it is. I admired how the single track carved into the natural curves of the terrain. Pretty. 😻

And here is the sluice that babbles into a quiet pool on yellow near the short bridge. 👍

 

[krink]

Agree with above. Cleared out some deadfall at Cromwell today, didn’t find anything else that hasnt been reported above.

Cleared out smaller stuff

Pretty sure you guys didn’t put in this “special”jump section

It is located here.

2 sections of trees down on eastern red

Located here

 

[jdog]

Sweet jumps .. I'll sort that shortly.

 

[Norm]

The Magic Johnson All Star Loop is the best Strava segment name ever.

 

[xc62701]

I was there yesterday, and it was a little wet in some spots, but not really anything of note. There were MANY trees down. I did Newmans to red behind the guard rail to yellow to something or other, and there were easily 12+ trees down that others have accounted for nicely. I don't ride often enough to give better intel, but it was riding fairly well, and I was glad to get out there and be on the dirt.