Huge Favor!!!

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
im interested in helping out when im home, its the closest park to me and i have racked up many miles riding the trails
 

joeschaar

New Member
TM @ the tourne

Hello all,

Thank you for the replies. We have 7 people (including my son and myself) that have stepped up to help at the Tourne, just from these posts.

I have reconnected with Morris co and we are discussing the situation. The repersentative (Janet) is aware of our goal.

So far no one has communicated with Morris Co that they would give up thier adoption of thier trails. This leave us 2 options.

1) build a new trail. Janet has identifed a potential route from the old Boonton parking lot into the park.

2) Help out a few of the groups working the trails. One of these groups is lead by a JORBA member and an identity on this forum.

My discussions with Janet and the other parties that currently hold the adoption rights will point us towards one of these 2 options. I will let this posting know how it goes.

Almost everyone has asked about TM training. Morris Co requires an orientation class and it is by invite. I am currently on the list and can bring 1 person.

It is Thursday April 14th at 7pm at the Cultural Center at Lewis Morris.

I have no problem going and representing us. If someone really wants to join me, let me know. I do not know what this meeting will entail. It might be just an administrative/organizational meeting. I doubt that there will be hand on TM teaching happening at this meeting.

More to come.

Cheers,
"slow" joe
 

BAIN

Member
I am still in for this!

I love the idea of building a new trail.

"2) Help out a few of the groups working the trails. One of these groups is lead by a JORBA member and an identity on this forum."

NOBODY HAS DONE WORK AT THE TOURNE SINCE THE SWITCHBACKS WERE PUT IN!

A couple people very randomly (including myself) have been trying to keep up with the ever popular trail braiding that happens at the Tourne. A lot of people have put the blame on the trail runners, but I have also seen riders with my own eyes cutting easier routes.

This will always happen, but if we had a larger group of people paying attention to the trail conditions (maybe stopping and blocking) it would make all the difference.

The park doesn't do any maintenance outside of mowing the grass. Fallen trees lay there for weeks on end. I even called the Morris County parks commission to attempt to volunteer, because I was upset with the lack of work being done there. I have never seen a ranger or worker on a single trail in the four years of riding/hiking/snowshoeing there.

It's a shame!

Please let me know via email when you hear more information on when or what we can do. I will check periodically to keep up with things.
 
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graveyardman67

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I too have spent many years riding the Tourne (On garminconnect I have over 100 rides there). Though I have moved it is still relatively close and I would be willing to help out as well, schedule permitting.
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
BAIN, believe it or not last summer when i was riding there i saw someone from the parks commission w/ a chainsaw clearing some of the deadfall, granted it was 6 months or more since it had fallen across the trails, but i was surprised it was a mcp employee doing it.
 

Mildly Wild

Active Member
This was a favorite cozy little jewel of a spot for me a yr or two ago. I think it has a lot to offer and much potential to be even better. I would very much like to help with that if my schedule permits. Please let me know if you set up TM the future. Thanks for the effort to make this happen.
 

joeschaar

New Member
Morris Co - Adopt a Trail meeting

Hello all,

First, Thanks to everyone for sending notes of assistance. I have about 8 people who have offered to help with work at the Tourne.

Last Thursday (4/14), I attended the formal Adopt a Trail meeting hosted by Morris Co. I learned a number of surprising things.

Morris Co has over 250 miles of trails
Morris Co Parks has its own police force (patrol, detectives, rescue, etc).
Morris Co parks has its own trail construction department
Lewis Morris is the oldest park in Morris Co.

Note: construction/rerouting of trails is a submission process with the Trail construction team doing the heavy work. We can submit detailed requests for evaluation and I expect that we would be involved in any new/rerouted trail.

I also learned about the roles and responsibilities associated with the Adopt a Trail program.

In short the role of the trail adopter is to be;
Maintenance support for Morris Co parks (pruning, clean up, drainage work, etc)
Be eyes for Morris Co parks
Provide this support Quarterly for 2 years (with option to extend)
Submit quarterly reports on the trail’s condition and work preformed

I (we) was (were) granted the above responsibility for the group of secondary trails to the far west side of the park and was requested to re-build/reroute the dead trail from Denville side parking lot to the upper playground and building.

The specific trails are the group of trails to the left (as seen on the Tourne map) of the "red" straight trail that parallels Old Boonton road. The rebuild trail is the short section from the Denville parking lot switchbacking up to the parking lots by the central park gate.

The next step is for me to walk the trails with Janet (Morris Co parks Trail coordinator) and discuss the needs of the trails.

I expect to do this at the beginning of May. After this meeting, I will be contacting everyone who has sent me a PM or email about TM dates, times and scope of work.

This is a good opportunity to continue building our MTB relationship with Morris Co. Thank you in advance for your support and I look forward to getting my hands dirty with you.

More to come.

Cheers,
“slow” Joe Schaar
 

Kirt

JORBA: Chimney Rock, Team MTBNJ.COM
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Joe,

Great stuff. Thanks for stepping up and taking this on. I think with the right leadership you will get a lot of volunteers to come out & help. Good luck.
 

Thin Diesel

Well-Known Member
Adopt-a-Trail signs up

FYI: I rode Tourne on Saturday and saw some Adopt-a-Trail signs up. On one of them were the names Joe S. and Ryan G.
 

Free-Rider

New Member
tourne TM

Im in, just moved to parsippany did my first ride there last wednesday with the crew from cyclecraft, has a lot of potential let me know whats up!
 

joeschaar

New Member
Tourne TM facebook group

Hello all,

I have a few notes for the group.

First; I have also set up a faceback group to aid communication on up coming TM.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_200492553319918&ap=1

Feel free to join if you are facebook active.

Secondly, The rules for adopt a trail in Morris co are not what we consider true TM. They expect us to clean up trails, trim overgrowth, clean up trash, and NOTE any issues to big for us to easily deal with. In short, they want us to be thier eyes and hands (for minor work). I have filed reports that point out areas of improvement (2 - errosions sections and 1-soft/swampy section).

Lastly, the loop we have adopted is currently unblazed. I am working to get Janet (Morris Co parks rep) to supply me the blazes or to blaze the trail herself. The loop runs from the Denville side tow path parking lot into the park, crossing and joining red and diverting back to the orginal path. It forms a lollipop loop of about 1+ miles. Not subtantial but it is a place to start building a better relationship at this park.

I went out with my dog and walked the loop last Sat (6/11). There was no new blow downs. All that needed was some trimming of overgrowth at the sides and above the trail. It took about 90 minutes and very little effort.

More to come once we get the trail blazed.

Cheers,
"slow" Joe
 

joeschaar

New Member
Post storm Tourne TM - delayed

Hello all,

I am not going to be doing any formal TM on the adopted trail this weekend (labor day). If you ride the Tourne between now and next weekend, please send me a PM of places that need work. Please be as specific as you can about the location.

I'll try to get out over next week. The JH race is next Sunday and the Warren Co. Bagel ride is scheduled for Sat so.... no time for a formal TM.

I'd like to collect the notes from this group and let the Morris Parks know of anything that they need to get the chainsaw crews out to clear.

This should help with our image building with Morris Co. parks.

Any questions or comments feel free to PM me.

Cheers,
"slow" joe
 

aedubber

New Member
I have never been to this park but i ride LM all the time , is this place similar to it? Terrain wise? I would like to help if you guys need anything .
 

joeschaar

New Member
Tourne conditions Sunday 10/9/11

Hello all,

The family and I took the dog for a hike on the purple loop. The trail conditions at the Tourne are awesome. It seems about as good as this park gets.

The purple loop is the one that I have adopted. It is currently NOT blazed. I have requested (for the third time) that Morris Parks send me the blazes so I can install them.

The Purple loop comes from the Tow path parking lot (on the Denville side) up to a main trail. Making a right onto this trail, it then crosses the park road. I installed the adoption sign on the first tree after crossing the park road. It follows along the slope, crosses Red, goes uphill gradually then drops quickly down to Blue. Making a left onto Blue, The purple loop shares this section of trail with Blue. After about 300 yards, Blue goes slightly right (there is a large tree crossing the path at this point) and the Purple loop makes a left up slope. Following up slope the Purple loop connects back to itself. This loop, including the section from the tow path parking, is only a but more than 1 mile. It will make a nice beginner MTB loop with turns to the Red (right near the nice switchback) and Blue. And of course it gives the option of alternate parking outside the park.

The responsiblities for adoption are very minimal so I have not needed to have a real trail maintentence yet. I have proposed 2 trail reroutes to eliminate a couple of erroded sections. Morris Parks (Janet) and I are still in discussion to gets these improvments approved. I hope at least 1 gets approved so that we can bring a real trail crew of MTBers to the park in the spring.

I'll keep posting here to let you know. If you have any questions about this trail or how to adopt a trail at this or another Morris Co park... Feel free to send me a PM.

Cheers,
"slow" Joe
 

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