Middlebrook Trail System

Purple Liquid

Purple Liquid

Shop: Efinger
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Alrighty. I've been riding on these trails for a while, and it seems each time I ride there is more work being done to the 'system'. I'm talking about the area that runs behind Crim School. It's a weird group of trails, probably intended more for hiking than biking. (I'm calling it a system because it's unique and not like the rest of the park.)

I have two questions really:
1) How many members on here ride these? They're mostly wide, wooden paths in the woods. Many man hours went into these elaborate bridges, which leads to the next question...

2) Who has been doing this work? My guess is the Boyscouts have something to do with this? I don't have any clue. Whoever has been doing this has invested A LOT of time and A LOT of wood.

I took a few pictures the other day. Please chime in if you have come across these.
 

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Me and my buddies call that 'the valley". We do ride it occasionally. Just to break it up a little bit.

And i am pretty sure that you are correct about who is doing the work. I cannot confirm that though.
 
Wow, I had no idea it went back that far. Is that the end or does it continue on?

I'd go with the boy scouts too. They seem to have an endless supply of wood.
 
I've ridden it a few times, it can be fun at high speed. The Boy Scouts do all the work as far as i know. There's a sign in the ball field lot that has all the info on what troop did what & when. I heard they ran out of funds, that why a few brides sat undone for so long. Looks like there doing some more quality work from the pics.
 
Middlebrook Trail

Norm said:
Wow, I had no idea it went back that far. Is that the end or does it continue on?

I'd go with the boy scouts too. They seem to have an endless supply of wood.
Click to expand...

It continues well past Crim, across Mt Vernon and ends at Argonne Farm Drive (to the right), and Wishnow Way (to the left). I think Bridgewater Twp owns and maintains it (perhaps with help from the BSA).

The Middlebrook will be a featured leg of the Mutant Metric and the Mutant Century... sure beats Washington Valley Road...

Peace,
BB
 
MST.ESQ said:
Nice house! I may stop by for a water refill next time I am at CR.
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Sure thing my friend! Just knock on the deck door 😀

And Norm, that is where it stops for now. That bridge, the one with the caution tape in one of the pictures, is now finished and that is where the trail ends. There is yellow tape on certain trees that goes on for some distance. Looks like they're cutting out more trails and increasing the size of the loop. Should be cool - it's a nice way to rack up some miles.
 
The Bridges of Middlebrook Trail

Snow Day!!! Decided to shut down the factory today since 90% of the crew would have called out anyway. A bit too snowy to ride the bike, so decided to hit Middlebrook trail on the XC skis with Me-J (my Husky) and Sandy (my parents' Golden Retreiver). The first lap was a bit of work making new tracks in fresh, heavy snow. Second lap was fast, fun gliding!
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A real nice place to ski with meandering flat trails and lots of bridges.
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These bridges were supposedly built by Scouts. Some of them were evidently overachievers...
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And some a little... less ambitious.
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Maybe some were sniffing too much water sealer... this burly bridge spans dry flat land, and leads off of the trail into brambles.
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And one Scout bit off a little more than he could chew... There are footings for a bridge on both sides of this stream, but nothing more. Been that way for years.
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Fun morning!
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soundz said:
maybe we can get them to build the bridge at 6mr :popcorn:
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Actually, the biggest of the bridges was evidently built by mountain bikers, with some help from the scouts.
Some good bridge building and materials sourcing info here that might be useful in the 6-mile project:
http://www.bridgewater-nj.com/middlebrook/alliance.htm

"It is made from a kit the Township purchased from Wheeler Lumber of South Dakota for $8,902.06, including the $2,229.50 shipping cost."

" Alliance Bridge
This 46' bridge (64' including the ramps) is the longest bridge in the trail system. It was constructed between November 2001 and October 2002 by the Washington Valley Trail Alliance with the help of two days of heavy equipment time donated by Vollers Excavating. Several Eagle Scouts also volunteered to help out."
 
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