Sourlands Mountain Preserve Conditions

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
@rick81721 - did you ride up this earlier in the summer?

I'm sure there was a house up there, and people were living there.

You’re 100% correct. There’s a house that is occupied and the folks there present themselves as people who prefer to be left alone. Trust me on that one!

That wet spot at the top on the pipeline is an interesting spot. It’s almost like quicksand.
 

rick81721

Lothar
As dry as it gets - hopefully not too much rain tonight/tomorrow. They did a great job marking all the trails - virtually every twist and turn is marked - if you get lost there now - even in the fall with leaves covering the trails - you're blind!
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
As dry as it gets - hopefully not too much rain tonight/tomorrow. They did a great job marking all the trails - virtually every twist and turn is marked - if you get lost there now - even in the fall with leaves covering the trails - you're blind!
Are they totally done marking now? Last time i was there it was still in progress. I still think they're using too many colors and changing too many existing colors but we'll see what it looks like complete. Then i'll have to update TrailForks to match the new markings. No trees down or any other TM needs?
 

rick81721

Lothar
Are they totally done marking now? Last time i was there it was still in progress. I still think they're using too many colors and changing too many existing colors but we'll see what it looks like complete. Then i'll have to update TrailForks to match the new markings. No trees down or any other TM needs?

Yep they are done - like I said, every turn in the trail is marked! And yeah the colors were strange - white turned to blue right after new shoes. No TM needs anywhere that I saw.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Snuck down for a mid afternoon loop today. Conditions were dusty and not crowded. I checked out the new markings and I dunno if they made navigating any easier. It will be slightly better once they remove the old markers though.
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They basically marked with the premise that each color had to be a full loop. And if there was a trail bisecting a loop, essentially a shortcut of the loop, it got the same color but with a black dot in the middle. I don't think of the trails there as loops, more like lines that connect to other lines so I dunno how I'm gonna make this jive on Trailforks. We'll see. I also cleaned off some alt lines on 3 Amigos that were blocked by deadfall.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Did the majority of the needed tweaking to TrailForks:
They broke Three Amigos into at least 2 sections, (maybe 3, i didn't ride the beginning of it) and i don't really want to break it into multiple trails. Feels wrong. Will get back to see Roaring Rocks and Chunky Monkey area i didn't ride today to round out my map edits. No word from the Rangers on when they'll upload a new map to the Parks site. I encountered at least 1 hiker group today who was confused AF and did a much longer hike than they wanted to because they couldn't figure out the trail markers.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Thanks George - I'm still trying to get over there for a ride.
 

rick81721

Lothar
Did the majority of the needed tweaking to TrailForks:
They broke Three Amigos into at least 2 sections, (maybe 3, i didn't ride the beginning of it) and i don't really want to break it into multiple trails. Feels wrong. Will get back to see Roaring Rocks and Chunky Monkey area i didn't ride today to round out my map edits. No word from the Rangers on when they'll upload a new map to the Parks site. I encountered at least 1 hiker group today who was confused AF and did a much longer hike than they wanted to because they couldn't figure out the trail markers.

Jeeze looking at the map, the color schemes really are silly.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Not to mention all the markers are just paint on posts and trees. Once those start fading or wearing off, there's probably going to be a lot of "is that a dot in the middle or is it just faded?". Also, forgot to mention they legitimized the New Shoes switchback cut-thru made by hikers by marking it that way. Can barely tell where the original trail was. Might need a TM day just to open that back up. If you're riding, please try to take the original trail so it gets more defined.
 

rick81721

Lothar
Not to mention all the markers are just paint on posts and trees. Once those start fading or wearing off, there's probably going to be a lot of "is that a dot in the middle or is it just faded?". Also, forgot to mention they legitimized the New Shoes switchback cut-thru made by hikers by marking it that way. Can barely tell where the original trail was. Might need a TM day just to open that back up. If you're riding, please try to take the original trail so it gets more defined.

I noted that new shoes shortcut several times. It will be a lost cause to try to close it, but we should keep the old trail open
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Getting plenty of thorny plants growing next to the trail.

As dry as I've seen it.

Also, the traffic is going around features we ride, so the trails are changing a bit.
Seemed more washed out on any fall-line trail.

Plenty of people! was nice to have the temps be high 40s/low 50s. with a breeze.
no bugs.
 

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