Sterling Forest Trail Conditions

MuniMan

Well-Known Member
Depending on how cold it gets tonight and when you ride I would expect a combination of mud, ice, crusty frozen snow, slushy wet snow, some open puddles, some icy puddles and a few short 20 foot sections of trail that is dry.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
With the snow past sunday, how are things looking for tomorrow morning?

Thanks in advance.

Couple of guys went up today and put in first tracks on fat bikes. I texted one and he said there is lots of snow in some places, but it was all totally rideable.
 

MuniMan

Well-Known Member
Its wet. I was up there yesterday getting some wood handled tools that we had stashed and did a lot of drain cleaning/tweaking on the parts of Hutch and M-E. near The Caretaler parking lot. There was water in all of the wet weather spots.

But on a whole for me it was a pleasure to see that the drainage work that we have put in place this past year was working quite well.

Before/after photos same spot/different dog:

Dec 2, 2018

IMG_3239[1].JPG
IMG_3240[1].JPG



Dec 14, 2019

IMG_4669[1].JPG



The last snowstorm dropped lots of sticks on the trail The kind that want to destroy your derailleur hanger. I tried to remove them where i walked, but the Shepard that I had today thought it was her duty to bring the sticks back onto the trail so it was difficult clean them up to say the least.

I did clean up two tree tops blocking trail, chances are that there are more.
 

Mr.Moto

Well-Known Member
Its wet. I was up there yesterday getting some wood handled tools that we had stashed and did a lot of drain cleaning/tweaking on the parts of Hutch and M-E. near The Caretaler parking lot. There was water in all of the wet weather spots.

But on a whole for me it was a pleasure to see that the drainage work that we have put in place this past year was working quite well.

Before/after photos same spot/different dog:

Dec 2, 2018

View attachment 113408View attachment 113410


Dec 14, 2019

View attachment 113407


The last snowstorm dropped lots of sticks on the trail The kind that want to destroy your derailleur hanger. I tried to remove them where i walked, but the Shepard that I had today thought it was her duty to bring the sticks back onto the trail so it was difficult clean them up to say the least.

I did clean up two tree tops blocking trail, chances are that there are more.

Wet as in stay off for a while?
 

Victor I

aka Ridgehog
I would give it a day off today,
My apologies, saw your post after I rode(started early). Luckily trails were mostly in good shape and walked or rode gingerly over a couple of questionable spots. Spent a good part of the ride clearing the downed branches off the trails but still many are left. After all it is 8 miles of trails. Those bridges and re routes you constructed are awesome. Of course not as awesome as seeing you ride the unicycle up there. Kudos for the hard work and changes you made this year.
 

Sully

New Member
Rode Sterling this morning starting around 9 and the trails were G-R-E-A-T. Frozen, virtually no ice. A few of the more exposed, south-facing sections were starting to thaw and get greasy by the time I finished up around noon.
 

MuniMan

Well-Known Member
Yes, and lots of trail kharma will be in store for you if you join the crew out workiing on Munsee-Eagle tomorrow morning.
 

bucknejo

Well-Known Member
Any chance SF (or RW) is ridable this weekend (2/22) without trashing the place? It's probably a long-shot but I'm throwing it out there.
 

Mr.Moto

Well-Known Member
Any chance SF (or RW) is ridable this weekend (2/22) without trashing the place? It's probably a long-shot but I'm throwing it out there.
I think if you are out early enough, either place might be okay. Temps will be below freezing at night so ground should be firm in the morning. Skylands should be good since it is well armored.
 

sundaydoug

Well-Known Member
Was planning on meeting some buddies around 10am this Sunday to ride. Haven't been to Sterling in a while, anyone familiar with recent conditions think we'd be better off riding somewhere else?
 

xrjx

Member
Was planning on meeting some buddies around 10am this Sunday to ride. Haven't been to Sterling in a while, anyone familiar with recent conditions think we'd be better off riding somewhere else?

if you're not getting out til 10 i would recommend going elsewhere as it will be warming up rapidly throughout the morning. I saw photos posted on strava last weekend with bikes completely caked in mud from sterling. amazing to me that people would not only ride those trails in that condition, but so much as brag about it by posting those photos
 

MuniMan

Well-Known Member
if you're not getting out til 10 i would recommend going elsewhere as it will be warming up rapidly throughout the morning. I saw photos posted on strava last weekend with bikes completely caked in mud from sterling. amazing to me that people would not only ride those trails in that condition, but so much as brag about it by posting those photos
Yes. The south facing trail sections (Redback) were thawing last Saturday morning when it was still 25 in the shade (hutch was frozen solid). The change can happen quick once the sun hits the trail. Even if the parking lot is frozen portions of the trail probably aren’t if it’s sunny.
 

bucknejo

Well-Known Member
Yes. The south facing trail sections (Redback) were thawing last Saturday morning when it was still 25 in the shade (hutch was frozen solid). The change can happen quick once the sun hits the trail. Even if the parking lot is frozen portions of the trail probably aren’t if it’s sunny.

Looks like I will be relegated to my Kickr for the foreseeable future. This is not a bad thing, but fresh air is nice too.
 

Trail Conditions

Current Conditions

powered by Trailforks.com
Top Bottom