New blazing on the Upper Gussy Trail

 

If you have ridden Upper Paugussett State Forest in the last month or two you might have noticed some new trail blazes on the now two legal trails.  I came to a verbal agreement with the State Forester that for official recognition of the Mulikin Trail, I and NEMBA (the Housatonic Chapter) would take care and maintain both the Mulikin and Gussy Trail and dissuade any future trails coming off these two trails.

The New Mulikin Trail is blazed yellow and it's a combination of my old Mulikin Trail, Easy Up, and my Mulikin Trail Re-route, which took the trail off the blue blazed, Lillalohna Trail.  

The Upper Gussy Trail has been blazed orange and in both cases there is no mistaking the trail blazes. Another unsanctioned popped up within the last year between the first unsanctioned trail and the Gussy and it seems over the summer a few stunts were built and were subsequently dismantled by the State.  The second unsanctioned trail has been blocked and I hope it stays that way.  

The creation of these unsanctioned trails has really been a set back for Mountain Biking and the development of new trails in this part of the state. The DEEP Foresters look at mountain bikers as selfish brigands who do what they want on public land. Just because you pay taxes in this state doesn't give you the right to build unsanctioned trails on State Land. You are paying taxes for the privilege of living in this state, as with every other state in the union. 

I am hopeful at some point that the first unsanctioned trail will be officially recognized but to do that I think what is needed now is the cessation of any additional illegal stunts and side trails, let things calm down and hopefully we'll be able to add this trail to the inventory, as well.

First Tracks at Upper Paugussett

 

We got a bit of snow overnight on December 8th so the next morning I went out for a quick ride before work and hit Upper Paugussett State Forest just as the sun was rising. It wasn't terribly cold so I was able to get away with a couple of layers and of course a blaze orange top.

Thank you God!

Remember that scene in Animal House towards the end of the movie where the kid is sitting on his bed looking at a Playboy and one of the women dressed as a Playboy Bunny was catapulted off the float and lands on the kid's bed? He exclaims, "Thank you God!" Well that's what it was like today on the Mullikin Trail at Upper Paugussett State Forest.

Adding some flow to the Gussy

At the north end of the Upper Gussy Trail, where the Yellow (Equestrian Trail) starts I decided to put in an S turn that lines up with the trail as you are coming down the Gussy and if you don't want to ride up the rock ridge as you would normally do this addition cuts across that side ways. It makes a 180 degree turn and then rolls down the backside that lines up with a little rock out cropping for a nice little drop.

When I built the Gussy 15 years ago I didn't have a lot of riding experience and over the years I have really come to appreciate trail flow and now I am trying build that into the trail. Any of you that have ridden Kingdom Trails, you probably have ridden the Side Winder trail and that's something I want to add in the future, too. I have a few places in mind that will work.  

The State Forester keeps telling me that at some point they are going to log the north end of Upper Paugussett and he said the entrance to Gussy from the Brody Road will probably be used as a staging area. The entrance to the Mulikin will also get the same treatment. My plan is to tie this new addition to a huge re-route of the north part of the Gussy. It will parallel the existing trail only be flowier and cut across the Brody Road and connect with the Mulikin.

Heading south (before)



Heading South (after)



First turn (before)



First turn (after)



Second turn (before)

Second turn (after)



Rock in the middle of turn

Wider view of the turn with the rock in middle

Looking towards the roller

Closer to the roller

Looking from the roller in the other direction

Reconnecting to the trail with a little launchie!

I rode the new section on Tuesday and it's rough.  I think I need to go back and widen the tread way and I really want to berm that big turn in the middle, as well at the turn on top of roller.

30 Days of Biking - Day 17

Fat Amy is Back!

Two broken spokes after the last ride I just picked up the bike today and took her out at Upper Paugussett for ride after work. I tell people that they should wait at least 24 hours to ride Upper Paugussett for a reason, let it dry out, but some people just don't care and ride regardless and it shows because in all the soft spots there are ruts everywhere. I just don't get it. These people are just selfish and don't really care about the trails.

I made a little rock crossing at this wet area on the Poly Brody this evening. Tired of riding through the mud.

There was pine three down near the 3rd brook crossing that has already been cut.

Thank you to who ever did this.

However right next to the tree I found this fall line trail. 

Come on, really? 

Don't you know better?

I figure I am going to be re-blocking this for times to come

I found the bridge by the Pond Brook boat ramp out of position

So I moved it into the proper position

30 Days of Biking - Day 12

Whole lotta Gussy

I approached Upper Paugusset form Sanford Road and after coming around the bend I noticed a little rake and ride trail that dumps straight out onto the road. 

There were quite a few cars in the parking lot again and on the Brody Road I met up with a family whose son used to play soccer with my son. They live nearby and they were out for a hike due to being caged up at home for a long time. I kept riding till I hit the top part of the Gussy and discovered that all my pin flags for my flow project had been removed, save for one yellow flag.  This really gets me angry. Doesn't matter though, I have ridden it long enough now to know where the new trail is going to go. I might even use this as an alternative to the current yellow trail because that is a fall line trail.

On the Jeep road that heads back to Sanford Road I found the rake and ride trail that dumps back onto the road. Apparently there is a rock that makes for a good drop if you were to come down the Blue Blazed Trail, which you are not supposed to ride. It appears the raker just takes the trail back to Sanford Road. The descent to the road is kind of hairy as well.

There is very little garbage on the trails these days but when I see something I pick it up. I doubt this not from a mountain biker. More like a walker. Wish people would respect the forest better.

30 Days of Biking - Day 8

RAW @ Gussy

Headed out to Upper Paugusset after work on Wednesday because I wanted to do some flagging on a little flow project on the top part of the Gussy that started by cutting up the blowdown the last time I was there. My intention is not to block off the roller in any way or form but merely as a way to set up a future modification of Gussy to add more single track and tie the trail directly into the Mulikin.

 

I took a pano of the new route however it's hard to see what's really going on here so I this is what it will look like using Trail Forks.

Heading down the rest of the Gussy I got a spectacular view of the setting sun from the Brew Crew Roller.

After dumping out onto Sanford Road I headed back into the forest via the Brody Road and noticed a few things on the State Sign.

Continuing down the Brody Road I stopped to take care of this spring pole that has been blocking most of the road for a couple of months now.

I cut off the section blocking the road with my handsaw.

30 Days of Biking - Day 2

Today was a double header. I rode with the Lunartics on Zwift in the morning. It was a good ride but I am a lot slower than them so it was harder for me to virtually (and literally) keep up. I only did it because they missed me because we can't ride to Ovens of France anymore.  We used a Discord server and it was like a conference call for work, only all of us were pedaling on our trainers.

After work I headed back out to Upper Paugussett, only this time I approached the Gussy Trail from Hanover Road by riding up the Mulikin Trail. My goal, once I get the re-route done and some bridges built is to include Mulikin as the Gussy Trail, but that's a few year off.  One thing I noticed right off the bat was how clean the trail was. It looks like someone has been leaf blowing the trail.  At first I thought that it might be to all the traffic the trails are seeing since the only thing you can do outside during this time is go for a walk or hike in the woods. The fact that the run up to Flight Simulator is also cleared points to leaf blowing. 

In the picture, directly above you can see where leaves have been crushed into the trail. This how the trails should look. Why, you might ask?  The crushed leaves form a moisture barrier between the underlying treadway and what ever moisture is on top of it.  Without the treadway absorbs much more water which leads to muddy trails. 

Here's another example on the Upper Gussy Trail with crushed leaves on the trail. I posted a comment in the Upper Paugussett Face Book page and someone replied that thought it was good idea because it made the trails easier to follow. I replied that its unnatural and if you want pretty trails you should go to a park, this is a forest.

Prior to hitting the Brew Crew Roller I met with Paul Cumberton riding the other direction and while we discussed various things we maintained a lot more than 6 feet separation. It was good to catch up with Paul since we both worked at GE Capital before GE sold the unit.

The main reason for the double header today was that I wanted to clear this blowdown from a part of the trail that I wanted to do a little flow project.

Using just a handsaw, I was able to cut up the wood so that I could move it out of the way. The bigger pieces will be basis for a nice berm, too.

There was, however, one little casualty. On the ride up the Mulikin I stalled out and fell off the bike and hit my shin on a rock.  I know it looks bad but I barely noticed it until I got home.

NFW on the Hut

After waking up to 5 degrees Saturday morning I worked around the house till the afternoon and then I went out for a ride. Coming up to the parking lot at the end of Echo Valley I notice two guys talking about the trails so I offered my expertise. One of the guys was dressed in blaze orange and it looks like he was hunting so I asked what was still in season and he said squirrel. Glad I was wearing blaze orange!

Just past the intersection with the white trail and where the Poly Brody starts climbing I noticed a nice pair of glasses at the base of a tree. They must have fell out of someone's pocket.