Jones Park trail conditions

[seburkhardt]

some trails made with a Sweco are notorious for this

Why don't we have one of those?

[TheDude]

They are like a zillion dollars.

[aconsola]

went through Jones yesterday, my first ride post storm.
lots of water erosion around the streams as expected. I cleared some driftwood blocking crossings and placed some stepping stones at one of the creek trail crossings.
The amount of landscape change on rollercoaster and the chimney trail is quite impressive.
There is a stream crossing between the two that was wiped out. The stream at the prior crossing spot is much wider and the downstream part of the trail is now a tall vertical wall rather than an uphill slope.
The general area of this crossing has several trees on both sides of the water precariously close to the edge with a lot of undermining, so I do not feel it is safe to be in this section to even look for a new alternate route, especially not while riding by myself.
It is easy to avoid by jumping to the creek trail or over to main street a few yards uphill.

[TrailMaker]

Hey;

Relative to the devastation elsewhere in the area from the recent flooding, and the extreme amount of water the creek must have seen, I am utterly amazed at the LACK of devastation to the Creek Trail. Sure, it has changed, and some areas notably so, but in relative terms it is minor, and best of all, fixable without extreme effort. I have been working on a couple of occasions to clean up the crossings. While they remain in a somewhat rough state relative to what they normally are when I have had time to really spruce them up (meaning you can bomb them without hesitation), they are rideable with the proper amount of care and respect.

Today I spruced up many of them to make them more rideable, from removing large rocks in the crossing tread to increasing water flow out of pools (making gaps in the walkers idiotic dams!) to fixing one crossing on Roller Coaster that was completely unrideable. ALL of the crossings except the one at the Chimney are now improved and rideable. In the end, the one that will be the most hairy will be #3, as the bed is scoured to the slate bottom, and the mosses will make it like ice.

Be careful, still, but your ride up the Creek Trail corridor should be improved.

[Trailbait]

Has anyone ridden here this year yet? It's been a couple of years since I've ridden these trails and I'd heard there was some damage following the flood.

[Man*In*Black]

I have been down there every other week for a couple of months now. Everything is in pretty good shape. Up till last weekend it was really nice and dry

[TrailMaker]

Hey;

Jones is absolutely prime. Not every area is manicured clean as in the past (eyes open!), but it is in fine form overall.

Have fun!

[Man*In*Black]

oh forgot to say: watch out for the porcupine, I almost ran him over on the creek trail where corner trail starts going up.

[aconsola]

Jones is looking good. Rode there last week before the rains came.
Did a little trail touch up here and there. I particularly dislike when a bailout gets turned into the main trail and good, sometimes challenging, sections get bypassed to wither away. I reworked one such intersection and made it obvious where the trail should be going.

[TrailMaker]

Jones is looking good. Rode there last week before the rains came.
Did a little trail touch up here and there. I particularly dislike when a bailout gets turned into the main trail and good, sometimes challenging, sections get bypassed to wither away. I reworked one such intersection and made it obvious where the trail should be going.

Thanks Anthony;

You're a man after my own heart. I've learned there are numerous reasons for people bypassing sections of trail. Degradation - the trail either needs fixing or re-routing. Degree of Difficulty - people tend to default to something easier, as if it were supposed to be, and they loathed a challenge. Mystery - they simply cannot see where the trail goes, and so they tend to default to the straight and inane. I could point out examples of all of these at Jones. Interestingly, some corrections are left alone, some are undone, and one notable old cut has surprisingly died in favor of the original path.

I find that when remedying these transgressions, it is helpful to make it look like nothing has changed. I toss in some logs and branches, and strew over them with leaf matter to make them look "normal." The unwitting will remain so and follow as you intend, but it is surprising how many times the lazy and ill mannered will expend the energy to undo your corrections.

Whatever. I ride the trails as I built them regardless. Of course, they are more fun that way. And so it goes...

[TrailMaker]

I reworked one such intersection and made it obvious where the trail should be going.

Well...

That has already been reworked again by someone else, and they tossed half of the junk onto the real trail, blocking it for our use. What you figure out eventually is that you cannot defeat the lazy and ignorant. They may not have more energy or determination, but they beat you with shear numbers. That is one place that I have been sorely tempted to fell a tree up nice and high to block that cut for good. While I agree with them that the portion of trail avoided by their laziness is a pain in the ass, and arguably ruins the flow of one of the faster sections of that trail, In the end, you can't force people to relish a challenge or to understand the subtleties or purpose of a trail's design. The entire trail in question was SUPPOSED to be a pain in the ass, and I even considered naming it PITA.

You just ride what you want to ride and leave them to their marginal existence.

[aconsola]

The part that they cut out is one of my favorite sections of trail. it had taken me several months of frustration to learn the lines and gear selection to be able to make it through without unclipping. I'll have to check it out next ride and maybe just clear both paths.

[TrailMaker]

Hey;

I'm glad you have been enjoying it. That is one of the toughest little sections of trail anywhere, and definitely takes some practice. I rarely fail to "clean it", but like the rest of that trail, any one of a thousand spots can beat you if you are not paying close attention. It would help quite a lot to clear the leaf matter off that line so it was at least more visible. I wish I remembered where in the park I left the trail rake?

Thanks for your help out there!

[aconsola]

My work on zig-zag is holding up well. makes it pretty obvious where the trail is but will allow a bypass if you get off the bike and hop over the berm.

I was trying to find a compact collapsible rake to make it easier to transport to different trails on the bike, but have not found anything yet. Getting a cheap leaf rake and stashing it off the beaten path is probably a better idea.

[Josey Wales]

I picked up one of these rakes at my local Agway and I've seen them at Lowes too.

[TrailMaker]

Hey;

Try the kiddie section of your local big box or toy store. A little child's toy rake works great for bike packing in for light trail work.

People are still cutting the trail there, riding over the log piles. Still, more people are taking the harder original route than before, and it is getting ridden in a bit.

[jacksonpt]

Rode Jones this morning... overall conditions are pretty good. Lots more ground heave than in previous years, lots of ice where standing water froze, but the dirt is solid and giving good traction. Seems like Jones is getting ~1/2" of cold dry powder each night which is keeping the roots just slick enough to keep you honest. Stream crossings aren't yet frozen over, but may well be by the end of the week.

[jacksonpt]

Conditions today were better than expected. lower trails are pretty rough - lots if ice, where the snow is melted the trails are pretty greasy. Trails higher up are pretty good. Mud Flats has a couple bad patches, but for the most part its pretty good.

[TrailMaker]

Hey;

Rode it tonight. Most of the ice is gone, and there is very little frost heave. Trails are mostly frozen right now solid. If it gets warm things will get soupy, but right now it is pretty much perfect, even for those with average tired bikes.