Waldo (finally!) and Upper Gussy

Waldo

I finally made it up to Waldo -- it's great place to ride! Bikers in the parking lot told me where the trail started otherwise, I might have missed it.

Trail heads are here...

I rode down Where's Waldo--the Red Trail---and at times I thought I was at Kingdom Trails--the flow was so good... A nice mix of up and downs and lots of smooth (and sharp) curves and switchbacks on the climbs made it a pleasure to ride. Thank you Paula Burton - this place is a work of art! :-)

Where's Waldo Trail Descent

Photos don't really capture the flow of fun....

Of course, once by the Lake -- the peaceful beauty is overwhelming.

Lake Lillinonah

I mistakenly started back up on a bootleg trail heading north right along the shore (red dashes on the map) but realized this wasn't correct and found my way back to the Purple Trails (Extra Credit, etc.) and rode back up that way. Once again, 95% of the trails had doable climbs and there where plenty of terrain challenges along the way.

A nice rocky section

I did get a bit confused at this section (panorama below - it is the roller #6 on the map) but realized "Thing 2" lead around back of this (on the left) and made my way back to the parking lot  -- a little winded but glad to have ridden here for sure. Just gotta come back and ride the Yellow and White next time!

Sandy Hook

Surprisingly there is very little commercial activity for a wide swath in the area (especially being a holiday nothing was open!) but I found a Subway open right in the adorable town of Sandy Hook and sat at a shady park bench next to the rocky stream right nearby. One cannot be in this area and NOT think about the terrible shooting tragedy the Town's name is now synonymous with. It was an absolutely horrible event - such a charming, quaint peaceful little village scarred forever by senseless gun violence....

Downtown SandyHook
The stream runs right through here and all the stores have decks overlooking the rocky streamed 

Upper Gussy

Well since I was in the area, I thought I'd go and ride Upper Gussy. as it has been years since I rode here. My very first trail maintenance session was here with Mark Lurie and Paula Burton.

You drive in on Sanford Road and it is a skinny bumpy potholed dirt road -- kinda rough on the car but thankfully the parking lot was not too far.

I remembered the loop: ride up the Poly Brody Fire Road until you see the turn for Upper Gussy and ride all the back on Gussy.

But it is confusing now as there are a lot more trails in the network and blazes do NOT exist at intersections. Thank God I ran into a biker who straightened me out twice as to where to go.

The trail itself is nice but not as well traversed as Waldo and as mentioned: confusing as there are quite a few connecting trails and skimpy and/or nonexistent blazes at all the interactions. Most of the time I relied upon gut instinct and a vague memory to continue on the main trail.

I even missed the turn off on the Blue back to the parking lot and rode on the brown trail (as indicated on the map) for quite a way until I felt it was wrong.

The descent into the parking lot is quite steep and I was exhausted (it was hot and I was bummed about being confused much of the time).

Summary

Waldo is phenomenal. Upper Gussy needs blazes and both my map and DEEP's are equally inadequate...