Finishing the Red Trail (Trumbull)

Kevin and I finished blazing the Red Trail today. There's a short section to the Copper Creek we purposely missed--more on the reasons for that later :-)

Kevin demonstrating the scraping needed on some trees...

 Kevin demonstrating rinsing of the brush (it latex paint). The paint-infused water is tossed into the woods NOT the creek.

Clueless at Farringtons!

It was a hot day but not unpleasant--my goal today was to finally get up to and ride all the great upper trails in Farringtons. I had done mucho hiking back in the winter to get familiar with trail system and GPS a few things for Trailforks but I never rode the upper trails,

Truth be told, this pudgy old man ended up shamefully hike-a-biking a lot and even got lost but nevertheless, its a fantastic place and the upper trails are truly awesome.

After a long and arduous climb up the single track that FCNEMBA built years ago (I was on that build!) I took a long breather at this spot. The climb exhausted me and my chain keep slipping which made things worse, But at least up until now - no other bikers witnessed this turtle (moi!)

Nothing special about this view except that its past the climb!

Once I neared Farringtons Lake, a cool breeze off the water was most welcome!

 Looks kinda like a "4"

After many rest stops :-( , I made it to Devils Den (see video at end) - it was awesome! Its hard to tell from this photo but its a 30 foot drop behind that flat rock in front. I'm thinking this might be a neat place to play my Native American flute.

Descending from the heights of Devils Den requires a bomb down this rock staircase. This old man walked it (I squawked like a chicken while gingerly hiking down it to shame myself!)

 At the western end of Devils Den looking up a it

I finally stopped to mark the location of the States marker (photo taken back in March).

(short video - scenic highlights)

Ah yes - the clueless part of this trek....

Well I was exhausted and was getting even hotter so I was anxious to hightail it home. I rode quite a few trails in the middle of the park and thought I was making my way south but didn't really recognize the trails I was riding on. It turns out the place looks completely different with all the verdant summer undergrowth so much that I was actually clueless as to where I was.

Finally I chatted with a biker (Alex) who explained that yes I had no idea where I was going and was actually heading back north in the wrong direction and still on the far western side of the park - duh! So I took his advice and went the way he was going and only after turning on the GPS and using the Trailforks map app did I realize where the hell I was. It was a long trek out. I actually had to ride north for quite a bit to catch the down and out trail. Well once I got on the downhill section that eventually merged with the old carriage road - I bombed it as fast as I could!  Trailforks saved me!

Steam Bath Hike thru the Valley...

It was a unbelievably steamy hike in the woods today. We had a thunderstorm last night and I thought riding would be bad for the trails so I hiked in to update some trail GPS data.

Ah yes - the crevice...

 Walk thru video

Blocking the main white trail....

At the river...

This bootleg braid/side trail up by the old bridge has gotta be blocked (once more  - sigh....)

Sunday Road Bike - Waveny Park

I took a leisurely road bike ride Sunday mid afternoon - the weather was in the 90s but the ride was pleasant.  A jaunt down thru Glenbrook and then up the back roads to Waveny Park in New Canaan.

At the old Springdale Mill Pond

Yep - there's a bit of single track at Waveny!

Downward tree...

Waveny Mansion

Ah...

Further Info

Waveny Park (Wikipedia)

A return to Levon Levy

In the early evening I took a short jaunt up to Levon Levy Park in Lewisboro, NY for a hike (no bikes allowed)

Rhinoceros Tree

 At the Mansion Ruins

Known as the Black Mansion  - it was built in the late 1800s by chemist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. James Mason Crafts.

I played my flute here - video coming soon...

 At the chem lab!

Hmm...

The walk out at dusk

 Maybe a nice spot for a Native American Flute concert? :-)

 Previous Visit >

Endo at Hemlock Hills!

Got up to Hemlock Hills around 9:30 and parked at the lesser known North Shore parking lot.

I took the new reroute up into the park - it was great!

While bombing at triple speed going north on a long downhill on the orange track - I suddenly and completely unexpectedly did an endo and hit the ground pretty hard. I guess my pedal might have hit a rock - all very weird as it was easy double-track!

Well the cure for hurt is of course pretend it doesn't hurt and keep riding... So I keep riding north and turned east on the Blue connector. Being timid and bruised up, I decided to walk the dam section but then rode up to the Green. 

On the Green, I first went south a bit and then turned around and went all the way north to the Ned Mountain parking lot. Its a fun trail and the weather was simply awesome!

 Trail Blazers!

I rode back south all the way on the Orange double track and saw Mike, Dave and Kathryn busy blazing the new reroute in to the park. They suggested I check out the other new reroute.

I GPSed the new section but here's a rough sketch of where it is (real maps to be updated shortly)

This roller (before the reroute section) looks easy from the side but straight on? kinda narrow...

 The reroute started here - it was awesome. There are some tough spots  (didn't take photos...)

This gnarly tree caught my fancy...

I backtracked on the reroute and encountered the blazers back at the roller.  I made sure to tell them how awesome the new trail was,,,

I then proceeded to the climb up the Green (now back east of the Orange Double track). When I stopped for a breather, this tree looked like there was braille on it!

I keep riding upward and took a breather at the summit of the Green/Blue loop and had a apple.

Finally I sailed on out of the park on the new reroute...

 

..and wondered why my elbow hurt so much. It was now a lumpy bruise and OMG there was blood on my knee :-)  !

Despite the embarrassing Endo  - it was a great ride!