Late afternoon Easy Ride at River Highlands

I had the late afternoon free so I drove over to River Highlands in Cromwell and did the easier trails - it was fun....

By the River...

Ride - Parcel2 South

Today I took a mountain bike ride on both Parcel2 South and Parcel1 (the area south of Howe). Still had to frustratingly dismount and walk up the climb (A to B) yet everything else was doable! Note: best to take D west to east due to a couple of steep inclines but flying out of C--the "golden ridge loop"--to F is always super fun. Flying down G was a pisser as well :-)

Rest stop 

This is the lovely mossy area on the ridge trail south of Howe

Bummer - huge tree down south of Howe :-(

Parcel2 South Map

I leaf blew the two trails recently GPSd (marked 1 and 2). This is the definitive map for Parcel 2 South. The thin lines to the west are remnants of old water company access roads.

Parcel2 - GPSing

Today, still feeling a bit "under the weather"--rather than mountain bike--I decided to simply hike and explore more of the parcel north of Howe. It was a productive day!

A

It turns out this trail is not too steep and doesn't need any rerouting - I'll just leaf blow it in a few days and its "good to go!"

B

These appear to be former carriage roads - perhaps they functioned as water company access. With a bit of leaf blowing and moving a few fallen trees, these can be useful easy-to-ride mountain bike trails.

Former Road?

It ends here on Keeney

Sunshine on the grass - nice!

A return to Parcel 1

I had the morning free so I hiked East of Keeney and GPSd and couple of secondary trails

A

This should be downhill only on a mountain bike - I have no intention of sprucing this one up

B

Although the steep walk down from the lawn chair is not doable on a bike - it ends in a very beautiful spot by the stream (no GPS taken of this trail).

A more horizontal trail continues over to the connector trail to Heritage Drive - the last section is practically non-existent but I will get over there soon and clean that part up.

Other

I of course walked the full loop north of the stream and enjoyed the great scenery at the stream crossing :-)

My benched section is holding up well...

More Sleuthing North of Howe

A

Last Friday (5-12),  I GPSd another trail that most of it can be salvaged and repurposed for mountain biking.

B

Today I GPSd one more dirt bike trail that--with a lot of changes--could end up to be mountain biked

Water Crossing

I also trekked up to the northern water crossing and made a new one:

I'll be back sometime next week with leaf blower to clean up these additional trails/reroutes.

Quickie at River Highlands

I had the late afternoon free so I headed over to River Highlands for a short but fun-filled ride.

It's a great place!

Benching - North of Howe

Today the weather was great so I finished the benching on the ascent/descent section on the back loop

 There's still more to be done (benching along the top ridge, clean up the alternative way, etc.) but all in all it will be an awesome ride!