Case Mountain - rocks to carriage path

I parked at the Birch Mountain lot for a change and headed up the Carriage Path. Smookey, Mr. Pickles and Splinter had lots of rocks and it was getting buggy.  Down by the pond at the bottom - it was beautiful so I snapped a couple of photos...

Carriage Path

Smookey

Mr. Pickles

Splinter 

Merlin's Swamp

Lookout Mountain Trail

Pink

Carriage Path

I then headed over to ride the Saguaro loop east of Keeney....

Case Kicks Your Butt!

Today I wanted to ride a section of Case I hadn't really explored before (Splinter, Mr. Pickles trails, etc.)

 Trails I rode:

• Black Mamba (up)
• Cornholio 
• Cornholio Connector
• Splinter (heading northward)
• Mr Pickles
• Old Blue
• Cornholio Connector
• Gray/White Blaze
• Yellow/Red Blaze
• Cornholio
• Black Mambo (down and out)
  
  

I was on the Pivot pedal assist so every climb obviously was a lot easier but there are some wicked rocky sections that kicked my butt. Nothing really thwarted me until I got to Mr. Pickles. I missed the turn into it and found out it was impossible (for me) to ascend the steep rocky section from a stand still. After falling a few times and bloodying my finger, I had to walk about a 25 ft section until I could restart riding.  

Sections of the Gray/White Blaze trail were pretty rocky as well but I was able to plow through those without an issue. Of course, the final descent down Black Mambo to the parking lot was freakin' amazing!

A Triple Header!

It was a beautiful day out today: sunny and not too hot (for a change). In the morning I rode

1 - Smith School

The Trailforks map is still a "Work in Progress"

Smith School Trails 

2- East of Keeney (EoK)

Then I rode some of Eok. Sadly there were a lot of blowdowns that we'll need to clear out...

3- Case Mountain

In the afternoon I rode Case Mountain, this time with the intention of checking out the trails that parallel Coop Road since I have never ridden those...

Trails I rode:

• Coop Road
• Warlock
• The Reflex (this is a tough trail!)
• Coop Road
• Warlock
• Coop Road
• Rope Swing 
  
• Coop Road

At Buckingham Reservoir

Globe Hollow Reservoir and Case Mtn

In preparation for an event this Saturday, I scouted out and biked the route we will be taking. We will definitely avoid the trail I marked as "Big Mistake" - that section was NOT a pleasant ride

At the Globe Hollow Reservoir

Red Gates Pond

Huh -- Where's the water?

Pedaling again at Case!

It was great riding at Case Mountain today - the weather was perfect!. I didn't do too bad for an old man!

I parked at Line Street and rode a bunch of Trailforks "blue trails"

• Black Mamba (up)
• Scabs (up)
• Cornholio 
• Short offshoot south on hiking trail to visit the old chimney 
• Cornholio Connector
• Splinter (heading northward)
• Carriage Path to Lookout Man Summit
• hiking trail south to Start of
• Black Mambo

I was lucky to meet a hiker who graciously shot a photo of me by the old chimney :-)

Use your imagination here - I see faces and human bodies!

The majestic rock "gate" at the junction with the Carriage Path

That's Hartford in the distance

On the way out - woo-eee!

Sunday Afternoon - Cowles and Case

It was a cool and breezy typical autumn day so I decided to head up to Cowles Park and ride the Blue Trails. Sadly Microburst and Inside Job were very wet with frequent puddles and quite a few muddy sections so I called it quits after riding just a bit of Inside Job. Next time I hope to hit the Blue Trails further west...

On a whim I thought I would go a check out the Case Mountain Dam - I hadn't been there yet even though I've ridden Case quite a few times.  As you can see its a beautiful spot - WOWEEE!

Up and Over Scabs - the Case Mtn Ride

It was a gorgeous day - not too hot and nice and sunny so I had big plans to ride a lot of Case Mtn.  

Although I was hoping to hit Perestroika and get down to the trails around the old Coop Road bridge (Khanada, etc.) this old man pooped out and high tailed it back via N95, Pandemic, etc instead. Still for me, it was pretty productive!

• Dingleberry
• Stolen Lunch Money (I walked the boulder-strewn descent ascent stream crossing)
• Covid-19
• Scabs (a couple of short stretches I walked :-(  )
• Cornholio
• Black Mamba (wow - what a freakin' great trail!)
• Scabs
• Scabs Fort (I ended up walking the first third of it :-( )
• Nutter Butter
• N95 (I bombed this super fast!)
• Pandemic 
• Little Dipper (a pleasant surprise - not too bad of an uphill!)
• Stolen Lunch Money
• Mountain Road (a bit rocky straight uphill but doable)

Highlights:

After lunch at home, I went to Great Hill Pond to hike!

Old Man rides Case Mtn

Today's goal was basically to ride down Joy 2019 which I rode up back on July 8th.

I parked at the lot on Birch Mountain Road and found out very quickly that it was still freakin' too humid and... 

...it was a wicked the descent into the first valley <sigh>.

Once I got on to Joy 2019 it was of course a blast as it was a not-stop descent where it felt like I almost never had to pedal! When I got to the big rock where I could see the parallel Fern Trail, I decided to check it out and head back up on the Fern Trail.

At times I felt like I was in Tolkien's Middle Earth as the lush vegetation and wild rock features seemed almost otherworldly! I rode up most of it but truth be told -- this old man walked a few of the steeper rock-feature sections.

Once to the summit, I decided to head back to the car the easy way via the powerline trail.

I must confess, at nearly 70 years old I am thinking about the advantages of an electric assist bike - if only I could afford one!