Mianus River Park - June 10th, 2012
- Air Time for Greg -
Greg jumping on the Ridge Run Trail at Mianus River Park.
Only taken on my poorer-quaility cell phone, much to the chagrin of Greg!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
First Time at Luther...
Luther Forest STEP Trails - Malta NY
April 20th, 2012
After my Disaster Relief work in Prattsville NY, I went "home" for a quick visit with my parents. I went up that afternoon to Luther Forest in Malta to check out the trails.
Sadly, I first made the mistake of riding the 100 Acres Park—it totally sucked for mountain biking: all double track with squishy woodchip-laden tread. Turns out, as I found out later, mountain biking wasn't even allowed there!
Finally I found the good trails over off of Hermes Road and rode the trails around the gully, etc. by taking the north entrance out of the parking lot.
These were great trails—tight single-track with lots of flow! Much of the trail loop ran along the edge of a 20-40 ft gully and include lots of well-banked curves and even a short half pipe section. There is little stone in the terrain so there were zero rock gardens but there were occasional roots and lots of variety with the way the trail closely followed the contour of the terrain. Not too techincal but lots of fun - super flow!
Slide Show >
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Mianus - Had to Get Out!
Mianus River Park - January 29th, 2011
I just had to get out (for a change)...
It's been ages since I posted anything here on Mianus. I've been in the park a million times since the last posting but it's usually on a Trail Maintenance session or I am camera-less. I just had to get out for some fresh air in the woods—despite all the snow.Being "snowbound" is relative to your perception (and frustration level!).
I have been cooped up; busy behind a desk (or at least hard at work inside) for over a month so I finally buttoned up and headed over to Mianus late afternoon Sat. for a quick hike. I was curious how the trails looked after so much snow. Too bad the sun disappeared and it was a bit gloomy and overcast by the time I got there. Nevertheless, the park was still beautiful with heaps of snow blanketing everything.
It's a popular park and you could see the evidence of hiking boots, snowshoes and XC skis in the footprints on the trails. All the trails were hard-packed and I met a few dog-walkers, snowshoers and a XC skiers on my hike. No bikers and no tell-tale signs of bike tread on any of the hard-packed trails. (I believe it would pretty hard to get much traction and the bike's weight might mess it for XC skiers.)I headed north along the river on River Trail and Meander Trail, next headed up New Trail and circled back down by the river. I then wandered in on Inner Road and headed up to Peak Trail and Ridge Run before heading out,
Every trail was packed although the snow was really deep. By the time I left, darkness was creeping in and the white ground became gray and featureless in the fading light. I snapped a few photos but, as mentioned, too bad it was overcast.
[Slide Show Not posted]
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Bennetts Pond - September 11, 2010
Getting Acquainted with Bennetts Pond
September 11, 2010
Greg had an ACT test (a college entrance exam) today up at the Danbury High School. We got up early and I drove him there at 8 AM. He didn't need me to pick him up until 12:30 PM so I took the opportunity to stay up in the Danbury area and mountain bike.Greg and I had visited Bennetts Pond years ago when we first started and I remember what little we rode of the park we liked. Its just a few miles south of Danbury right off Route 7 so it was a great spot to ride and kill a few hours until Greg was finished.
Brrrr...
It took about 20 minutes to get there from the High School but it was so cold out I decided to drive around the back roads a bit and sight see until it got a bit warmer.
Well after a quick tour I drove back to the parking lot and started to ride a little before 9 AM. It was still cool in my shorts but I knew it would soon warm up and riding itself keeps you warm (and sweaty!)
Trail Map
Mark (a riding friend of mine) recommended a couple of loops and even sent me marked up maps. Not sure of the time needed, I opted for the easier loop but I would be in for a big surprise in an hour and half!
On the Bike
I remembered a short ride up eastward to the parking lot took you up to a field and from there you had a long and swooping bomb downhill to get to the pond. Well, it wasn't quite as I imagined but there was a section in the woods where the non-stop continuous downhill was pretty amazing.
After descending 210 ft, once at the pond level, I rode to the end to get a nice photo of the lake and then -- for curiosity's sake -- I rode to a trail end near Rt. 7 and saw that you could even park here to enter if you wanted.
I then turned back and rode along the pond on a nice and easy singletrack. I stopped to veer off and explore a side trail (it was a dead end) and a couple of dogs came barreling thru and dove into pond for a quick swim. It was lovely, sunny and warm at that point.
I turned right at the junction and headed west to explore the more difficult riding part of the park we hadn't visited before. After a super narrow footbridge over a rocky streambed, I took the trail to the left and headed up the hill. It was a gradual climb punctuated with some rocks and roots here and there and the occasional super steep short climb and/or sharp curve. Most of it was ridable (although some of it was a struggle for me).
I came across a very interesting area where the trail shoots thru a kind of rock crevasse and there are a few fairly large boulders (glacial erratics) perched nearby. (Link to Photo album on bottom of page) The ground consisted of moss covered rocks and it felt like this was (or could be) a mountain biker's stunt area in the making...
I rambled on, climbing higher and higher and traversing twisty tight single track along rock strewn ridges. All the trails were really incredible. All the while, I kept hearing the incessant sound of acorns raining down all around. Parts of the trail were even covered with freshly fallen ones!
Deeper and Deeper...
Well, I decided to take a right (kind of following the map Mark provided) and ended up on this winding trail thru the woods that left the ridge and wandered up and down... twisting and turning thru the deep woods. It was great, quite a challenge and obviously built by a mountain bikers. I finally ending up on what I thought was a more major trail since it was wider and yellow blazes were on the trees.
At this point I was getting a little nervous as I didn't have clue to where I was and I needed to head back to pick up Greg!
I turned left and ended walking long stretches of this trail. It was really great: rock-strewn paths carved at the foot of sheer rock cliffs, crazy bumpy up and downs, roots and roughage galore! But I wasn't in the mood for any of this at this point - I was starting to freak out and wanted to know where I was and what was the quickest way out!!
Finally I hit another major trail marked Blue so I breathed a small sigh of relief and clambered on. Once again this was a great trail - parts were bluff sweet flowing single track...but other parts were sudden rolls and small plunges over overhanging or protruding rocks. Once section (a climb up) was even a massive slick rock section.
I took out my compass and it still didn't really help me because my map didn't have any indication of the trail colorings so I still didn't have the foggiest idea where I was!
Lake Windwing Here I Come!
I finally came to a sign that said Lake Windwing so I bombed in that direction and after much more rough and tumble (but awesome) trails, I saw a lake thru the trees. What was even better was I heard voices - lots of them. I reached civilization once more! Phew.
The main trail turned right and went up the hill but I took a left and made a quick bomb down the last section of the hill to bring me to the lake's edge. Across on the other side was a sports park - kids were playing baseball.
A quick ride around the trail that followed the periphery of the lake brought me right smack in the middle of the baseball game. I asked the first couple I met ("Where am I, please??") and they explained I had reached Lake Windwing and pointed the way back via the road.
Man I was bummed that I couldn't ride more singletrack but happy to finally know where I was and have a sure way to get back to the car in time to pick up Greg!
Road Ride
The ride back to the car was mostly uphill but I did the whole stretch in a little over 10 minutes. Back at the lot, suddenly I had an extra half hour on my hands! Freak out time was past but the adrenaline was still flowing thru my veins.. What to do?
I rode back into the park an a different trail, a tighter single track right out of the lot. It was a long gradual downhill and real easy compared to the stuff on the ridge north of Lake Windwings! Finally I sat down on a stone fence in the heart of the woods, had my apple then rode back up and got in the car.
Pink Eye - eech...
Suddenly, once ready to go and in the car, my eyes hurt like mad and itched something wicked >> I must have rubbed my eyes after touching an oily plant irritant (not poison ivy I hope!). It was a rough ride back to the high school. Once I got there, I dumped water from my Hydration Pack on a napkin and tried to wash out my eyes. (It helped a bit but the irritation lingered for a another hour or so...)
Chow Time
Finally I picked up Greg and we headed into town to eat at an amazing Brazilian BBQ. I ate like a horse and drove home. (Once home, I took a bath to flush out my eyes..)
Bennetts Pond is on my list of places to revisit, I really liked it. But I better bring a map with the trail colorings marked on it next time and maybe give myself a whole day to explore! HAH..
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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