Where did all the crap go?

Did a quick spin on the Gussy this morning and besides noticing how nice the trail is another thing I noticed was that all those piles of horse poo were gone. When I rode through last weekend it looked like the Governor's Horse Guard went down the Gussy Trail. I hope it was an equestrienne that did the work because that means that are taking a more active interest in this trail, but if it wasn't then my helmet is off to whom ever did it.

Trail Work Day: August 9th

Sunday, August 9th

8:30 AM

Pond Brook Boat Ramp

Now that the main part of the trail is essentially complete it's time to fix the lower section of the Upper Gussy Trail. For those that use the trail from the other end of the forest, Echo Valley, you probably seldom ride the connector trail that leads from the Boat Ramp at Pond Brook to the Poly Brody Forest Road. One of the conditions for allowing the Upper Gussy Trail to go in was the inclusion of the connector trail and thus fixing the ugly scar along the stream bank that you see from the road. Below is an overview of the area.

The existing trail is in red and where it goes down the bank and the path it takes up the bank is in green. The orange line is where the trail will change into a benched desent.

As you can see, the existing route goes right up the fall line of the slope and the pictures below show you the ugliness of the scar that it creates.

I originally had to two proposals for tackling this problem. The first one was to go the opposite direction of the second proposal (below) but after looking at the rock sticking out of the bank, which is probably shelf, it seems going the other way will be much easier. The actual benching will be easy. The hard part will be finding a suitable Rock Store in which to armor the stream bed at the crossing.

Please ensure that you wear sturdy boots, bring water, and bug spray.

More Trail signs of the Gnomes

The Trail Gnomes beat me to it, they made a very nice up and over on the blow down on the upper part of the Gussy. Rides really well and hills in that little dip in the trail. Thanks guys, I owe you a few frosties!

Horse Dootie

The Upper Gussy is seeing a lot of horse traffic evidenced by the copious amounts of road apples. Above is a good example of what happens when a horse drops a load while in motion. Not sure what's worse, a big mound or several little ones that you have dodge. But don't let the road apples discourage you from the Gussy because it's a sweet riding trail.

Greasy Gussy

This is an old pile of road apples still in the middle of the trail from the last time I rode through here. I wish the equestriennes would just get off their horse anytime they pass kick the crap off the trail. Is that too much to ask for? It's funny that at the mere mention of making a stink about it gets me labeled as hater from coast to coast. However, when you ask why don't they do something about it, all I hear are crickets. I think the key is just awareness, keep drawing attention to it and when it finally starts happening, bring it everyone's attention.

Haven't been on the Gussy for a month and there were quite a few blowdowns along the way, like this one here. At first I thought I might move it but it appears people have been riding over it. I want to bench in this section, too, so this will make a good control point.

This up-and-over needed fixing so I spent a little time working on it. What it really needs is a big, flat rock on the side closest to me in this picture.

More horse poop