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Post by Ted S. on Feb 11, 2013 11:28:56 GMT -5
Great shape end to end, go ride turkey creek !! Just beautiful out there with the foliage all down there are some great views that can't be enjoyed other times of year. One very large tree partially cut through.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Mar 14, 2013 9:48:10 GMT -5
I just received another message from the USFS and, upon clarification, it appears that the USFS burned the area south and southwest of Key Bridge earlier this week, which would include Turkey Creek Trail. This area will be opened tomorrow.
Today, the USFS will burn the area north and northeast of Key Bridge, which includes Wine Creek Trail. Wine Creek will be closed until further notice.
To recap: The Turkey Creek Trail area was burned earlier in the week and will reopen tomorrow. The Wine Creek Trail area will be burned today and remained closed until further notice. Sorry for the confusion.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Mar 18, 2013 9:10:55 GMT -5
I have been told by the USFS that both Wine Creek and Turkey Creek Trails should be opened today.
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Post by nevin on Mar 24, 2013 20:25:23 GMT -5
So....since it rained cats and dogs all weekend, Bec and I decided to make use of Sunday walking Turkey and Wine with a chainsaw and cleaning up a few non-riders. That was the plan anyway. We parked the Prius at the far end of Wine and shuttled down to 617 and started in that way. We took out several trees down on the wet trail, and all went well until we got to the whoops, which weren't wet, they were underwater. Much bushwhacking later were were back on the trail again, but the second bridge in from Key (the long, bouncy one) was also underwater, way underwater. The rail was about a foot above the surface. A huge detour took us around that, which in a way was worth it because we saw something I've heard about but never seen. As we where walking up the, er, stream we were trying to cross, this armadillo runs into the stream from the left bank, disappears under the water, and we could see this line of bubbles go across the stream. Seconds later the guy crawls out of the water on the right bank and hops off into the woods. Turns out armadillos don't swim across streams, they submerge completely and run across the bottom. This raises the question, can armadillos float at all? If not, what are they full of? Not being armadillos we had to find another way across. In Bec's case, she used a fairly shaky looking tree as a makeshift bridge. I was carrying Michael Drawdy's Stihl MS250 (my 180 having proved inadequate for a tree we knew we were gonna see), and the thought of me and the saw going for a swim was more than I could stand, so I walked across a shallow spot like a tall armadillo, and emerged on the other side with a dry saw but some very wet Keens. After all of that we took out one more tree that was in a bad spot then called it a day and walked Cedar Springs and 619 back to the truck. We earned our beer but left a nasty mess on Wine to clean up next week. Big thank you to Michael for use of his saw- you sold a saw for Stihl today. One big tree in particular would still be there if it weren't for him. The stump did NOT stand back up on its own. Much leverage was required. If you ride TC anytime soon be prepared for trash and mud (if you're lucky) on the first and second bridges in from Key Bridge, and in the bottoms of the whoops. Lord knows what's gonna wash up and stick in there. A few pics are attached...the bridge I'm standing on is the one Aaron Pyle launched himself off of a few months ago and fell a good 7 feet into the gully. He wouldn't have fallen nearly as far today, but I'm not sure it would have been a better trip.
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Post by Angela on Mar 24, 2013 21:10:15 GMT -5
WOW! Armadillo trivia, bridges underwater, massive tree removed, turkey prints, and you and Beck bushwacking through some crazy terrain.....yes I would say you more than earned your beer!
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Post by oddcouple on Mar 24, 2013 23:50:23 GMT -5
Just a reminder Armadillos carry Leprosy.
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Post by tzeaser on Mar 25, 2013 15:29:50 GMT -5
Great Work! Ya'll Earned My Hero Award For The Week. (I Was Going To Give It To Ted S For Riding Saturday Morning).
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Post by dgaddis1 on Mar 26, 2013 7:00:56 GMT -5
Great Work! Ya'll Earned My Hero Award For The Week. +1 nice job you two. Remember the winter that Wine flooded a bunch...two winters ago I think? We had a work party to go out and clear flood debris. Only made it a few hundred yards into the woods before the trail was under water.
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Post by tzeaser on Mar 26, 2013 12:52:02 GMT -5
Also, +1 on the Stihl. My wife bought one and its a beast, but she won't let me use it to do trail work. I have to use my P.O.S. Poulan for that.
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Post by nevin on Mar 27, 2013 8:13:48 GMT -5
Just a few clarifications in defense of all those armadillos out there. Yes, up to 20% of them do carry Mycobacterium leprae, the organism that causes leprosy. It is also true that genetic evidence suggests that some (up to a third) of the cases of leprosy (which is still extremely rare) in the Southeastern US are due to transmission from armadillos. However, these cases are most often the result of direct contact with an armadillo, usually when someone kills one. Kind of like the snake bite situation. The rest of the cases of leprosy come from human to human contact when people travel to parts of the world where the disease is endemic. So, if you don't want leprosy, stay home and leave the armadillos alone. If you happen to get leprosy anyway, it's treatable with antibiotics.
For what it's worth, we actually gave leprosy to the armadillos in the first place. Leprosy was not present in the New World until after Columbus arrived.
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Post by moto922 on May 15, 2013 7:36:55 GMT -5
What's the condition of Turkey Creek trail end to end. Looking forward to riding Thursday.
Thanks,
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Post by wala on May 15, 2013 15:37:08 GMT -5
Rode Turkey and Wine last Thursday 5/9. Turkey was in better shape than Wine. Had to climb over about 4 trees, 2 near the bridge and 2 near the gas line. The dips near the gas line are a little overgrown. Overall, tread is great. Very good riding out there.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Jun 23, 2013 11:40:26 GMT -5
JP3 and BM cleared small trees with hand saw until ~5.2 mile mark, when we reached a tree mess that clearly needed a chainsaw. Don't know how good or bad trail is beyond that point. IIRC, there was one non-rider at ~3.9 miles, from Price's Bottom.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Jul 28, 2013 14:49:15 GMT -5
Word on the street is that Turkey is clear of non-riders from the end (FS 617A) to the 5 mile point.
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Post by deano on Aug 24, 2013 9:58:07 GMT -5
Anyone seen Turkey lately? I've only rode it once and it had a fair amount of debris down. It was fun and would like to hit it again soon.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Aug 24, 2013 12:22:39 GMT -5
Anyone seen Turkey lately? I've only rode it once and it had a fair amount of debris down. It was fun and would like to hit it again soon. We are having an impromptu work party there tomorrow morning at 8:00AM to mow and lop. More information is in this thread: sorbacsra.proboards.com/post/23973/thread. Come on out, work for a while, and ride afterwards.
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Post by deano on Aug 24, 2013 12:33:26 GMT -5
Nice...if I don't have to work ill deff join y'all.
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Post by dsquaredmsquared on Aug 25, 2013 15:42:01 GMT -5
Turkey mow-a-thon 2013Wow, good thing it was cool today or this would have been brutal. We had 9 eager volunteers this morning, including a new volunteer - Brandon. Two DR mowers, three hedgers, a string trimmer, loppers, and two chainsaws all saw a lot of action today. Before groups headed out to the 3, 5, and 7 mile points, JP held an informal ceremony to award Becky the 2nd place trophy from the CCTT. Way to go Becky! We mowed, mowed, and mowed a lot more miles than we anticipated or had mowed in past work parties at Turkey. Several sections of trail were holding water (never saw this before); most likely because the trail had been underwater from the overflowing creek. Nevin and Jon put their chainsaws to good use and cleared at least 10 trees between them. Other than a few wet and particularly slippery sections, this trail is good to go. Thank you for your support and go ride Turkey Creek! More pictures and commentary on our FB page - goo.gl/hWzBXW
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Post by jtaylor on Aug 25, 2013 16:03:30 GMT -5
I did not see the first prox 5 miles, but the area around the 5 mile rest area / whoops is very slippery. The first whoop had a big tree at the top fall over so you have to enter the whoop at an angle (not good). Be very careful the first time you ride this. There is also one spot where so much junk was washed up onto the trail that we mowed a ride-around. Also be careful at the "v" just after the left turn at the 5 mile access point. The trail should be good after a hot, dry 3 days; but be careful due to changes brought about by the rains/flood.
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Post by deano on Aug 25, 2013 16:58:57 GMT -5
This is good news. Hate I missed out this mourning, work had other plans. Hopefully this will motivate folks to put some wheels on it and keep it in good shape.
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