Post by Angela on Apr 15, 2015 20:40:10 GMT -5
Master's week fortunately did not have the rain that was projected and Friday morning's rain was the last rain before the weekend. We went out on Sunday afternoon to do a trail assessment, picking the trail that tends to be the driest more quicky after rain (Brown Wave) and the one that tends to be the wettest (lower Skinny).
What we happily discovered is that we are entering that time of year when the plants and trees are in active growth mode and as a result are absorbing a lot of water and that, coupled with the warmer temps, is moving us back into the zone that 24 hours after a rain will normally be enough dry time before riding the trails (provided we have not had heavy rain or several days of rain).
We found Brown Wave's trail tread to be in good condition. There were less than a dozen wet/muddy spots over the 5 miles of trail.
Although Lower Skinny tends to remain wet longer than our other trails, some years it swaps places with Great Wall. Those two trails have more active seeps than any of the other trails at FATS. There were about 36 wet/muddy spots on lower Skinny. Over half of these spots were in the first mile of trail past the bench going clockwise. Most of the 36 wet/muddy spots were like the ones in the picture below.
36 wet spots averaging 6 feet each represents just over 200 feet of trail. Given that the 4.7 miles of lower Skinny equals just under 25,000 feet of trail it's easy to calculate that only about 1% of the trail is wet/muddy. The remainder of the tread on lower Skinny was in good riding condition. In this condition, the trail is rideable. A problem that is occurring is are riders not staying in the middle of the trail when they come to wet/muddy spots. Many are riding around the wet/muddy spots. This widens the trail and creates ridges and erosion that will likely need the attention of some trail workers to correct. If riders remain in the middle of the trail, the ridges that develop will naturally break down as others ride the trail after the spot dries out. Some of the riding around can be attributed to the fact that lower Skinny tends to be a favorite with less experienced riders but some is simply the need to continue to educate riders.
A few of the wet/muddy spots on lower Skinny>
All that said, about coming into a better time of year when dealing with rain and its affect on trail condition, below is a shot of what the past three days have been like....rain, rain and rain. This rain coupled with overcast skies will delay the drying cycle of the trails this week.
FATS is a really good trail system but it is going to need some work this year. Let's keep spreading the word about not riding the trails when they are too wet (if you know riders who don't follow Twitter, read the forum or socialize on Facebook please send them to our website homepage where they can see the Twitter and Facebook feeds and pick up information about trail conditions. Please don't ride the trails when they are wet. Let's keep the singletrack single. Thank you!
Here is what the first three days of this week have been like:
What we happily discovered is that we are entering that time of year when the plants and trees are in active growth mode and as a result are absorbing a lot of water and that, coupled with the warmer temps, is moving us back into the zone that 24 hours after a rain will normally be enough dry time before riding the trails (provided we have not had heavy rain or several days of rain).
We found Brown Wave's trail tread to be in good condition. There were less than a dozen wet/muddy spots over the 5 miles of trail.
Although Lower Skinny tends to remain wet longer than our other trails, some years it swaps places with Great Wall. Those two trails have more active seeps than any of the other trails at FATS. There were about 36 wet/muddy spots on lower Skinny. Over half of these spots were in the first mile of trail past the bench going clockwise. Most of the 36 wet/muddy spots were like the ones in the picture below.
36 wet spots averaging 6 feet each represents just over 200 feet of trail. Given that the 4.7 miles of lower Skinny equals just under 25,000 feet of trail it's easy to calculate that only about 1% of the trail is wet/muddy. The remainder of the tread on lower Skinny was in good riding condition. In this condition, the trail is rideable. A problem that is occurring is are riders not staying in the middle of the trail when they come to wet/muddy spots. Many are riding around the wet/muddy spots. This widens the trail and creates ridges and erosion that will likely need the attention of some trail workers to correct. If riders remain in the middle of the trail, the ridges that develop will naturally break down as others ride the trail after the spot dries out. Some of the riding around can be attributed to the fact that lower Skinny tends to be a favorite with less experienced riders but some is simply the need to continue to educate riders.
A few of the wet/muddy spots on lower Skinny>
All that said, about coming into a better time of year when dealing with rain and its affect on trail condition, below is a shot of what the past three days have been like....rain, rain and rain. This rain coupled with overcast skies will delay the drying cycle of the trails this week.
FATS is a really good trail system but it is going to need some work this year. Let's keep spreading the word about not riding the trails when they are too wet (if you know riders who don't follow Twitter, read the forum or socialize on Facebook please send them to our website homepage where they can see the Twitter and Facebook feeds and pick up information about trail conditions. Please don't ride the trails when they are wet. Let's keep the singletrack single. Thank you!
Here is what the first three days of this week have been like: