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Post by Sasquatch on Dec 29, 2008 3:07:26 GMT -5
About a week ago I decided to pay this trail a visit while I was home in Aiken with the parents for the Holidays. All of the ORA was in disrepair. I remember going out there as a kid often and it was a pretty popular place for all kinds of things. The trail wasn't clearly marked (I asked an officer at the Aiken County Sherriff's Office substation out there where the trail was). The trail was barely marked at all and there were forks going off in every direction. I gave up and went home. Anyone know what happened out there? What happened to the trail? I never even saw a trail blaze? A little paint on the tree never hurt anything...
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Post by imnav8r on Dec 29, 2008 16:47:24 GMT -5
We had an Explore the Trail ride out there in October but only a few of us showed up. It was my first time riding it, but Paul Farrow knew how to get to the trailhead so he led the way. It was in pretty good shape and there were little signs nailed in some of the small trees along the trail identifying the sections as we rode along. I think there may have even been some of those small neon pink flags along the way too. Haven't been back since so I don't know what's happened since then.
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Post by Timothyjames on Dec 31, 2008 19:12:10 GMT -5
I was keeping an eye on it most of the summer and fall this last year and while it is tricky to find the trailhead there are two distinct places it starts. One is along the nature walk path going clockwise the trail has a steep descent from a hill or you can enter at the top of the powerlines near the road.
While the trail isn't severely ingrained into the landscape there is a definite path to follow, the problem is that it is cross cut and short cut in many places where lazy riders don't follow the loop and would cut through 5-6 feet of brush to form a small detour which can actually have you riding in circles if you don't pay attention. I'll get out there some time in january with some flags and rocks to designate the correct path to follow.
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Post by bobsimmons on Jan 1, 2009 18:36:01 GMT -5
The trail is marked with reflecting tape pretty good and it also has some christmas bows most of the way around.
Bob Simmons
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Post by Timothyjames on Jan 2, 2009 20:42:59 GMT -5
Yeah, the pink/yellow tape is all over the place the first few times i rode through it i ended up all turned around and made a short ride into an epic multi-hour adventure! Good times though, I'm planning on being out in that neighborhood tomorrow (sat. 3rd) about 1pm'ish walking the trail and finding the best way to mark it. Been too long since I've been active on this site !! need to step it up a bit
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Post by Sasquatch on Jan 3, 2009 1:24:20 GMT -5
I guess it was all the shortcuts and whatnot everywhere that got me confused... I rode all over the place though... I thought I was on the right track when I was up near the observatory but that quickly turned to s*** when after I left I returned back to it from a different direction. I'm going to give it another try before I leave town again to go back to school... I've been missing Long Cane Horse Trail something fierce...
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Post by Timothyjames on Jan 3, 2009 15:33:12 GMT -5
i haven't ridden in a few months but if you want to meet up and give it an exploration I'm down and have free time everwhere. It's never fun to ride out there after rain and the spiderwebs get pretty fracking crazy if no one has cleared them out in a while. Be warned!
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