Damage/Downed Trees

[Benflow]

Popped over to SWK this evening, hoping it had dried out enough after two days of warm sun.  However, the mud wasn't the issue.  While it was still a bit too muddy to ride in some places (one more good day should have it almost dried out) it was the downed trees that I couldn't believe.  That place looks like a war zone. I only rode for about 25 minutes and gave up.  I must have dismounted 20 times in 25 minutes.  I counted no less than 12 blockages in the trail and I only rode about 1/3rd of the trails there.  Only a few of the trees were small enough to be ridden over, whereas much of downed stuff was knee and waist high in some cases.  I started my ride going south from the lots and it seemed like the trails along the water got it worse (as the wind had nothing to slow it).  I quit right around Devils Dip as I was fed up of getting off my bike every 45-60 seconds of riding.  Doppleganger is totally impassable. I didn't get a chance to ride the northern part of the system as I wanted to hurry to the store to buy some dish soap to wash my legs.  Because of the dismounts and downed trees, I was coming in contact with a lot more poison ivy. 

If someone already hasn't, I would suggest contacting the Park District/Land manager and ask them to send a crew with chain saws and tools out there to start cutting that stuff away.  I've never seen a trail system so 'wrecked'.  I'll attach some iphone pics of the damage....

[TheNormsk]

That looks a mess.

The actual trail seems to be in pretty good shape once the trees get cleared.  Guess the trees stopped the trail from getting wrecked by wet weather riders.

[FVTR]

Oh boy I see it's as bad as I expected, we're trying to get some chain saws out there too.

[Principal (Snake) Skinner]

I sent a heads-up to the park district the other day. I don't know when they'll get out there though, and a few visits will be needed to get thru all the work. It might be a few weeks til all the trees get cleared!

[cluelesslouis]

Last Saturday, stopping and dismounting to climb the downed trees made it feel like a steeplechase.

[BiPedalBiPed]

Or cyclocross?

[Benflow]

Unfortunately it's far from Cyclocross.  Waist high obstacles and complete trail blockages are no fun.

Good to hear they've been notified.  But it looked, as of 6pm last night, that nothing had been done at all there.  So who knows.  If Cambr is allowed/approved to chain saw stuff it could go much faster(?)   

I would suggest to the powers at be for the 'trail status' update icon thing should have a comment on it that the real issue is downed trees and impassable trails and not mud--as that will be dried up by later today.

[BMX Crisis]

Whew!!
Be EXTRA careful here. Take a sight seeing tour of any trail before attempting to hitting it hard. 
I stopped by to check out the damage around 7:30 tonight before checking CAMBR. The mud will still be an issue for a few more days I would guess.

The trail from the North east corner of the Concession stand (surrounded by dominator) is impassable due to  downed trees.
   
V2 has no obstructions at all except leafy branches that are face level.

Anaconda, coming from the North East to south West is MOSTLY good. The second roller has a suprise 4" limb that will need to be cut out. Going up is just another challenge. Going down could send the unsuspecting rider onto his head at the bottom of the dip. At the far SW end of Anaconda, there is a tree over the trail that needs to be cut out.

Doppelganger has a 12-14" tree across it at thew half way area, and a 3-4 foot dead fall obstruction about 200" from the North entrance.

Jack Rabbit has a large tree (12-14") in the dip just before the creek coming from the north end. Some small trees were broken up and cleared midway through, and the ridge between the ponds at the south end has a branches waiting to impale some unfortunate soul should they not pay attention.

Just before Devils Dip, coming from the North is another opportunity to let your bike ride you for a change. Gunna need a saw there too.

Cotton Candy has three major trees  and combinations of little trees over the trail .  More chain saws.

Colossus and Plateau are just fine.

[Jacque O]

I've never done cyclocross, but this has got to be the closest thing to it! SWK is not drying out as quickly as usual, so there are more muddy spots than usual and lots of tire divots through the mud. I ended up getting off the bike and walking a lot.  Just a couple of trees have been removed, but not many.The big mess on Doppleganger is getting wider, probably from people like us who thought we would try to go over it. You can carry your bike and climb over, but it's a lot of vines and easy to get a leg or chain or spoke caught up in the mess of vines and branches.

[Seanbikes]

CAMBr has been asked to not use powertools(chainsaws) at the park so we will be waiting patiently for the Park District to help us out.

Now this could be a good opportunity to ask again about running chainsaws at the park since there is a bit of work to do and I'm sure the Park District has other locations they are cleaning up from the storm. Lets see what they think.

[BMX Crisis]

What about non power tools. A come-a-long can pull some of the limbs off. A simple hand saw could open up a whole trail.

[Principal (Snake) Skinner]

Yeah, it's a mess out there but the Park District sees it that this is a job that they need to deal with. They have trees down all around the city and have been chipping trees since the storm came thru. Their view is that if parts of the park are inaccessible for a while, then so be it. They expect to get into Saw Wee Kee next week, and that we should enjoy what parts are still ridable in the meantime.

I know that's not the news everyone wants to hear with a holiday weekend coming up, but you can at least get a ride with just a few manageable tree obstructions by hitting the high part of Bobcat (the section of ridge trail heading south from the 2nd lot) VV, Anaconda, Concession Stand, the low part of Bobcat (the bobbing rollers before the stump lot and the flat section past it), Lolligagger, Jack Rabbit, Devil's Dip, and Colossus. And possibly more, but I can't say for sure.

As I was reminded, the city has an ordinance that no one other than park staff is allowed to cut anything, since if everyone has a license to do it, it could get out of hand. I know that in a case like this, it's pretty obvious what needs cutting—whatever has fallen down across the trail—but the park district doesn't see that an exception should be given here, seeing as the ordinance doesn't provide for it and they can tackle the trees. We have permission to do it at workdays with a set of rules in place that we follow. I can only say I look forward to next week and seeing what the closed-off trails look like after they're reopened.

[BMX Crisis]

Looks like Anaconda is fully open. The obstructions were snapped and pushed out of the way.

The connector trail from the concession stand to Bobcat, V2 and Anaconda is open also. The branches that were the impassable obstruction are pushed out of the way and the big tree over the trail has been pushed to the ground. Might be worth leaving as an obstacle and skills challenge. It is not a hidden danger the way it sits.

Vortex was unaffected along with the feeder trail from the CAMBR freeway to the quarry. All trails attached to the quarry are good.
Doppelganger is still impassable, Take Jack rabbit instead.
Cotton Candy Needs Chain Saws real bad, but you can pick up your bike and climb over

I have not been on Wild cat or Kentucky rumbler trails yet.

The mud holes have no standing water and by tomarrow most trails should be good. Watch for loose rocks as the rain washed away most of the supporting dirt on almost every incline.

[TheNormsk]

Thanks for the update.  May have to try out SWK after work tomorrow.

[cluelesslouis]

btw all trees are cleared, except for a widowmaker on Wildcat and a tree waist level on Timberwolf.