Beaver Pond to the Prongs

[pat]

Went out yesterday and started clearing one of the trails from the beaver pond toward the Prongs. I tried to clear high enough so you don't get snagged when you carry skis and wide enough to last a couple years. There is still some bigger limbs that my loppers couldn't get, but plan on going out next weekend with a saw.

Let me know if you are interested in which trail it is.

[patrick]

I think I know where you are talking about. There should already be and old trail there. Patrick

[pat]

It follows an old military road to the ridge that comes out of the bowl. It was very overgrown though. Should be able to get to the bowl in less than an hour and a half if that using the trail.

[Philip]

Nov 9, 2009 0:01:10 GMT -9 pat said:

Let me know if you are interested in which trail it is.

I'm curious about exactly which trail you mean. Can you make up a basic map and post it? If you need help putting up pics you can email them to me and I can add them to the page. tscheezy AT yahoo DOT com

[pat]

Take the third left after the yellow gate. Cross the creek, at the first two junctions take rights, take a left at the third junction follow to the toe of the ridge. Once you cross the creek its easy to follow the cleared trail.

A friend and I finished clearing it today. Would make a nice but short mt. bike ride. Will try to post a map soon.

[Philip]

I know what you mean now. We used to ride that area and we cleared the alders back along those roads/trails many years ago. We got chased by a bear on our bikes back there.

[patrick]

I used to use that ridge to access the mountains back there (Easter Sunday Bowl), but now I use a trail that skirts the antenna field and is MUCH shorter. Also don't cut the trails too wide because it lets more light in and the brush grows back worse than before. I try to cut a foot tread and leave a canopy over the trail - this technique creates trails that last for years. Also follow known topography points to make the trail easy to find again in case you lose it. I never work on a trail until I've hiked a route a few times. There is usually already a trail and it is best to do it a few times to make sure it is the best route. Nothing worse than multiple trials for confusion in the brush. Patrick

[Philip]

Here's the map I adapted from pat's. Let me know if you think it is too vague or inaccurate:

[mrsquishy]

Patrick -
how about a map of your trail as well?
ms

[dadoffour]

I second.

[pat]

I'm sure if the under brush hasn't gotten to bad in the 40 or so years since the military stopped using it, me trimming the alders out of the way isn’t going to matter a whole lot. Also, if you read my post you would notice that I said that I cleared an old trail to the base of the ridge. I have flown over it enough times to know it was a good route. But thanks for your input.

Philip, thanks for redoing and posting the map.

[patrick]

You'll have to find my trail on your own. It's a secret trail, but should be pretty obvious where it is if you look at a map.

Patrick

[pat]

Flew over the area Friday and it looked like someone had extended the trail. I hiked in with the lopers and sure enough someone had been in there with a chainsaw and done a nice job. Thanks to whoever it was!!! With no work needed to get to the ridge I walked back down to the last trail junction and headed NE (under the "keep left" arrow) clearing the trail as I went. I cleared the trail all the way until it meets the main trail under the "A" in reservation on the map. If it wasn't for difficulty crossing an old bridge and one good size ditch it would be a great bike ride and a decent x-country ski for the more experienced. I might look into building a bridge across the ditch and figure a way to make the old bridge ridable to make it worth biking.

[patrick]

A few years ago ATVs almost made it to the top there. Hopefully your trail work will not encourage them to the top because once on top they can go forever there and it would be really bad.

Patrick

[mrsquishy]

I agree with Patrick's approach to trail clearing - ATVers are constantly looking for new areas to destroy and finding a clear brushed trail can be an invitation to destruction.

[pat]

Well I guess I will quit posting the trail work I do on here. By the looks of the footprints in the snow yesterday at least 5 people enjoyed the work I did last year, and that was only the prints I could distinguish. With no ATV tracks any where.

Sorry for trying to improve things for others. By the way ATV are off limit in that entire area.

I won't mention the other workI did yesterday!

[patrick]

Trail work is GOOD and posting here is GOOD. But when I work on a trail I think about 'hiding' the beginning of it, or making sure the route has at least one spot that is impassible to an ATV. I do not think ATV riders will be coming here (to the snow forum) to find out about trails, but if a trail is obvious on the ground they will follow it.

So keep posting! But be aware of what impacts a new trail may have. And think about ways to keep your trails non-motorized.

A few years ago the ATVs were crossing into where your trail is on a bridge slightly up the creek and their trail went more towards the antenna field and then darn near to the top (they just had one steep section to go and had used chainsaws to cut thru some massive alder thickets). I reported the trail to the USGC and I think they tore the bridge down. But I am pretty sure if they had made the top they would have gone all the way into the valley behind Pyramid.

Right now this is one of the only hunting areas left on the road system that does not have motorized access, and once the ATVs get in there the hunting will go south. I've seen it happen in other areas (like Kashevarof, Salonie, Sacremento, Above sargent Creek). Once the wheelers get into an area the deer scatter.

Finally, a good portion of the ATV crowd does not care if it is closed to ATVs or not. Just check out the whole Jack Lakes area behind Bell's Flats or even the shores of Lake Miam and some of the creeks in that area. The trails go right up the creeks (I've even seen salmon redds with ATV tracks thru them!)

Most of the crowd who drive ATVs are law-abiding and good people who stick to existing trails but there is a large group of idiots and they are the ones we all have to worry about.

Patrick

[Philip]

Good discussion.

I agree that cutting trails is a good thing as long as the trailhead is not obvious or generally inaccessible to the throttle twisters (which is getting really hard with the proliferation of motorcycles ).