Inspecting Blue Trail Water Issues at Whiting

The blue trail at Whiting has some serious water and mud issues. I had mentioned these problems to the Tryon crew, and Frank offered to walk through the trail with me and analyze the situation. He's a trail manager who leads many of the work days at Tryon and Bay Park West.

Tonight we walked the trail and looked at the sections with issues.

We came to the conclusion that Whiting is a different animal than Tryon or Bay Park West. In those parks, there is so much elevation change that any standing water can typically be convinced to move. Digging a trench, de-berming, and pitching the trail can be used to shed the water. But at Whiting, there aren't as many opportunities for those techniques.

Looking back at my notes, Frank and I decided that at least part of the solution to the majority of problem areas was to add material. These sections are simply lower than their surroundings, so raising them is the only solution, aside from rerouting the trail. Building the trails up has already been done in much of Whiting. I've heard some of the long-time trail crew talk about it, and it's obvious in places. Sometimes there's four inches of standing water on both sides of the crushed rock trail. It's impressive how much material was brought in.

There were a few locations that could have been improved by de-berming and adding a pitch to the trail.

There were also a few hills that the water flows down. Although there isn't enough water flow to cause severe erosion, those section do seem to be wet. They also feed the water problems at the hill bottoms. To prevent this, having several pitch changes periodically down the hill would encourage water to the side, instead of continuing to the bottom.

Much of the trail was too muddy to actually work on. But I saw a few places that I had worked on at a previous Friends of Webster Trails work day. Some of the fixes helped keep water off the trail, but others were not doing as much good as I had hoped. Those were in very muddy sections that are still holding the water like a sponge. Once those areas dry up, the dirt can be raked and grading can be done to fix the problems for the next rains.

There were many places that had standing water at the side of the trail. Peering through the surrounding vegetation, I could see the water goes on for a ways. It makes we wonder if there is opportunity further within the overgrowth to drain the water to another area. Some exploration may be in order.

Frank and I took some pictures along the way. I also took notes, and recorded our hike with GPS. I hope to find the time to put all this information together so I can keep track of the trail conditions over time.
For now, here are the photos:

Road Ride With Kyle and Ben

Needing some exercise, I got Kyle and his friend Ben to ride their bikes with me through some neighborhood streets.
I rode in high gear the whole way, cruising along. They rode their BMX bikes and we matched speeds well.
4.5 miles.

More Tryon Trail Work

This evening I attended another Tryon trail work meetup. There were about 10 of us working for a few hours. We blazed some trails (marked trees with paint), raked some leaf covered trails, armored a few wet sections (placed flat rocks), and did some general trail fixes.

Generally the conditions at Tryon are great. I want to get out there and ride soon!

Ridiculous Mud

It's was rainy all last week, but this weekend started out perfect. Saturday was picture perfect, but I had household obligations and decided it was good to let the trails dry up some anyway.
So I saved my riding for this morning and went to Whiting and Webster Park.
I quickly discovered the trails are in the worse state I've ever seen them.
Places that tended to be greasy were now muddy. Places that tended to be muddy are now lakes.

It's clear that bad sections get worse if the rain keeps coming. But the problem is not the rain alone. The muddy areas have gotten so abused over the past month from people using the trails. Wet areas have become pits from boots and bikes. Those pits now hold water better than ever. They grow in size, becoming harder to avoid, get more traffic, and then get pitted even more. It's a vicious circle.

Temporary fixes may be possible to drain the standing water from these areas, but that still leaves a lot of water trapped in the mud. Unless these areas are left alone and are allowed to dry out, they will always be a problem. Once mostly dry, these areas can be graded to avoid the problems in the future. Though I noticed some previously "fixed" areas were having problems because the areas to the side of the trail could not hold enough water.

Many areas at Whiting and Webster Park have no grade, leaving them susceptible to water problems.

I rode my usual 6 mile loop.

Muni at Whiting and Webster Park - 2011-05-22

Tryon and Bay Park West Trail Maps

Here's the latest trail map for Tryon Park:


And for Bay Park West:


These were made by the county.

Another Afternoon Ride

Since rain is forecast for the next few days, I took a few hours off from work this afternoon and rode again at Whiting and Webster Park.
I felt like I was still recovering a bit from my ride a few days ago, but I was still stronger. Though maybe not as strong as I have been. I'm a bit amazed that I once rode three six mile laps there once.

Muni at Whiting and Webster Park - 2011-05-12

More Tryon Trail Work

Tonight was another Tryon trail work night. I worked with the crew to bench some sections of a new trail that will replace an existing unsustainable one.

Benching means we cut the trail into a hillside. Here's an illustration:


Hopefully this new trail will be fun for me. But there are some significant climbs throughout it, at least on a unicycle. I think I could climb them if I was rested, but at Tryon one hill comes after the other. So I'm always winded unless I actually stop for a rest, which I never like to do.