Poto: Brighton

[countryboy_mike]

Sweet!

[edhawk]

Rode Murray lake and the lost and found loop this morning. Trail was damp. Slick in a few spots.

Three trees down. The first one before the 0.5 mile marker on Murray. Chainsaw required. You can carry bikes over it. The second is around the 2.0 mile point laying in the trail, parallel to it. Might be able to just move it off. The last one is at about 2.25 mile point. Leaner, head high, chainsaw required.

LIKE, LIKE, LIKE the new boardwalk connector to lost loop!

[BigfootDenny]

large tree blocking trail on Torn Shirt around 3.5 - 4 miles into trail. Head height, in area after descending a downhill.
Will definitely require chainsaw for removal.

[raptorTC]

Heading out there for the first tomorrow in an effort to pre-ride the course before the upcoming Tailwinds race. It'll be a bit of a drive, so I'm hoping to hit all of the trail. Any tips on navigating the loops? People's Strava tracks make it look like always taking a right when the trail splits will lead me the correct way, but I have a feeling its not that simple.

Thanks!

[b_b]

Leaving from the parking lot stay left for MTB trails. You'll cross the parking lot road and then you can go right for Torn Shirt (advanced) or left for Murray. On Murray yes stay right to ride everything. After the 2nd split it dumps you on a campground road. Go right and then left on the gravel road and the trail is about 100 yards on left.

[fsr1]

Heading out there for the first tomorrow in an effort to pre-ride the course before the upcoming Tailwinds race. It'll be a bit of a drive, so I'm hoping to hit all of the trail. Any tips on navigating the loops? People's Strava tracks make it look like always taking a right when the trail splits will lead me the correct way, but I have a feeling its not that simple.

Thanks!

Ride Torn Shirt first!

[b_b]

TS trees @ 1.8 & 4.2. Murray all clear. Very good traction today!

[raptorTC]

Thanks guys for the tips. I went out there today with one of my buddies who is fairly new to the sport and we both absolutely loved the trails. We didn't have any problems finding our way around and had a really good time. Unfortunately we didn't get to do Torn Shirt as my friend's legs were nearly dead after Murray and I didn't want to leave him at the car by himself while I rode Torn Shirt, but I'll just have to ride it some other time. Trail was in great shape.

[specialized rider]

Is it just me or is murray getting lose. Seems to be worse this year than last with this being my first time out there this year I may have just forgot how the trail was. Other than that ran into three guys working on the trail for the up coming race, Thanks to those guys for clearing the trail.

[buster]

there is a down tree on torn shirt at 3.8 (according to mile markers)..

[edhawk]

It might be worth a reminder, especially to any of you who would travel to Brighton..... if you are planning on riding today, there is a Tailwind race using the Murray Lake loop. It looks like the waves take off at 10:00, 12:30 and 1:00.

I don't see anything that says the course is closed. As a matter of fact, a few years ago I think I rode in, and joined at the intersection of Bauer and Bishop Lake roads, not realizing there was a race going on. I quickly bailed, not wanting to interfere, but I just want to point out you could potentially get caught up in the race.

It looks like Torn Shirt is not part of the race course and you could ride that loop without interfering with anything.

Good luck to anyone who is racing today.

Tree is still down on Torn shirt at 3.8 or 3.9 mile point. chest high. chainsaw required.

[deezler]

Wow, only my second time out on the Murray lake trail yesterday - what a hoot. With much better personal fitness, and a much better bike this time around, I absolutely loved this trail. No trees or obstacles at any point along the entire 10-11 mile length. Great maintenance work, thanks to all that are contributing. Definitely quite loose and sandy in many areas, but I don't see how you can avoid that in southeast Michigan when the summer has been as hot and dry as this one. By and large the majority of the trail was packed, hard and fast.

The newest "found" loops covers some really nice terrain. But the whole thing is off camber.... when do we have the bench cutting party? Or is the hope that it will flatten out over time with sustained use?

Will be nice to use the new causeway over the creek once its done, and not have to dip out into the road, for sure. Great work on that too!

Final bonus form riding last night - zero bugs. None, at all. Did almost whack a surprised deer, though.

Oh and p.s., why is the campground closed?

[countryboy_mike]

They dont open the campground unless it has campers that want to use it. You have to go to or call the headquarters and let them know you want to camp there.

[vette-ss]

Actually I think the Murray Lake rustic campground is weekends only. They must shut it down mid-week.

[edhawk]

Correct on the Murray Lake Rustic campground. Murray Lake rustic campground is open weekends-only, Memorial Day through Labor Day

The Appleton rustic campground (closer to the trailhead) I believe is open year round.