Mid-State: Burchfield

[Steve_Kinley]

I had hoped to get out there Saturday afternoon to check out the potential Oct 2 TT course. With all the rain we have had, will much of the trail still be too wet to ride?

[jonw9]

It sounds like it Steve.

Will there be a route used through the second field section? I assume yes, but only the first half.

It would be good to get ridden in while still a bit moist, although the rain sounds like it was too intense to actually soak in.

[mjpo]

Trail is slick. A few usual spots have standing water but nothing too bad....except for Swamp Thing, Bobs, and the new section by McNamara (Smokey and the Bandits). All under water again. The water at Bob's is WORSE than it was this spring. I may or may not have time to get signs up before the poker run. This is not a big deal because, oh yeah, you can't even get to the southern part of the trail system very easily. Peppermint Creek and the Grand River are both flooded, cutting off access to half the park. It has been a challenging year weatherwise. All the hard work at Swamp Thing last weekend is washed away....

[AllMountin']

Jeff- I think I found the thorn bushes you were talking about on my way out. I hacked them back a couple of feet and cut them off near the base. Don't think they'll be bothering anyone else this season.

Trail should be cut and cleared pretty well all the way form Riverbend crossing to roughly the pines.

Oh, and BTW- Grovenburg Rd is closed at Holt Rd due to flooding. Looks like maybe the first 50 to 100 yards is flooded. I doubt it will last long, but just in case, you can bypass it by taking the next road East. It takes you around Holt HS and back to Grovenburg.

[Paul_D]

Did a recon loop this morning,the trail has recovered amazingly well.

The trail is in good condition from riverbend parking lot to McNamara. There is only 1 puddle, after Glorious Poperds before the bridge Steve placed (which is placed perfectly btw).

From McNamara, the trail is good all the way to Bobs. Both Serenity and Dragon run are completely ridable. The tree is still down over the beginner trail near the end of Dragon run/serenity.

Bobs- there is 2 trees down near the beginning that will require a saw. I cleared all the logs that floated onto the trail. There is only 2 spots with a little bit of standing water. In my honest opinion Bobs should be reopened this weekend. Its not my call so I left the reroute intact.

Swamp thing is good for the full stretch along the river. The section that cuts into the woods is obviously still a mess. I put the closed trail fence back up, someone had knocked it over.

Basically the trail is what it was before the trail day july 23.

[mjpo]

Did a recon loop this morning,the trail has recovered amazingly well.

The trail is in good condition from riverbend parking lot to McNamara. There is only 1 puddle, after Glorious Poperds before the bridge Steve placed (which is placed perfectly btw).

From McNamara, the trail is good all the way to Bobs. Both Serenity and Dragon run are completely ridable. The tree is still down over the beginner trail near the end of Dragon run/serenity.

Bobs- there is 2 trees down near the beginning that will require a saw. I cleared all the logs that floated onto the trail. There is only 2 spots with a little bit of standing water. In my honest opinion Bobs should be reopened this weekend. Its not my call so I left the reroute intact.

Swamp thing is good for the full stretch along the river. The section that cuts into the woods is obviously still a mess. I put the closed trail fence back up, someone had knocked it over.

Basically the trail is what it was before the trail day july 23.

I am pleasantly surprised. Make that shocked. In a good way. Thanks for the update. If you say Bob's is good, go ahead and open the reroute. I will not be able to get out there until Thursday at the earliest. Thanks again for the update and thanks for the help.

[Paul_D]

No prob Jeff, happy to help. I'm out of town til sunday night, but I'm sure someone will open Bobs up.

I forgot to add when you exit Swamp thing before the closed woods section you need to go right, left is a flooded mess.

[dhmedic24]

So is the reroute in Swamp Thing we created a couple weeks ago still there. My kids were upset when I told them all the work we did was under water! I hope all our work wasn't for nothing!!

[Paul_D]

Don't tell the kids but the reroute is under water. Its so frustrating since after the two "deep ditches" swamp thing has plenty of great singletrack that is prob ridable. I think the current conditions would allow swamp thing to remain open with the proposed new steel bridges.

-High hopes for swamp thing's new bridges

[dhmedic24]

I won't tell them. However, they will find out soon enough. They've been bugging me to ride the new route! (Have I mentioned that I LOVE that my kids are into MTBing!) It's all good! They are resilient!!! My son would ride it under water if I let him anyway!!!

[Paul_D]

That's awesome your kids are so pumped up to mountain bike!! Keep it up!!! We all love to speculate how awesome we would be at mountain biking if we started that young!!

[MajesticTJ]

Took a ride out there today, trails are in good condition. Bobs is pretty slick after the rain yesterday so I didn't remove the blockage for now. Also it looks like the park mowed part of serenity so now it's a big wide path until the split into dragon ball.

[geardaddy37]

...so I'm assuming that if I go out there tonight the mosquitos will be as bad as they are at my house...horrendous.

[F7Cannon]

I live just two miles down the road Bill and they are as bad here as I have ever seen them. I think you will need a full net body suit if you want to ride out there.

[AllMountin']

Created new Strava segments for Burchfield. They include one full advanced loop (ALL sections), and four segments including several sections each. I did NOT create individual segments for each named section, in hopes that longer segments would create more accurate results. Also, it is difficult to pinpoint exact transitions from section to section on the Strava map.

Burchfield Complete Loop: http://app.strava.com/segments/705617- Time includes every advanced segment, including Serenity, Dragonball, and all of Swamp Thing.

Riverbend thru Riverbend crossing: http://app.strava.com/segments/705645- includes Hanson's, Randy's, Annie's, Kentaro's, Red Route 1, and Looman's.

Riverbend crossing thru McNamara: http://app.strava.com/segments/705651- Forest Hump, Nathan Dynamite, Glourious Poperds, Smokey and the Bandits.

McNamara thru Peppermint Creek Bridge: http://app.strava.com/segments/705654- The Timinator, Bob's Supremacy, Remember Me.

Peppermint Creek bridge thru Riverbend: http://app.strava.com/segments/705659- ride Serenity and double back to Dragonball on the beginner trail. Enter Dragonball at the bridge stunts. You can likely bypass these stunts and enter before the rock gardens if you want, without affecting the segment. From there, it's the river portion of Swamp Thing to the wooded section of Swamp Thing.

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I can already tell from the accepted routes that the tolerances are pretty loose. Routes are counted that bypass Swamp Thing on the beginner trail, or ones that double back around the pond. Also, if a rider shortcuts Looman's before Riverbend crossing, it will be counted as well. You can click on the date of the ride on the leader board to see what route the rider actually took. It's not perfect, but it's some kind of frame of reference. Have fun with it...