NMMBA: Midland City Forest

[c0nsumer]

Glad to be of service, Steve. Hope you enjoyed the trails here. Like I said while we were on the trail, there is not much by way of steep steady climbs, but a pretty good system for someone new, like me, to develop some riding skills.

Thanks for showing me around, and glad to see you join the Forum. It was definitely fun. Just a few sketchy things, but I'm sure those are being worked on.

[c0nsumer]

Ended up out there again yesterday. Trail is much drier, and it seems that many of the previously questionable things have been fixed up. Thanks!

[volklgirl]

Mucho gracias to whoever ponied up for the new signage!! I love the size and color coding making them perfectly readable by those of us who like to ride at dusk or who are nearing/over the age of 50. This was the first time I've ridden out there without having to stop to figure out where I was. Yay!

There was a lot more sand than I've ever seen out there, though....big honkin' sand pits on top of the usual loose stuff in some of the corners.

Lovin the new/moved bridges and the multiple routes in Dismal Swamp, as well!!

[muttonmark]

I am gonna go ride all of the loops this AM. Hopefully, with the rain we had gotten yesterday, the sand pits that Volklgirl is talking about with be a little packed down.

[muttonmark]

The rain had packed down pretty much all of the sand pits, with the exception of one or two. It was ultra fast this morning. I made the mistake of going across the Boy Scout Bridge on the Gnu loop as it was still a little wet. That wood was greasy!! I ended up sliding off of it sideways into the brush. But nothing too bad. Other than the normal Roots and bridges, it ws pretty smooth.

[detroitjohnny]

Rode out here yesterday on my way home from Detroit. Everything seemed to be clear, it was not muddy. Nice ride!

[turbotoad]

Rode this trail for the first time on Friday on my way "up North". I had a great time on the trail but found myself turned around or lost about 10 times. The trail signs are in really weird locations. There are MANY MANY MANY different trails intersecting or y-ing off from the single track trail that makes following the routes very confusing. And a lot of the times there are no signs to figure out where you are, OR the sign you needed to see to take the correct route was located AFTER the intersection. This caused me to stop (after thinking something wasn't right) and back-track many times to regain the route direction. So the only way to see the signs are to go in the correct direction in the first place Other than getting totally confused a number of times, the trail offered some very entertaining sections. It's worth a stop on my way up North again.

[jfactor!]

Rode here for the first time last night. Was surprisingly dry and pretty fun. No big hills of course, but not too bad for a quick ride after work.

[Zoo1424]

Rode the trails yesterday afternoon - rare 50+ degree day in January. The trails for the most part were in great shape, not much mud at all on the singletrack. I noticed a couple of new obstacles have been put up/finished since my last ride in October. Very cool.

[Zoo1424]

Anyone have an idea what condition the trails are in right now?(early April)

[SolarKitty]

Yesterday a buddy said he is riding there 2 or 3 times a week now.

[Zoo1424]

Great. Thanks for the update. I'll have to get out there tomorrow then.

[brokenbones]

Based on the above information I drove up to MCF today hoping to knock out a few laps. Sadly, the trail has had a hard winter/spring and is not quite ready for prime time. The main 2-track bridge has washed out and is partially collapsed. It's baracaded from any use. The smaller west bridge further to the back is also damaged, but can still be used with some caution. Many portions of the trail including some of the 2-track roads were under several inches of standing water. I finished 1 lap and called it a day. While there were several other hikers and bikers using the trail today, none of us should have been out there. It was just trail abuse. I would give this one several more weeks to dry out, and if the locals post up a trail day, consider throwing in a helping hand. This normally very fun trail is going to need a lot of TLC.

[SolarKitty]

Almost all the local Midland trails are damaged; MCF, Pine Haven and even Burns Road has bridges out.