Rooster
05-27-2005, 09:48 AM
Thought I'd do some exploring for a new single track experience in Arcadia yesterday. So with my trusty Arcadia map (store bought one, the DEM version sux) in pack, I took off from the management headquarters on Arcadia Rd onto the Arcadia Trail. All's well for the 1st mile until it splits, left goes onto the Arcadia Crossover trail and right continues on the Arcadia Trail.
As you know, we've had something like 4 days of sun since April, so its kind of spongee (sp?) and muck puddley. That's OK, I think, I'll do some climbing and be done with the wet-soft stuff. Trail maintenance doesn't seem to have been anyone's issue in this area because there are blowdowns and duck unders every 50 yards. Then there are more..and more......and more.............and more!!! Jesus, I'm starting to yell obsenities out loud and asking myself why I came this way. By this point, its been a 50/50 split between hiking and biking.
The Arcadia trail merges with the RI North/South trail. I'm thinking, hoping, praying that the going's gonna get better. I'm a couple hundred feet higher now, a calm passes through me, then BAM! I'm in a massive boulder field, Not the baby-head sized boulders I enjoy teching my way through, NO! These bad boys are tightly spaced Cadillac sized big mo' fo's. Navigating through these on foot alone might be cool to some, but lugging a bike across these soaking wet, moss covered obstacles with cleated bike shoesm, shall I say, was not fun and quite hazardous. Now within the last 3 days, there's been something like 5 Nor'Easters blasting through here, gale force winds for the last 2 days, so the ground and all the gaps between these slippery monstrosoties is filled in with a nice new layer of green leaves that look like good footings. NOT! Stepping in these areas was a toss up between a good stable platform or falling up to your nuts because your foot just blew through into an empty chasm, bike crashing down, elbow smashing off the rocks. Good times, good times.
Did I mention that its kinda muggy out? Well them little no-see-um's love this weather. They enjoyed themselves flying into my eyes, up my nose and ears, and tearing new a$$holes in every part of my exposed skin.
So after 3 of these giant boulder fields, each one bigger than the last (couldn't see one end from the other), I've decided to stop whining, forget about trying or hoping to have a good time, and hunker down into survival mode. This helps my overall well being, but I can't stop thinking whether or not this happened to me because I lashed out at Hello Kitty and she's got the MTB gods and goddesses laughing at me.
Finally, after 2 hours and about 5 miles of this joyful bliss, I've looped back onto Arcadia Cutoff Trail, but not before a healthy sappling *****-slaps me across the face and splits my nose and upper lip wide open. I'm not aware of this until I see the blood dripping down onto me and my bike. Now its pretty much a 1 mile downhill back to the ranger station, which I'm glad to say, went off without any hitches. I'm back at the truck, sweaty, soaked, cut up and bleeding, shoes filled with mud, thinking what I did wrong to deserve this......must of been the new socks?
As you know, we've had something like 4 days of sun since April, so its kind of spongee (sp?) and muck puddley. That's OK, I think, I'll do some climbing and be done with the wet-soft stuff. Trail maintenance doesn't seem to have been anyone's issue in this area because there are blowdowns and duck unders every 50 yards. Then there are more..and more......and more.............and more!!! Jesus, I'm starting to yell obsenities out loud and asking myself why I came this way. By this point, its been a 50/50 split between hiking and biking.
The Arcadia trail merges with the RI North/South trail. I'm thinking, hoping, praying that the going's gonna get better. I'm a couple hundred feet higher now, a calm passes through me, then BAM! I'm in a massive boulder field, Not the baby-head sized boulders I enjoy teching my way through, NO! These bad boys are tightly spaced Cadillac sized big mo' fo's. Navigating through these on foot alone might be cool to some, but lugging a bike across these soaking wet, moss covered obstacles with cleated bike shoesm, shall I say, was not fun and quite hazardous. Now within the last 3 days, there's been something like 5 Nor'Easters blasting through here, gale force winds for the last 2 days, so the ground and all the gaps between these slippery monstrosoties is filled in with a nice new layer of green leaves that look like good footings. NOT! Stepping in these areas was a toss up between a good stable platform or falling up to your nuts because your foot just blew through into an empty chasm, bike crashing down, elbow smashing off the rocks. Good times, good times.
Did I mention that its kinda muggy out? Well them little no-see-um's love this weather. They enjoyed themselves flying into my eyes, up my nose and ears, and tearing new a$$holes in every part of my exposed skin.
So after 3 of these giant boulder fields, each one bigger than the last (couldn't see one end from the other), I've decided to stop whining, forget about trying or hoping to have a good time, and hunker down into survival mode. This helps my overall well being, but I can't stop thinking whether or not this happened to me because I lashed out at Hello Kitty and she's got the MTB gods and goddesses laughing at me.
Finally, after 2 hours and about 5 miles of this joyful bliss, I've looped back onto Arcadia Cutoff Trail, but not before a healthy sappling *****-slaps me across the face and splits my nose and upper lip wide open. I'm not aware of this until I see the blood dripping down onto me and my bike. Now its pretty much a 1 mile downhill back to the ranger station, which I'm glad to say, went off without any hitches. I'm back at the truck, sweaty, soaked, cut up and bleeding, shoes filled with mud, thinking what I did wrong to deserve this......must of been the new socks?