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NEPMTBA/HCGA trail construction and MTBW plans

22K views 159 replies 29 participants last post by  NEPMTBA 
#1 ·
More MTB trails in the Wyoming Valley area to ride in the process of being constructed by NEPMTBA on the HCGA (Hunlock Creek Grove Associates) private property.

Just a little disclaimer first. "THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY" Sorry for the blast, but it is to protect everyone involved. The property is gated and patrolled :arf:

The plan is to have a camping MTB weekend sometime this September, so everyone can check it out! This property is less than one half mile from the fabulous 30 miles of mOOn Lake trails, and I already have permission from the great folks at the mOOn(like they don't know me by now. LOL) and the HCGA to connect all of it together for 2 days of super fun and riding at both places for the 1st Annual HCGA/NEPMTBA MTBW. :thumbsup:

If you have already heard of this adventure, believe me we are not keeping this a secret! NEPMTBA is in the process of building: MTB trails, MTB endurocross, MTB Trials, and an all Wood MTB Pump Track! We have been building and riding the place to death in preparation of the MTBW in September! Trails are roughing in nicely. Five miles of trails are in place now, and this property is nothing like the mOOn. There are MOUNTAINS! Even more interesting are the ROCKS! Like our T-shirts say: "Ride the Rocks at Hunlocks" Or should it say: "Lee Likes ROCKS?" LOL :D

The property is owned by Moto riders (which many are buying MTB's as of lately. LOL) and contains many miles of Moto, Quad trails and old logging roads. As well as the constructed MTB trails, the "Green Moto Loop is very MTB friendly and interesting in it's own respect, No, it's not all ripped up, so don't jump to conclusions! We plan to use it for the MTBW as a kinder, gentler loop for riders who like that kinda stuff. Trails like "High Noon" "Hell Froze Over" and "Terminus Eldorado" are not kind "OR" gentle! Scott O. is making trail/name signs which are color coded as to show the applied trail is "MTB only" Nice job Scott The honorary trail #1 goes to "Fat Dog" (real dog) just don't try to hug him! He approved of his trail by, what else, but taking a dump on it! Ah! to be a Dog! We talked it over and "all" the land owners agree that only MTBs are allowed on the MTB trails! :)

I speak of the greatest thanks to the owners who have provided "every" opportunity to help with all aspects of this project, and totally know what it takes to join forces with others who ride, no matter what kind of vehicle :cornut:

STOP ME?????????? HA! HA! :smallviolin:
NEPMTBA's opportunity to work with many great people continues, add HCGA to the list!
 

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#3 ·
Great News....

...Lee...thanks very much for the update and new riding area.....can't wait to give it a try......hopefully the Mtn Bike weekend won't be the same date as the Rattling Creek Single Trackers BASH which is scheduled for Sept. 15th-18th....it is the last year for the BASH. Thanks again, Ride On!
 
#6 ·
Very cool Lee, my friens Dave M. said he met you over the weekend at the land where you were making trails and spent some time talking to you about the trails you were building, he said man he's really into it!:thumbsup:
 
#7 ·
NEPMTBA/HGCA trail construction and MTBW plans

Only been there once, that was before there were any mtb trails. Beautiful area! I can't wait to see what Lee and the guys have been up to! Make sure you bring your climbing legs!
 
#9 ·
Thanks guys for the support!

Last nights progress:;)

Different view of SOB (Scott O. Byway) LOL, Signage by Scott O. and the dog, the myth, the legend!(just don't hug him). Great old grow needed to be ridden through and a cleaning up dual purpose. Someone had a tree stand there from way back that is now laying all over the ground ruining this nice area. I can only imagine these trees were way closer together then and as they grew the tree stand just fell through. The property was clear cut back in the 80s and I am amazed these trees didn't see the ax.

Dirtrider: Dave is a great guy. I hope we can get him out on a ride sometime, as I did invite him to a mOOn ride.
 

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#12 ·
"Are the boardwalks over wet areas?"

Yes, it was a total worthless area till our hydro engineer shaped the water flow. The plan is to continue to shape the area till we have the runoff stream channeled through the boardwalk. We have yet to find a spring there, so I believe it is just runoff. What you see in the pics is the smoothest area. Prolly have it in lights sometime for night pump track. At the one end SOB continues as a dirt trail to the huge rocks as big as cars above. It is (pretty much unrideable, unless you can static and hop) MTB trail for now, but it will be on wood soon. It's really cool. Big molithic rocks are spread through the property. Makes ya feel really insugnificant as a human trying to ride a bike through them... LOL.

Lots of fun(work) ahead. ;)

"I've been wondering why we have not seen you as much at the Moon. Now we know why. Looks like you have been busy. The mountain bike weekend sounds great. can't wait to ride the new trails."

Well, actually I have been riding Moto trials on Wednesday nights for a week or two. I'm at the mOOn earlier on Wednesdays. Speaking of mOOn the big broken tree on Ledgeview will be gone tomorrow. Yaaaaaa...:thumbsup:

When "night falls" does it get hurt?
 
#14 ·
More progress...

Replies and tonights progress...

"sounds great; can't wait to check it out one day"

Red: Yes, one of the only places I know of that you can ride Motos and MTB on separate designed trails! We have plans for an Ironman weekend in the future with, one day of Moto riding and the other day MTBs of course while not riding will include adult consumption of copious amounts of liquids and dining on savory foods... LOL

Progress:

Pics 1 & 2 The tree stand is no more on the newest trail called "Itchy Tire" The place is really hard on tires hence they do get very itchy. So far 3 shredded MTB tires and one MTB tire completely blown off the rim. The squirrels must be sharpening rocks at night... LOL

Pics 3, 4, 5, 6 New line being constructed on SOB, narrower, tighter, wood and rocks!

Pic 7 Who says you can't put big rocks on top of the wood... LOL Thanks go to the "glacier" for delivering that big baby!

Where does the "White" go when the snow melts?

 

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#16 ·
That's up to the landowners. They are a great group and lots of ideas are being thrown around. I'm doing the webwork for them, so I will have the info on all future events and happenings at HCGA. I will be updating the NEPMTBA http://nepmtba.piczo.comwebsite soon with all the info. My other purpose for being there besides MTB trails is to set-up and host an NATC national Moto Trial http://mototrial.us/ in the future. If you have never seen a moto trials in person it is amazing. A Mt. bike race is in the works too.

One thing that helps is the location HCGA is close to mOOn trails, Mock trails, Penobscot Loop, Riverlands, Mt Top, CDH, and the Lackawanna State forest. All are already linked together somewhat. 100 miles of trails was my goal. It is a wonderful opportunity to get trails, so we all have lots to ride, but the people who have stepped up in our area are the absolute best. Sorry to ramble, but everyone has kept a giant support for mOOn and the Wednesday rides are always packed as well as the others mentioned. I'm sure HCGA will be added right in seamlessly.
 

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#19 ·
Great holiday weekend with lots more work done...

... as work progresses on the newest trail (Itchy Tire) is starting to look like a favorite trail. It has the making of many different types of terrain, starting with off camber nasty uphill rocks, followed by swoopy smooth downhill, to a logging area with a burned in moto trail, then "wood" over area, then a freek'in downhill grass field diving into a tight area covered in pine carpet, finishing up with a ride through the chicken coop(yes, literely) then rocky singletrack. Itchy Tire is the most important trail as it aligns the property to the access of more areas to be built in the future.

Pic 1: The "Toecutter"(you'll understand if you watched the original Mad Max movie) in the pines section of Itchy Tire.

Pic 2: Scott O. in the pines of Itchy TIre.

Pic 3 A little handwork with super potential(3 tabletops of wood over big stumps)..yee haa

Pic 4 (singing that stupid song) I'm too sexy for this bridge, this bridge, and my doggy. It's my doggie, as I do a little turn on the bridge(wait just don't try to hug FAt dOg... LMAO) I gotta get a vid of him as he has a new gimmick: He barks non stop at all of us to get us to watch him run into the pond and jump in and bite at the water. This dog is a riot!
 

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#20 ·
The 4th at HCGA was...

... a hoot. Lots of activity, and Itchy Tire trail is almost complete with the hill climb section being last to be built. It will require lots of bench work as the trail transverses a slope that is quite steep! Lucky on two points. One it's mostly clay non organic and two, the trail passes one of the old logging roads and Shawn should be able to get "the machine" back there to rough in the area. Much easier than by hand with mattocks!!!! Once done it will allow a line that will put the rider out on the edge, yet able to stick to the slope enough to complete the section. Should be very interesting.

Itchy Tire pics:
Pic 1: The stump section before work.

Pic 2; The stump section complete minus wood.

Pic 3: More stump section

Pic 4: Scorpa trials moto was out for a spin. Nice bike!
 

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#21 · (Edited)
Friday nights are special, seems the thunderstorms missed us tonight and lots got done at HCGA.

Itchy Tire has progressed quite a bit. The pics show the trail is now cleared and "wood" progress is next. This area was logged, and it is really cool how the ferns take over. They are great to look at or ride through, but weedwacking them lets their juices come out and man they are worse than poison ivy. Should of named the trail Itchy Ferns.. LOL

Too bad I took pics before, but it got dark, and I didn't get the final progress taken, so tomorrow I will have a very surprising update. The stumps are the clue. We now have a brandy new Stihl FS 90 wacker that takes all the heads. Look out now!

pics 1-5 are of progress on Itchy Tire
pic 6 is one of our 4 legged friends
pic 7 yes it will have a "skinny" on it too
 

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#24 ·
Got wOOd?:cool:

Well...

...three of us loaded 3 truck fulls and delivered it to the land. So here's the pics I promised yesterday!

Itchy Tire trail will have a secession of 4 "woodys" each 40 feet apart that will make it a good rhythm section. At the end is the option "skinny" exiting the logged out area! Of course stuff still has to be trimmed and set in.

Next is the "bench work" on the cross hill sections!
 

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#25 · (Edited)
Back to SOB...

...the newest line (Rocker) just about complete!

A line that is woody and rocky, only 12 inches wide, with a few turns and ups, along the way it rides part of the old rock wall that was there for more than 100 years! Entrance and exit are tricky!:eekster:

Ride the Rocks and the Woody at Hunlocks!
 

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#26 ·
The adventures of Ruger and Fee-Fee...

...while building trails today I see a very funny thing. Ruger taking Fee-Fee for a stroll. It just struck me as a great site cause Ruger is a much older dog and he took it in stride as to his owner giving him responsible of protecting Fee-Fee from harm. Fee-Fee can hold his own and Ruger never flinched when other dogs came around! Jimmy said Fee-Fee is really a cat but dressed as a dog so Ruger doesn't "EAT HIM"... LOL

I know what does it have to do with trails well... The Itchy Tire trail connection with High Noon is complete and it contains more of the famous Hunlocks Rocks... weeeeeeeee

pics a more tomorrow!
 

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#27 ·
Rocks, rocks, rocks, large, small, and most of all ROCKS!:yikes:

The day was about 3 things: Itchy Tire gets nicked, flicked, and our yellow jacket friends were relocated from the trail, "ROCKS" at High Noon, and our newest trail "DR"

First 3 pics of the Itchy Tire extension leading to High Noon is complete and even has it's own multi-line 3 rock section(I did mention we ride Rocks at Hunlocks didn't I?) The rest of Itchy Tire including the VW rock ride section is all done... weeeeeeeee (we might bench stuff later????)
...nah just ride it:cool:

pics 4-6 The real fun, working in the sweltering heat moving around rocks that weighed, o, say thousands of pounds:eekster:... it's all in the balance!:ihih:

High Noon finally gets the really BIG SCARY line that it deserves, and don't worry it's right at the beginning, so missing it means a tail between the legs ride down the service road to the parking lot... LOL... there "is" a "sneak line" for non landscapers! Lucky the rock we used had 2 separate top rocks that could be moved off each side to provide ramps for a super large table top slab. Straps, comealong, large iron pry bars(which by the way both got bent) and even tiedowns to nearby trees finally yielded the bass turds to move. They were last moved by the glacier 100,000 years ago, much easier then... LOL

pic 7 Fat Dog took a rest after chasing a Moto through a ditch and he almost blew out his front forks!... Good Dog(just don't hug him)

no pics yet of DR... connected to Terminus Eldorado is our newest trail DR, lots of climbing and a great Top o the Ridge rock play area with many lines and huge slab rocks some as big as cars. And that's not even the top of the mountain yet. Then DR takes a stroll to the Licktop Rock(a massive outcrop bigger than a house) Epic, epic, epic!

Funny how all the Moto guys keep telling my their tires wear out really quick at Hunlocks!

More later gotta go ride it all...

ps... Hey Tony check the one pic see anything?
 

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