Fall/Winter Trail Conditions – What's Rolling
Hey folks.
Getting to be that time of year where finding rideable trails and not damaging sensitive ones is paramount to getting a quality/responsible ride in.
We’ve had good success with the community sharing their rides and trail conditions over the past few years, so lets keep it rolling. There are established Don and ECreek ‘daily trail condition’ threads but let’s expand to other trail networks as this is a great time of year to get the epics in.
As always, confirm reports here with those from the official club/association before heading out.
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Not that I’m keen for even more traffic on the trails, but Durham and the surrounding area is about damned perfect with the recent moisture. Last ride was on Friday after a light rainfall and the trails were already dry/tacky without any wet spots. Just be aware that if you prefer the Durham forest there is active logging at the moment so a good chunk of the Durham Forest proper is closed (you can still run the newer north trails and then connect along the east side southward into Dagmar).
On a side note, as important as it is to stay off sensitive trails, it is equally important to stay ON the trail. Durham traffic seems higher this year than ever before and with it has come many corners being cut – if you want to ride in a straight line, hop on a road bike!
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Going to be above 20 tomorrow and Wednesday. Think the recent rain will have helped more than hindered most trail networks in the region.. Certainly the sand based ones.
Hear you on the corners though, new trails out are way are already blown from guys not able to make the corners.
Hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy the next few days and looking forward to hearing all about it. I’m definitely going to shuffle my workload and get out. For everyone else… cough. cough 😉
#ridingfeelsgood #falltimealltime
Just a quick “what’s blown” report for the weekend.
The following trails are reported as being leaf blown if your craving some late season dirt. .
-Durham
-Turkey Point
SCMBC has their trails mostly cleared from debris but not leaf blown.
I’ve ridden Puslinch, Dufferin Forest and a few other spots this week and the trails are completely covered. It’s an amazing magic carpet ride but can have it’s perils.
Also remember that hunting season is on so dress to be seen.
I’ll be heading out on a few epics. Happy trails to everyone who gets out.
Worth noting that this is indeed hunting season in the Halton region, and is bird (shotgun) season along the Mohawk/AF trails. Keep your pups close, and wear visible clothing.
Kelso – ridable, some leaves but enough movement to clear a path.
and Bucky is always cleared and have added a new trail from what I understand
Probably worth noting for Turkey Point that the dump trails are closed till mid December for hunting season.
Thanks, good point. Though with nearly 100km of trails in there, it’s still worth the drive for most.
I encourage riders or anyone who spends time in the outdoors to familiarize themselves with the hunting regs in the areas they are active.
https://www.ontario.ca/document/ontario-hunting-regulations-summary
For the most part, in southern ON and the GTA I wouldn’t worry too much as there are very limited windows of opportunity for hunters to use firearms where we would ride. Doesn’t mean I would go out with a jersey covered in feathers this time of year or a big white fuzzy stripe on my saddle with a brown textured kit, but I don’t really worry about hunters when riding, especially bow, shotgunners or waterfowlers because they have such a limited range with their weapons the odds of being mistaken for game are pretty slim and outside of deer these hunters tend to be in fields or marshes for the most part. Shit happens, but I don’t stress about it… Except muzzleloader and shotgun weeks – they have longer range with rifled shot. I don’t even hunt those weeks – too much ammo in the hands of hunters with a short window for my liking.
All that said, going to check out the ‘Shoe on Sunday, assuming it dries out after all of this rain.
Got the 411 from the ‘mayor’ of the Turkey Point trails himself yesterday before heading out. @meiklejohn informed me that the trail where in fact not blown yet and that while the Dump trails and Fox On The Run were closed, there was still over 50km to get lost in, which we did today.
Man those are some sweet ass trails. Not sure they even need to be cleared to be honest. Conditions were amazing and I had my best ride to date in there. Myself and the Dundas crew put together a killer loop. I’ll be thinking of this one for a while. Hope to get back a bunch this fall/winter.
Another fall epic in Dufferin Forest today with @yannick_bisson. Trails are covered with leaves but dry with loads of traction, aided by our plus bikes.
While hunting is permitted there, we didn’t see anyone or hear any shots. The forest was recently cut back but all of the down trees have been cleared from the trails.
Fall time all time. So good!
Just a correction on the Durham Forest trails. They have not been leaf blown yet. I would expect that we will do that in a couple of weeks, after most of the leaves are down. Riding is excellent in there now and grip was great today. Just be careful if you are riding after a rain as the leaves will be slippery when wet.
Some great news though. On Saturday 134 DMBA volunteers created another 1.4 km of trails linking Baby Butter to the Maze. The new trail is called Missing Link and you can now ride north out of the parking lot on Burnt Toast and ride single track all the way into the Maze and beyond barely touching any double track at all.
Thanks to Whynot for bringing attention to the ongoing problem of riders cutting corners. We don’t get it either. If you don’t like twisty single track stay on the double track or like Whynot said “hop on a road bike.”
Great thread!
Harold Town in Peterborough sees a lot of love and has and will be raked again.
I rode Dagmar on Saturday. I had trouble following the trail at times. I wouldn’t go until someone does some clearing.
Rode the Don today. Pretty leafy, but still pretty solid overall. Riding those benched out trails covered in leaves in kind of fun 🙂
Someone cleared Puslinch last fall. Hope that gets done again.
Thanks to Whynot for bringing attention to the ongoing problem of riders cutting corners. We don’t get it either. If you don’t like twisty single track stay on the double track or like Whynot said “hop on a road bike.”
Maybe Strava’s GPS just needs to be more accurate so there is no advantage to cutting 🙂
Ravenshoe is a leafy Fall wonderland. Most trails were dry underneath so there was still plenty of traction. I’d estimate about 70-80% of leaves have fallen, so give it another week of this cold with wind and it should be time to break out the rakes and blowers.
Looking to make my first trip down to Turkey Point on Wednesday for a birthday ride. From what I’ve heard, the trails in there are pretty much good to go no matter how much rain falls.
Can anyone give me an idea of where I should set off from with the Dump Trails closed?
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