I hope everyone was able to take advantage of last weekend and put some miles under their tires.  The leaves were beautiful and the weather was unheard of!  I wanted to take some time to go over a parcel of land that the UVMBA has been working on with the Hanover Conservation Commission (HCC) for the better part of a year.

First some history, this piece of land is located off of Route 10 just east of the Oak Hill recreation area.  In fact, the two trail networks are connected.  Overall the Rinker tract is small but has some very unique terrain and provides a great single tract trail to gain elevation into the Oak hill system.  The issue is that the majority of the HCC land has a “No Biking” policy. Within the Rinker Tract there was a trail that was put in that traversed a steep side slope.  This trail was not put in very well and has lead to some erosion (primarily from tires falling off the edge due to the uphill pedal hitting the cut bank).  This erosion coupled with the fact that the HCC does not permit bikes in this area caused the UVMBA to become involved.

We have attended a number of meetings and conducted several site visits to the area to see what could be done.  Our goal was to make sure that we still had an access point through this area.  The HCCs goal was to remove the offending side cut trail and enforce the no bikes policy in the heart of the Rinker Tract.  Our original suggestion was to properly rebuild the offending trail so that bikers and hikers could enjoy the trail.  This was not accepted. 

We went back to the drawing board to try to accomplish the goals of both groups and in the long run we reached a great compromise.  We will be building in a new trail in the NE corner of the Rinker Tract that will pull bikes out of the heart of the Tract but still provide some great single tract to climb into the Oak hill system.  This new trail will start just past the small stream crossing on the way into the tract from Stores pond.  It will head to the right and start to climb from there.  The new trail will be about .25 miles.  Here is a link to it http://app.strava.com/hikes/1790493 .  If you would like to see it in relation to the existing system please let me know and I can send you a PDF.

This is a great success for both the HCC and the UVMBA.  We hope to have the trail raked in this year and finished by Trail day (First weekend in June).    One of the most important parts of this agreement is that the MTB user group helps police and respects the “No Bikes” policy at the Rinker tract to the left of the new trail.  By the HCC allowing us to build this new trail we now have a great new trail to ride and as such we need to respect the quite area closer to Route 10.  We need to self police this.  Please call out folks you see poaching this area for riding.  Please do not ride in from the Route 10 entrance to the Rinker Tract, go up to the large field off Route 10 and enter from there.  By demonstrating that we can self enforce our group we will be in a great position to leverage further collaboration with the HCC.  I like to think big here: single tract network from the Goose Pond system to the Oak Hill system.

Over the coming weeks we will be decommissioning the offending trail.  This will be done by filling the bank cut back in and replacing the pine and duff.  We will be posting new signs at the junctions that explain what the Rinker Tract is and what we are doing.  We will be sending out an announcement that explains what/when we are doing all of this.

If you have any concerns or want a map of the area please let me know.

Cheers,

Brian Riordan

UVMBA Pres.