NYS Trails Council Meeting

[sick4surf]

You folks are lucky to have Samantha and Craig representing mountain bicycle interests at the state trails council. The world is run by people who show up and if you don't show up you don't get anything.

Signs are a great way to reduce the need to devote precious resources when the rangers are trying to find a lost or injured biker. You may not know how many times this happens during the year because they don't share that info. The chances are you may be granted more trail access if the trails you currently ride are managed well and don't cause problems. If the search and rescue guys are called frequently there will be less trails approved in my experience.

We have well signed trails on Long Island so people will have a good time exploring our trails. If they get lost or need help, they can identify the trail they are on by name, color and sometimes numbers. It's the least we can do to help our fellow bicyclists and budding bicyclists. However, not all who wander are lost!

When there are no trail markers or signs it gives the appearance of a "locals only" attitude and is not very welcoming.

The DEC has many different color bike trail markers which we use to designate trails by ability, white is easiest, yellow is more difficult, blue is even more difficult and red is for advanced riders. This way you don't have beginners on a trail they don't belong on unless they prefer to live dangerously.
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Michael Vitti
CLIMB President
http://www.climbonline.org
Trips for Kids Affiliate
NY State Trails Council Member

[Tim845]

[Bobg82]

Excellent points Mike! And thank you, Samantha and Craig for all the time you put devote to our cause!

I am pro sign myself. No system is without flaws/problems. I did a ride up at Elm ridge recently for the first time in a couple of years and the signage those folks have there certainly helped me navigate the trail system fairly quickly.
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Stay Upright my friends....
Bob

[TriassicDoc]

I'm really glad that people are responding to this post because I was not sure if people are really still reading this forum. We have to stay connected and we need to keep these trail issues alive because otherwise we might not have trails, --OR [even worse]--the really loudmouth groups [ahem, 4-wheelers/motorized] who feel shunted will be given access to areas we don't want them in.

So I really want you guys to dig deep and thing about something you seriously enjoyed about your last experience on trails--anywhere.

Share them here.

Then, think about something you didn't like. Also share. It could be anything.

For me:
1. I love the Yellow trail on Illinois Mountain, there is a great section on the higher elevation part that is covered in moss and I feel like I am in a cartoon.

2. I got poison ivy 2 weeks ago, in mid-march. Yikes! Hate it! I hate doing trail work on certain trails [ahem, Watchamaccallit] because I always get covered in poison ivy.

[Bonkler]

I've noted the improvements signage has made for places like Daniels Road but there's always room for confusion when there's too much trail overlap, say at Riedlbauers'. There are also routine tasks to keep maps and corresponding signage accurate as you will find in Luther Forest in Malta where posted trailside maps represent about 50% of the overall trail network.
I like the idea of standardized DEC trail signage and blaze colors backed by a numerical ID on a corresponding online and trailside/trail junction map (wishful thinking, but that's part of the day to day here) Elm Ridge has done it right IMO. It would be great to reproduce something like that at Jockey, 909, Ninham and so forth. I've also noticed recently that signage has started to pop up at Stewart, which is a place that badly needs it.

@TriasicDoc, you are also correct in stating that this forum should stay active and can serve as a blog of riding experiences out in the community. Maybe things are getting too tribal or it's just easier to relay these stories trailside instead of taking the time to bang away at the keyboard.

Cheers!

[TriassicDoc]

Heh.. or maybe I'm just the only one who occasionally has desk time at work where I'm not really doing anything