Stephens State Park Conditions

Teutonic and I did a bit of clearing today. He got in an 14.5mi ride, and cleared a few with handsaws. I did a combo of hiking and E-biking with the Chainsaws. First, we got that really massive one on Green near the Station Road lot. (Hiked in my biggest 25" saw for that one). Then I repositioned to the Saxton Falls trailhead where we cleared Hally Toe and Tally Ho. Tuetonic got the upper smaller ones, and I focused on the bigger ones. I repositioned one more time to the Tilcon lake crossover and cleared one quite dangerous one on the Tilcon lake Trail. This one hidden right at the bottom of the steep drop. (Thanks to another passing rider for that intel). To our knowledge, we're all caught up in Stephens. But knowing it's been windy, I'm sure there's a few more we're not tracking yet. Lots of thanks to Teutonic for the assist and most excellent intel, and for the inspiration to go out today.
Nice job hiking in the big saw! I was rushing back on the bike to try and beat the car, but also came across a few handsaw cuts to clear en route. The live intel from Eric helped as well as me finding one on Hally en route to Green. Like Ed said, I'd consider Stephens clear at this point and I'll mark all my posts above to reflect that. Here's an action shot:
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Came across a few today. This one is a bit of a mess, but since the trail goes where I drew the line, it may not be too bad.
**CLEARED**
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It was so cold out this morning that I didn't take a picture of this one (gloves, etc were PITA), but I'd say ~8" dia straight across the trail here as well:
**CLEARED**
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Forgot to mention that the wooden jump on Trestle has a board missing (minor gap) that should be addressed. Not sure if the board was underneath and just needs to be refastened or if both new fasteners and board are required.
 
Good snow conditions today for the fat bike, enjoyed following the tracks that a few others had cut in the other day. The Maze was a little Chewed up as it looked like some skinny tires tried to have a go at it. Still a good a day, go get some. Best of all no tree’s to report!!
 
I did the loop below this morning. The lake trail is deadly and the maze was a bobsled run under 1” of new snow. If you anticipated that everything was icy - it was a fun added challenge. Glad I got out and got some miles in.


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Well, we gave it a go, but ultimately failed! Teutonic and I tried to take advantage of today’s glorious weather to knock out some obstructions. We didn’t know how the trail conditions would present, so we brought both hiking gear and biking gear. The known obstructions are widely scattered, so we intended to reposition a few times. We met at the RR Crossing @ 10:15am and found it to be completely unrideable and marginally safe to hike on. We hiked over to the single obstruction just a few hundred yards in on the lower maze, and cleared it. But that’s when we agreed to abort the mission entirely for another day. We acknowledge that conditions vary in different areas of the park, and maybe we’d have had more success approaching from the upper part of the park (Station road or Natalie Drive). But we decided not to push it and reconvene another day when trails are clearer. Hang in there folks. We’ll get it done sooner or later.
 

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