When: Sunday June 13, meet 8:30 AM, work until noon
Where: Mt. Jacob Cemetery entrance, Fernald St., West Gloucester MA Map

The last NSNEMBA Trail Care event for Spring 2010, originally scheduled for Willowdale SF, will be held at Tompson St. Reservation in West Gloucester MA. This Essex County Greenbelt property is home to the Bruce and Tom’s trail system. We will be refining some lines in the Sunset Mountain area, relocating some trail sections, armoring a few spots, and performing general maintenance.

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North Shore NEMBA will be participating at the National Trails Day Celebration at Bradley Palmer State Park, Topsfield MA, Saturday June 5. The event is located at the Bradley Palmer headquarters area. Map

NSNEMBA will be building a section of new trail and associated boardwalk in the morning from 8:30 to 11:30 AM. The project is located on the Willowdale Mill Reservation managed by Essex County Greenbelt Association. (more…)

Join us for a cooperative Trail Work Day with Andover Trails Committtee. Project is repairing several wet areas on the “Great Swamp Trail” in between Grey Road and Tucker Road in Andover MA. (more…)

NSNEMBA’s new trail in Harold Parker State Forest is complete and ready to ride. It features some flowing singletrack and some optional technical features not typical for HP.

To find the trail make your way to the Bay Circuit Trail, marked with white blazes. Follow the BCT toward 114, crossing Middleton St. near the picnic pavilion and the entrance to Andover Sportsman’s Club. The sound of gunfire from their firing range is often heard and can get you headed in the right direction. About ½ mile north of Middleton Rd. Lock ‘n’ Load starts by heading west on an old woods road, marked with blue arrow blazes.

After gaining some elevation, the singletrack starts. Soon you will find some rolls and drops, some with multiple options. Do look at some these features closely before attempting to ride them.  There are easy lines around anything serious (if headed north stay left for the tamer lines). While the trail works in either direction, south to north makes best use of the terrain.

From the northern end of the L ‘n’ L, you can loop south through the backyard trails and the Ledges Trail back to Middleton St. or head out toward 114 on the Bay Circuit.

The trail was mostly built in 2 work days with 14 volunteers each day. Countless additional hours were put in by a core crew in preparation for the trail days and final completion of remaining details. Thanks to all who contributed to the creation of another great trail in Harold Parker.

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The trail work day planned for Tompson St. Reservation this coming Sunday May 2 has been postponed. We hope to get a project organized for Sunday June 13. The warm and dry forecast for the weekend should make for good riding conditions, so get out and enjoy. Next trail project is in Andover Sunday May 16. Then National Trails Day at Bradley Palmer State Park June 5.

“Lock and Load” is the unofficial name for the latest NSNEMBA addition to the trail system at Harold Parker State Forest. Picture winding your way though some of the most challenging HP trail features yet with the sound of gunfire from the firing range to keep you moving.

It’s a pretty ambitious effort, so we have 2 days back to back April 10 and 11, with a good possibility of a 3rd on April 24. 2000′ of rocky sidehill to traverse with new singletrack (lots of benching and rock work), several boardwalks to haul in and construct, rehab an old woods road. With plenty to do, we are hoping for a lot of help.

Joe and some slackers have been out getting it all ready.

roll or huck?

When: Saturday 4/10 and Sunday 4/11, 8:30 AM start to about noon – 1PM.
Where: Meet/park at the DCR Picnic Pavilion, Middleton St., North Andover MA Map
Bring: Sturdy footwear, work gloves, your own digging tools, bug spray, water bottle
Contact: Dan Streeter  trailwork@nsnemba.org  978-618-8596
Lunch will be provided and a ride will follow, weather permitting.
Only heavy rain will cancel. Cancellations/updates will be posted to mtb-northshore email list and the NEMBA forums. Call if lost or you have questions.

Hope to see you there.

We held our first trail care event of the year at Harold Parker State Forest today. The weather was much better than expected. A little damp & misty but no significant rain. We had a very good turnout, twenty or so volunteers, especially considering the gloomy forecast. Quite a few North Shore members showed up along with a number of individuals from The Andover Trails Committee.

The plan was to do some work along the Bay Circuit Trail where it crosses Jenkins Rd. A large boardwalk was constructed on the east side of Jenkins where recent beaver activity had flooded the trail. Some of the NS members helped haul lumber from Jenkins Road to the work site. However, the ATC members took responsibility for building this large boardwalk. While most of the ATC members built the large boardwalk, everyone else headed over to the west side of Jenkins to build a smaller plank boardwalk, close down an old trail, and perform some routine drainage work.

Last September, NS NEMBA rerouted the trail heading west from Jenkins towards the glacial erratic (Details of this Project). During the September project, we closed down a portion of the original trail that went through a large pit. However, we left open the remainder of the original trail. Today, some of the volunteers spent time closing down the original trail. Also, along the September reroute is an intersection for a trail that heads towards Skug Reservation. The very beginning of this Skug Reservation Trail can be very muddy, so a short plank boardwalk was built over this muddy section.

The planned work for the west side was wrapped up very quickly today. So once completed, we checked on the progress of the large boardwalk and then headed back to the Jenkins parking lot to perform some routine work on the Root Ball trail. This is the trail that begins just beyond the open area near the parking lot.

Our next trail day is on April 25th and will also take place at Harold Parker. Details