Rain and The River Bottoms

[bradpartyka]

Any one know if the water is high enough for the raft to work yet?

[reedallan]

I rode on Monday night and the raft was not yet working properly. I still crossed but it wasn't an easy task. The rain from last night and today should help at least make it a little easier to cross. The trail was also very tacky and wet in places but other sections were very dry. With the rain yesterday and today I wouldn't suggest riding on it for a few days. Hopefully someone will post an update on the trail conditions. :beer_yum:

[bradpartyka]

Has anyone tried the raft since the rain? Is it moving any better?

[SPR]

Rode the river bottoms yesterday and the raft looks pretty dead in the water.
Don't know if last night's rain will help.

[bradpartyka]

We rode the river bottoms yesterday and it was fun. I didn't realize they had all of those log crossings down there. It was a lot more technical than I thought it was. Of course you can avoid all of the technical parts if you want to. I really was expecting pure flat single track. I will be riding there a lot more.

From a map it looks like I can pick up the trail in Burnsville @ the state park on Black Dog Road under the Cedar Bridge. Does anyone know if you can do that?

[cheese4brains]

The raft is useable again. I crossed by myself w/o incident, but another rider and I theorized that several people could make it across now simultaneously if they know what they're doing.

The usual areas (just a few) were muddy yesterday, and they probably won't dry out completely for another day or so assuming we don't get any rain. Most of the trail is dry, although it was a bit tacky once you got under the canopy where the sun don't shine. The worst area is actually the "gravel" road to the west of 35W. :sick: I've noticed that the trail is taking longer to dry out with the successive rains we've been getting. It seems to take 2 dry days to get back to tacky now where as it only took one day a couple weeks ago.

The weeds are knee-high and the bugs are minimal. With the recent rains, the sandy areas are tame again.

There's a tree that appears to have fallen down a bit just to the east of the raft. It's manageable assuming you remember to duck :shocked:

[BADEXPRESSO]

Correct, yesterday we had 4 people on at one time and 3 another time. No problems crossing.

[TrailPatrol]

The worst area is actually the "gravel" road to the west of 35W. :sick: I've noticed that the trail is taking longer to dry out with the successive rains we've been getting.
And it's supposed to rain again tonight.

The water table is finally getting back closer to normal, so it takes the surface soils longer to evaporate out. While it was so dry, the land was drinking up everything that fell on it...and that is in the river's flood plain, with a pretty high water table.

The road has a related problem; years of getting packed down by traffic, which causes slower absorbtion, and the previously mentioned high water table. Makes really good mud, though!:crazy2:

I am headed down there as soon as I sign off here. (First ride on the new bike!:cool: ) I'll let you know what I find.

Ride safe,
:banana:
Hans

[iceskier]

Anyone been down to the river bottoms to see how the trails have held up/doing with all the rain lately? :confused: I was possibly going to ride tonight.:banana: Not if it is wet though. Thanks!!

[socrates]

Anyone been down to the river bottoms to see how the trails have held up/doing with all the rain lately? :confused: I was possibly going to ride tonight.:banana: Not if it is wet though. Thanks!!
RB typically holds water longer than any other trail in the area.....I would say it's probably pretty wet and will be until the weekend