KleinCrazy
07-12-2004, 10:34 AM
Ok All,
The Southern Loop at Salem Hills / Harmon Park are now open for your riding pleasure. Please come out and give them a try and help hold back the growth of the Wildflowers.
Please leave comments, questions, concerns, recommendation as feed back to this post.
Directions to trail.
The Trailhead is located at Salem Hills Park in Inver Grove Heights. Just south of 494 between the Robert Street and Hwy 52 Exits.
The trailhead is at the Gold Star Locationon the map below.
http://www.morcmtb.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=93&stc=1
At this time the Complete trail is not finished and thus We do not have an accurate trail map. We hope to have the loop done by the end of the year.
As you face west from the parking lot, the trailheads are just south of where the blacktop trail turns down toward the tennis court.
The Northern Entrance leads to the trail that was built last year during the Hot Spots Program. It heads north though the woods behind the Tennis courts. It dead ends in the Balckberry fields but can be linked back to where you started using the mowed neighboorhood trails.
The Southern Entrance is tricky. Head down it for about 50 feet and you will come to a crossing, if you go straight it will dead end in about 80 feet. Back at the crossing and head south.
As you start down the hill toward the pond, the trail will split. This the start of the southern loop. Go RIGHT!!! West and follow the trail loop around Counterclockwise. This southern loop totals about 3.0 miles at this time and when the northern loop is complete we should have a total of about 5. We hav not yet completed the Boardwalk on the east side of the pond so after the downhill on the way back north be carefull.
Multiple laps are the thing to do here, Cadence and speed can be kept very high due to the openess and flow of the trail, along with long sightlines. Sharp corners were kept at a minimum and only included where needed to slow a rider down. There is one section of easy to ride rocks, more like paving then anything, and no obstacles in this trail.
This trail was built as beginner to intermediate trail though the fast you go the harder it will get. Technically there is nothing much harder than the beginner loop at Lebnanon, however there is more climbing and tighter singletrack involved.
Thanks again to all who came out and helped to get this trail built, and hopefully everyone will enjoy a change of pace with the type of riding this trail provides.
Just remember, we still have some work to do here and improvements to make to both the trailhead, northern trail, boardwalks, and signage, so give us the time we need to polish it up before you really hammer us.
Please get ahold of me if you have any questions, ideas, etc.
kleincrazy@comcast.net
(612) 207-7102 can always be reached at this number.
If you would like a guided tour around the trail, please feel free to contact me. I live 10 minutes away by bike!
I am still trying to determine 1 VERY important factor on the trail and I need lots of user imput to help me.
Thanks all.
James
Salem Hills / Harmon Park Trail Steward.
The Southern Loop at Salem Hills / Harmon Park are now open for your riding pleasure. Please come out and give them a try and help hold back the growth of the Wildflowers.
Please leave comments, questions, concerns, recommendation as feed back to this post.
Directions to trail.
The Trailhead is located at Salem Hills Park in Inver Grove Heights. Just south of 494 between the Robert Street and Hwy 52 Exits.
The trailhead is at the Gold Star Locationon the map below.
http://www.morcmtb.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=93&stc=1
At this time the Complete trail is not finished and thus We do not have an accurate trail map. We hope to have the loop done by the end of the year.
As you face west from the parking lot, the trailheads are just south of where the blacktop trail turns down toward the tennis court.
The Northern Entrance leads to the trail that was built last year during the Hot Spots Program. It heads north though the woods behind the Tennis courts. It dead ends in the Balckberry fields but can be linked back to where you started using the mowed neighboorhood trails.
The Southern Entrance is tricky. Head down it for about 50 feet and you will come to a crossing, if you go straight it will dead end in about 80 feet. Back at the crossing and head south.
As you start down the hill toward the pond, the trail will split. This the start of the southern loop. Go RIGHT!!! West and follow the trail loop around Counterclockwise. This southern loop totals about 3.0 miles at this time and when the northern loop is complete we should have a total of about 5. We hav not yet completed the Boardwalk on the east side of the pond so after the downhill on the way back north be carefull.
Multiple laps are the thing to do here, Cadence and speed can be kept very high due to the openess and flow of the trail, along with long sightlines. Sharp corners were kept at a minimum and only included where needed to slow a rider down. There is one section of easy to ride rocks, more like paving then anything, and no obstacles in this trail.
This trail was built as beginner to intermediate trail though the fast you go the harder it will get. Technically there is nothing much harder than the beginner loop at Lebnanon, however there is more climbing and tighter singletrack involved.
Thanks again to all who came out and helped to get this trail built, and hopefully everyone will enjoy a change of pace with the type of riding this trail provides.
Just remember, we still have some work to do here and improvements to make to both the trailhead, northern trail, boardwalks, and signage, so give us the time we need to polish it up before you really hammer us.
Please get ahold of me if you have any questions, ideas, etc.
kleincrazy@comcast.net
(612) 207-7102 can always be reached at this number.
If you would like a guided tour around the trail, please feel free to contact me. I live 10 minutes away by bike!
I am still trying to determine 1 VERY important factor on the trail and I need lots of user imput to help me.
Thanks all.
James
Salem Hills / Harmon Park Trail Steward.