WMRR Looking Into Early
Trail Opening
Updated: December 4th, 2007
Here are some of the problems the White Mountain Ridge Runners are dealing with in opening their trails early in the Berlin area.
Landowner Issues
A lot of the WMRR trails are in Jericho Mt. Park which is owned by the State so getting permission to open the trails in the Park is not a problem. But what about the adjourning landowners? All trails exiting from the Park would have to be signed as closed until the club could be sure that all adjacent landowners are OK with opening the trails early and all gates are open.
Parking
The State parking lot has not been plowed yet so the club needs to make arrangements for that since plowing was not going to start until Dec. 15th.
Logging
The loggers were about a week away from being done hauling wood out of the Park. So now some of the main trails in and out of the park had to be plowed. Is there enough snow cover for sleds to ride sleds to get to the unplowed trails? We don't know yet.
Signing
Before trails can be opened, signs must be posted warning of logging activity. Since the club thought the loggers were going to be done by Dec. 15th, no logging warning signs were posted.
Gates
Gates need to be opened and rocks need to be moved in order to open some of the trails. In some cases, the club does not have keys to landowner gates so arrangements must be made to have the landowner open their own gate or the club must borrow the key.
Summary
These are just some of the issues that clubs
all over the state are working to get resolved. Remember that club members are
riders too and they would love for the trails to open early. It just may not be
possible due to these types of issues.