Bear Brook Trail Work - Free Camping, Food and Lead Rides Oct 18th and 19th

[Husqvarna]

Hi All!
Come join the Southern NH chapter of NEMBA for their annual Fall trail maintenance weekend at Bear Brook State Park on October 18th and 19th. We will be meeting at the hiker/biker parking lot both days at 9 AM. We will work until about 1PM, have lunch (pizza and drinks provided!) and then go for an intermediate level mountain bike ride. Saturday evening we will have a cook out in the campground. The campground will be open for camping for anyone wishing to camp Friday and Saturday night. This is always a great time, and a nice way to work, play and have fun! This year we are planning on finishing the turnpiking on the Chipmunk trail along with a boardwalk in the campground. If time permits we will clean up some of the lesser used trails in the park. Bring gloves, work clothes, and water. We will provide the rest of the tools. Don't forget your bike if you want to join the ride!

Directions: Bear Brook State Park is located on Deerfield Road in Allenstown, NH. Access is via Route 28 in Allenstown. Turn onto Deerfield Road at the State Park sign. Drive approximately 3 miles to Podunk Road (also a State Park sign at this corner). Turn right onto Podunk Road. Take the third right (the first two are driveways) and drive down the short hill into the hiker/biker parking lot.

Contact Kathy with any questions at holvetcen@earthlink.net.

Thanks! Hope to see you there!

[Husqvarna]

If you missed the Bear Brook Boogie or didn't get enough of this great park this past weekend, this trail work weekend is another great opportunity to Camp for Free, and Ride.

The plans are coming together, Southern NH NEMBA has the entire campground for Friday and Saturday nights. This is going to be another great weekend of working and riding. Bring the work gloves and the bike.

[woodsguy]

Sounds good. I'll probably be there.

[Husqvarna]

Sounds good. I'll probably be there.

Excellent, hope to see you there. We'll try to include some of Bear Brooks unmapped gems in the ride for you. If you like the KT, your going to love Bear Brook. Its slightly more technical, just enough to keep your attention, but flowy.

The more hands we have for work, the more time we have for rides.

[Badcrumble]

If you like the KT, your going to love Bear Brook. Its slightly more technical, just enough to keep your attention, but flowy.


I like KT...I like technical.....maybe I'll join you too

[woodsguy]

Saturday evening we will have a cook out in the campground. The campground will be open for camping for anyone wishing to camp Friday and Saturday night.

I am looking forward to this. I have a couple of questions tho. What (if any) food will be provided for the Saturday night cookout? Is the entire campground open or just a certain area? And am I to just go in an claim a spot?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Husqvarna]

I am looking forward to this. I have a couple of questions tho. What (if any) food will be provided for the Saturday night cookout? Is the entire campground open or just a certain area? And am I to just go in an claim a spot?

Thanks,
Kevin

I'm only planning for the trailwork projects. You may want to call Kathy and check with her about camping. The campground is closed for the year, so it will only be people there for the TM. Water has been left on for us, so showers bathrooms are are functional for the weekend. Food, last year it was grilled chicken and kabobs, plus some salads and beverages. Not sure who Kathy has planning the food this year.

[woodsguy]

Cool, I will send her an email. I need to know if I need to bring any food and where to camp. I will post here what I learn.

Kevin

[Husqvarna]

I took a ride through the campground tonight and looks like a few have already pitched the tents. The Bathrooms across from the softball field is open. Last year we setup base camp near the softball feild. So you may want to be in that general area. Go to the left of the campstore on the pavement, straight back towards the beach and use any site thats available.

[Husqvarna]

Thanks to everyone who helped at Bear Brook this weekend. We had an excellent turnout both days. Around 25 on Saturday and about 15 on Sunday.

On Saturday we did a rebuild of the Chipmunck trail near Spruce Pond Road. We turnpiked the section closest to the road and then put in an extensive reroute to go around a 200 ft. muck hole created by a logging operation in years past. With the help of a Bobcat loader we were able to move the turnpiking materials of 2 tons of rock and 8 yards of compactible gravel to the site with a lot less back breaking. Project was completed around 1:00 as planned. With the reroutes and boardwalks installed last year combined with our efforts this year, the southend of the Chipmunck Trail is now a lot dryer and a lot more fun to ride, check it out out if your at BB.

A pizza lunch was provided after the work was complete and then most of the work party went out on a 3 hour ride on some of Bear Brooks finest singletrack. Later in the evening burgers and dogs were cooked for dinner while we held the Chapter meeting and planned for next years events.

On Sunday we accomplished a bunch of small projects. A board walk in the campground to keep some camper feet dry when they go out to site 33. On the Beaver Pond trail we repaired a section of the puncheon, a bit of rock work over the stream and a short reroute to circumvent a small muddy section of trail. From there the group split into two. One group doing some drainage work by reopening a rock culvert on the Bear Hill trail. The other group went to the other side of the park to do some revegetation to block off the old Catamount Trail. We wrapped up around noon, shared some leftovers from Saturday nights dinner and a few who still had a bit of energy to spare went off to ride.