August 15th, Stegosaurus will be closed for the day while we remove a couple of large dead oaks near Hour Glass Bridge. Please refrain from riding, hiking or trail running on Stego Wednesday. THANK YOU.
All posts by Tin Man
Aaron’s Air
Lower part of Aaron’s Air is temporarily closed. It is getting some much needed refurbishment. Please DO NOT ride the lower part please.
Weed whacking party
Please HELP US! Thursday, August 16th at 5:30pm. Meet at Giorgetti, bring a weed whacker, bug spray, water, headlamp and PPE(ear and eye protection).
We need YOUR help on Thursday, August 16th to help weed whack the Carriage Trail. Meet at Giorgetti and 5:30pm, we will drive up the Pond Rd with gear and hike in from there. There will be a few extra weed whackers for folks to use. We can use 15+ people to get the whole trail from Library Pass back to Rocky Pond done. Please consider coming in and helping for a couple of hours on Thursday, 8/16. Bring a head lamp.
Volunteering for Summer
Youth Works works with us every Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 to 3pm except for the week of July 4th. Anyone is welcome to join us on these days-you do not have to stay all day. We have gloves and tools for everyone. What to bring….bug spray, lots of water and food.
Wild Times report
Tom Estill’s fantastic spring report of happenings in Pine Hill Park.
Skills track
The skills course is coming in nicely. Bryan has been working hard along with Hunter. The skills course is right behind the kiosk at the main entrance.
Hunter and Liam give two thumbs on the skills course Bryan has been working on the front entrance. The small loop is not quite finished but finished enough for kids and adults to do laps on. Check it out. It’s on the knoll behind the kiosk and gardens.
Rosey’s Rock Roller
Volunteer Days
Our volunteer work days will be with RHS YES plan starting June 8th. We start at 9AM and go till about 1:30.
Monday, June 11th, 9-1:30
Wednesday, June 13th-9-1:30
Thursday, June 14th-9-1:30
Friday, June 15th-9-1:30
Monday, June 18th-9-2:30
Tuesday, June 19th-9:30-2:30
Every following Monday and Tuesday except for the week of July 4th will be 9:30-2:30.
Please email us at pinehillpartnership@gmail.com for more information.
Our project is working on a new trail that is a continuation of Jigsaw that was completed last year.
We can always use extra hands.
New skills course going in at the front entrance. Thanks to Bryan and Hunter!
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Our work day May 12th was a success in getting Exit Strategy repaired and the front entrance seeded. Exit Strategy will open May 16th in the afternoon along with Voldemort, Lichen Rock and Droopy Pedal.
Come join in on our second community work day this Saturday, May 12th from 9am to noon. We have lots of small projects to attend too. Cleaning up Exit Strategy is one.
Our first community work day saw a lot of volunteers who did a fantastic job on the front entrance. We were also able to clean out some drainage’s on the trails. The Radio Flyer wagon was a huge success with the kids moving bark mulch.
We have a skills track going in up on the knoll behind the kiosk. Hunter was there helping his dad lay the track out. This will be a great addition to the park we can’t wait to see the finished product because it sounds awesome!
Trails are Open
Update: 5/2/18: Green Mountain Power did a great job in repairing the corner on Underdog they had to drive over to replace a power pole. A little caution advised as dirt is soft in the banked corner.
Update: 5/1/18: Caution on Underdog today May 1st. Green Mountain Power is installing a new power pole and will be in the park. Come to the community work day on May 12th to help repair the corner on Underdog they will drive over.
Update: 4/26/18: Trails are open today. Remember our community work day on Saturday 4/28 at 9AM, meet at the front entrance.
Update: 4/24/18: Please no bikes. We are waiting for the rain event to pass by then we will reevaluate the trails. This rut was left by an inconsiderate rider a week ago. The rut will collect water then the dirt will slough down the hill and the banked corner slowly erodes. This in turns means more work for volunteers.
Update: 4/22/18: Please no bikes. Trails are still soft. If we have a few more sunny days like yesterday trails will dry quickly. Please be patient. Thank you.
Update: 4/20/18: It is going to be a stunning spring weekend and we know everyone wants to ride their bikes. Our trails are still too soft to allow bikes. Please be kind and refrain from riding any type of bike. The volunteers would really appreciate it. We had snow again last night so trails are not drying out fast. Weather forecast looks promising for a few sunny days that hopefully will dry the trails out. We recognize some of you ‘think’ the trails are ok to ride or you’ll walk around the soft spots. Well you know those banked corners you love to rail well they are super fragile right now. Thanks again by not riding.
Update: 4/18/18: Trails are still closed to all bikes. The trails are still extremely fragile. Bike tires create ruts that water follows and creates erosion and means more work for the volunteers. Please be considerate and do not ride. We have some nice weather coming up and hopefully trails will dry out quickly. BE PATIENT! The message is the same through out the state with trails being too soft for bikes. Thank you.
Update: 4/16/18:Trails are still closed to all bikes. We have had freezing rain and sleet that covered the ground again. This needs to melt and we need some sun to dry everything out. We’ve had very high wind today so we expect a lot of blow downs. Please send an email to pinehillpartnership@gmail.com with the location of any trees you see down. The more specific on which trail and closer to which intersection would be greatly beneficial for us. Thanks.
Update: 4/14/18: Trails are still extremely fragile. PLEASE NO BIKES at this time. We are monitoring the trails daily. Thank you for not riding at this time. If you are looking for exercise you could help us out by cleaning out drainage’s.
Update: 4/13/18: PLEASE BE PATIENT! NO BIKES PLEASE. Our weather report for the weekend is not exactly conducive for drying our trails out.
Update: 4/6/18: PLEASE NO BIKES! The ground is not fully un-thawed. We have more snow on the ground now that earlier today. Trails are going to take a while to completely un-thaw and firm up. Please be patient to ride your bike. Go for a hike and clean drainage’s out or pick up all the small sticks that came down in the wind the other night. Volunteers do all the work in the park, please be kind to them by staying off the trails.
Update: 4/2/18:Please NO bikes. We still have some snow, frost on and in the ground. Until that is gone no bikes please. Looking at weather report that could be a couple of weeks. If you want some exercise take a hike and help clean out some drainage’s or pick up all the small sticks that came down in the wind the other night. That would really help especially with the rain in the forecast. A volunteer over the weekend did some serious cleaning on the drainage in the pic above.
Update: 4/1/18: Please NO skinny tires. Fat bikes are ok if it’s well below 28 degrees and NO SUN! Please, please, please be smart on riding your bike. Everyone in the state is in the same boat with freeze/thaw cycles. Trails are extremely fragile!
Update: 3/28/18: Trails are a mixed bag of frozen snow (if below freezing) and open areas that receive sun. We ask all bikes not to ride if temps are above 28, especially if the sun is out. Thanks. Sounds like early April we could have more winter like conditions.
Update: 3/12/18: Trails are primarily snow covered and will have another fresh coating of snow today/tomorrow. Rutland is in the 5-8″ range.
Update: 2/27/18: Trails are extremely tender with the freeze/thaw cycles are are experiencing. Please NO bikes of any kind when sun is out and temps are above 28 degrees. Hikers please walk though the mud and not around as it widens the trail. Voldemort is closed till late spring.
Update: 2/23/18: Major melt mid-week left us with mud, dirt, ice, slush, snow. Please NO bikes if temps are above 28 as the trails are starting to unthaw where the sun hits them all day. Please be kind to our trail system.
Update: 2/18: We had TONS of snow in early February. Skiing, snowshoeing was awesome. Now we’ve had a week of warm. About 4″ of snow 2/17- on top of firm but not super icy crust. We have had rain and warm last week so condense snow pack.
Point being conditions are all over the place for the next week to 10 days. Long range weather is saying early March could bring us a stormy pattern. We will see. It’s Vermont, wait a day if you don’t like the weather.
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Fat biking is ok, studs highly recommended as of January 29, 2018. There is a lot of ice, hard packed snow, frozen dirt. If you’re hiking micro spikes really recommended and sprayed with silicone of PAM spray to keep the snow from sticking to them.
News From 2018 Annual Dinner
Here is the slide show presented at our Annual Dinner held last Monday (3/26). We’ve added a photo reel of some the the cool things happening in our park.
At the Annual Dinner we had some great guest speakers that told us what is going on in their neck of the woods. Minutes of the meeting are posted too. Enjoy.
2018 Photo Reel
Annual Dinner Presentation Slides
[tribulant_slideshow]