Senior Mountain bike race in Pine Hill Park, Saturday, June 6th at 10AM.
We have 3 great courses set up for Advanced beginner, Sport Class and Expert Class.
Hope to see you there!
We are 100% open
All of our trail system and the Carriage Trail are now open. The Carriage Trail is still a touch bit soft on the Proctor side so please be gentle on it.
The Carriage Trail needs a bunch of face slappers cut if anyone is up for some trail maintenance. From the water tower to the limbo tree is the worst section.
Volunteering opportunities
YES Plan volunteers start Thursday, June 4th through Monday, June 15th. We welcome other volunteers on these days.
Youth Works starts Monday, June 22nd. These folks will be in the park on Monday’s and Tuesday’s till August 4th. We always welcome other volunteers to join us.
These volunteer days start at 9AM in the front entrance of Pine Hill Park. Drop by and lend a hand!
Next Work Days in the park
YES Plan volunteers start Thursday, June 4th through Monday, June 15th. We welcome other volunteers on these days.
Youth Works starts Monday, June 22nd. These folks will be in the park on Monday’s and Tuesday’s till August 4th. We welcome other volunteers to join us.
These volunteer days start at 9AM in the front entrance of Pine Hill Park.
Thank you to volunteers
Thanks to these hard working volunteers on May 9th Droopy Muffin hill hopefully will open in another week.
Plant of the day…
…or maybe plant of the month is a better title.
If you visit the park in the next few days or weeks there is one plant you will not miss, even if you try! And that plant is the Canada-mayflower, also called false lily-of-the-valley.
Green. Yes! Thank you.
There are literally acres of these guys. This was along Sisyphus.
This will eventually a feathery white flower, and then red berries, A.K.A. bird food !
I shot these on a run up Sisyphus this afternoon and thought I’d pass ’em along. They’re not in bloom yet, but just the sight of all that green finally covering the forest floor will make you smile.
They will bloom in couple weeks with a cluster of white feathery flowers that will eventually turn into red berries, which are a very important source of food for birds in the park.
Yep, they’re common as heck—but their timing is impeccable in my opinion 🙂
More info:
Warblers are Here !
Spring in the park is so awesome.
Just at the time we are all back biking and running and hiking, back come all the birds and other furry critters to say “hi” for the new season.
This is a few days old, but I recorded this on my Sunday a.m. (5/3) run on Stegosaurus. For those of you curious about some of the sounds from the trees you are hearing when you’re in the park, I thought this might be interesting. (Unedited 30 second clip recorded with my phone:)
Back for 2015 are:
- Black-throated blue warbler (2 sec mark)
- Black & White Warbler, aka “the squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease bird (8 sec. mark)
- Ovenbird singing its unmistakable “teacher, teacher,teacher!” (15 sec mark) You’ll be hearing that one ALL summer long!
- Black-throated blue warbler again (17sec mark)
- Black & White Warbler again (20 sec mark)
- Black-throated blue warbler again (29 sec mark)
In the background for most of the clip are very faint Chickadee “fee-bee” songs… and my heavy breathing from just coming up the hill… sorry !
Here are some links to the birds mentioned above:
Black-throated Blue Warbler (photo above)
Want to learn more? Come to the park this Saturday at 7:00am for a bird walk with naturalist Tom Estill.
Next volunteer work days
YES Plan volunteers start Thursday, June 4th through Monday, June 15th. We welcome other volunteers on these days.
Youth Works starts Monday, June 22nd. These folks will be in the park on Monday’s and Tuesday’s till August 4th. We welcome other volunteers to join us.
These volunteer days start at 9AM in the front entrance of Pine Hill Park.
A few photos from the last few years:
Moving dirt over landscape fabric
Leaves to help solidfy trail tread
Lots of rock for base
Landscape fabric to hold dirt
Community Work Day Sept 2014. RHS XC team working with the local community folks on Overlook building a causeway.
Pulling gorse out by the roots
Clearing Exit Strategy
Working on the ‘putting green’.
Working on the front entrance
Inspirations in Nature
Great bird walk with Tom Estill in Pine Hill Park.
Next event is a Nature Hike on Saturday, July 11th at 10AM. Meet at the front entrance of Pine Hill Park.
Trails are open !
Pine Hill Park trails are open for mountain biking.
YES Plan volunteers start Thursday, June 4th through Monday, June 15th. We welcome other volunteers on these days.
Youth Works starts Monday, June 22nd. These folks will be in the park on Monday’s and Tuesday’s till August 4th. We welcome other volunteers to join us.
These volunteer days start at 9AM in the front entrance of Pine Hill Park.
Please be considerate not to ride in these conditions.
Droopy Muffin steep hill
Please do not ride on trails in this condition. Your volunteers would greatly appreciate it.