Conditions on the Carriage Trail as of April 17th are still pretty wet in spots. Good for frogs — but for bikes, not so much. Good news though, is that it looks to me like the work VYCC did last year in the wet areas is really helping to drain the trail faster.
Trails are in pretty good shape. Please be considerate and do not ride if we receive a lot of rain.
Carriage Trail is still closed to mountain bikes.
Our first work day is Saturday, April 25th at 9AM. If enjoy the park please come help us out.
2015 Annual dinner
Impressive amount of volunteers last year.
Projects Completed in 2014:
• Widened pedestrian bridges with Rutland Rotary South
• Rerouted Annex
• Trillium rerouted
• Santa’s Little Helper Mud holes repaired
• Lower Giorgetti by old softball field improved RHS XC team
• Two kiosks for Carriage Trail
• Repaired fabric showing on Underdog powerline
• Installed 7 French Drains on Birches near Voldemort
• First Turn on Exit Strategy had more dirt added to it
• Small reroute on PA4J/Lonely Rock has a less abrupt turn now
• VYCC 3 weeks on Carriage Trail
• VYCC 3 weeks in the fall on Carriage Trail and in the park for a total of 6 weeks
• Ribbon cutting for Carriage Trail
• Repaired powerline on Strong Angel
• Repaired powerline on Jersey Turnpike
• French Drain installed at base of powerline on Jersey Turnpike near Arthur’s Chair
• French Drain installed on Lonely Rock
Future Projects for 2015 and beyond:
• Sore Elbow Segment 2
• Sore Elbow Segment 3
• Furlough needs TLC to prevent water running straight down it
• Shimmer needs TLC on corner to prevent trail erosion
• ‘S’ turn on PA4J near Stegosaurus needs some TLC
• Ramp VYCC started to build off PA4J to enter Strong Angel from West side needs attention
• Reroute for Santa’s near the Droopy Muffin intersection
• Boardwalk at main entrance needs to be leveled
A suggestion was made to widen the boardwalk
A suggestion of taking part of the white pine down that hangs over the boardwalk that the pileated woodpecker is working over
• Broken Handlebar Extension-anyone will to step up and help with this trail?
• Trail by Carving Bench to prevent people from walking over gardens
• Front entrance-smooth upper tier out so can be mowed
• Fabric on Overlook near the top of Root Ride
Introduced the redesigned Pine Hill Park webpage www.pinehillpartnership.org Check it out.
We need a champion to drive the Broken Handlebar Trail Extension project
We would like to extend our gratitude to Tim Vile and Ben Reller who have helped us out in many way over the years.
Our board of directors for 2015 are: Joel Blumenthal, Andy Shinn, Keith Wight, Shelley Lutz, Claus Bartenstein, Dave Jenne and Bruce Saxman.
Please use TrailHub.org to find out condition of trails.
We are hoping you can attend the Pine Hill Partnership annual meeting on Monday, March 30th at 6pm at the Godnick Ctr. We will have some great food (both vegetarian, non-vegetarian and dessert), a short business meeting along with a short slide show.
We will have a short slide show to show our accomplishments for 2014 and plans for 2015. If you are unsure of your membership dues please contact Shelley at shelley.lutz@gmail.com or 775 4867 before 8pm for your current dues status.
Please RSVP to Shelley by Wednesday, March 25th if you can attend.
These trails are now open as of May 20th. Please ride them gently as the trail tread is tender.
Exit Strategy, Lichen Rock, steep hill on Droopy leading towards Dewey Wood Rd are closed still closed as of May 10th. These trails received some TLC on our community work day and we hope to open these in another week or so.
PLEASE DO NOT RIDE THESE CLOSED TRAILS at this time.
We are all patiently waiting for the Carriage Trail to dry out. Please stay off the Carriage Trail with your mountain bike. VYCC did a lot of drainage work last year but trail still could be soft in April and May. Please be respectful of our trail that was many years in the making.
The Carriage Trail came into concept in 2007. It took us 6 years to get approval from all the landowners.
Thanks to a VTrans Grant we were able to have VYCC come in 2013 to make the Carriage Trail sustainable. VYCC returned on the same grant in 2014 and put more drainage in areas that we had problems with in the spring.
We are extremely hopeful that spring of 2015 the trail will dry out quicker so we can play on it quicker.
A huge thank you to the private and public landowners for allowing us to ‘officially’ open this trail.
Rutland Recreation holds the Droopy Pedal Race series on the 3rd Monday of the months of June, July and August. For more information please go to: https://registerb.parksreconline.com/wbwsc/rutland.wsc/wbsearch.html?wbsi=8cb32e07-8336-01a3-f613-372bf02cecc6 Enter 263052 in activity number box.
Rutland Recreation also hosts a Women’s Mountain bike clinic for the month of May on Thursday nights. Please preregister for this clinic at: https://registerb.parksreconline.com/wbwsc/rutland.wsc/wbsearch.html?wbsi=8cb32e07-8336-01a3-f613-372bf02cecc6 Enter 561041 in activity number box. For 2015 the first night will be Thursday, April 30th at 6pm.
There is a Youth Mountain bike group that starts riding June 8th on Monday and Friday nights. This is sponsored by Rutland Rec and coached by volunteers. Ride groups are established by ability levels. Each group goes out with two adult leaders. Please register for this event at registerb.parksreconline.com/wbwsc/rutland.wsc/wbsearch.html?wbsi=dc6cc87c-5d98-21af-f613-60a97097cb37&xxcim=0&xxmod=AR&xxrowid=0x0000000000154301&xxfrom=wb0330.html . Enter 23001 in activity number box.
Rutland Rec hosts a number of events during the spring, summer and fall. To find out more information on these events in the park please visit their website at www.rutlandrec.com.
Events range from the Women’s mountain bike clinic in May, to the Youth Mountain bike group during the summer, Summer Sunset 5K race series and the Droopy Pedal Mountain bike race series. For more information on these fantastic events visit www.rutlandrec.com.
This video was created by a member of the Rutland High School Year End Study’s (YES) Plan.
The people in this film are in the Mountain Bike and Trail Development, a program that can be chosen when selecting a YES Plan.
2014 Annual dinner
The Pine Hill Partnership had their annual meeting last week(March 2014) and welcomed four new board members—Keith Wight, Ben Reller, Andy Shinn and Joel Blumenthal. The officers for this year are Tim Vile as president, Keith Wight as vice president and Shelley Lutz as secretary/treasurer.
Thank you to outgoing president Michael Smith for his years of service to the park.
The Partnership are the stewards of the park and the Carriage Trail that runs from Pine Hill to Proctor. The city is very appreciative of their support for the park.
We really appreciate your support over the years.
Hope to see some of you at the spring work days.
