Larose Forest

[KTMgirl73]

It is now official folks, we have access to the Larose Forest (designated area only of course) on a one-year trial basis. Lets make this year count.

Now, we need to get in there and create the trail system. Volunteers will be much needed and I know it is a busy time for the club now cause of the Bogie, but I am sure we can do something.

Thanks in advance.

 

[dschultz]

This is excellent news of course!

I've already marked a 1.5km section and it won't take much to clear. Unfortunately there's no vehicle access to it yet as the ditches are deep and wet. We'll need some bridges and after working with Steve G. and crew, I know we won't have a problem with these.
Dale

 

[scott1]

Hi,

could you tell me where the entrance is to the trail system?

I'm coming in from Barrhaven.

Thanks
Scott

 

[dschultz]

Hi:
There's no trail yet. We are in the process of marking some trail to be cleared. It won't be usable until after the spring thaw at the earliest.
Dale

 

[garry499]

Id love to help out with trails, etc...Who what and when.

Garry

 

[dschultz]

We are looking to have a trail clearing day Oct. 5th Anyone wishing to assist can check back here, email or PM me to let me know.
Dale

 

[dschultz]

We are on for Sunday Oct. 5th @ 09:00 to do some clearing at Larose. Attached is a link to the meeting location. I have one chainsaw but we'll need a couple of brush cutters preferably the saw blade kind to remove saplings. Bring a machete or bucksaw to remove branches, a saw is probably better.
http://tinyurl.com/4z3jcy

Dale

 

[KTMgirl73]

Thanks to everyone that came out to help - it was a really good day.

 

[dschultz]

Hi:
I was out on Sunday and marked another 4km of trail along the east side and its ready to be cleared. Now is a good time as there's only a little snow as well as being able to see where the water lays so clearing around the low spots will be easier. I did relocate a small section of trail previously cleared due to standing water, as well we'll have to do a bit of maintenance on the previous section as the high winds and heavy wet snow/ice brought down some trees and branches across the trail. I was thinking of heading out this coming Saturday or Sunday (weather permitting) if anyone would like to join me. A brush cutter would be helpful for the small saplings.
Dale

 

[dschultz]

We will meet at the stopped marked "B" (see the map link in a previous post) at 09:00 Sunday Nov. 9th.
Thanks,
Dale

 

[heavyt17]

Hi every one I am new to the site! I have recently purchased a home in Hammond and in moving outside of the city thought I would buy a off road bike again! I looked around and found a decent deal on a 2000 KX 250 only to find they are very sticky about off road bikes in this area!!! Growing up in northern Ontario this was not a problem as there was not any established trails. there was not a lot of need for heavy policing that combined with youth and stupidity we were free to run almost anyware out of town I.E back roads,trails,pits well you get the point! I have quickly learned that they have a decent ATV network here I of course thought well if it's open to ATV's it must be open to off road bikes!!! Well was I wrong I started to read the bylaws and quickly learned ATV only and very well enforced!!! I thought I was out of luck and would have to drive hours to find trails to ride when I found this post. And I must say I am ecstatic to find out there will be trails here this year and am very interested in helping make it happen!!! would love to go help blaze trails so please let me know if I can help and where and when!! I am also wondering how big of a trail system you guys are planning for larose this year?

 

[attaboy]

Hi there,
It's Chris from Orleans. I joined the BMA about week ago and want to participate in building/maintaining the new Enduro trail system in Larose Forest. Thanks to KTMgirl for some good "political" work! If I can't be present for "organized maintenance days" let me know what can be done I will go there on my own and keep the forum updated. Thanks

 

[dschultz]

Hi all:
There's a meeting with the users about the forest this week. We'll have something to report back after that.

As for clearing, there's some trail marked from last year that still needs clearing but I haven't been out to check the state of the ground, to see how wet it is or if there's still snow. I'll get out there for an inspection and report back on the conditions and when clearing can resume.
Dale

 

[dschultz]

FYI,
Ed and I met with Nick (Forest Manager) last night for a trail review. We walked pretty much all of the trail that had been cleared to this point. We have some work to do on the existing cleared trail such as removing downed trees, moving a couple of short trail sections over a few meters, corduroying the soft areas, adding bridges over ditches and shallow ravines, and corduroying the approaches to bridges over the shallow ravines. Nick has indicated that the use of the small plastic arrows with aluminum nails is fine, as well as the larger OFTR signs. He also indicated that we are welcome to use dead trees or trees in poor health to make the bridges and corduroy areas. There is lots of material, so the human effort will be the biggest factor in getting this done.

The roadway to the starting area has had both of its culverts washout pretty bad, and they've been patched up. The road has at least 15 cm of mud on it right now so fixing the culverts won't happen until the road dries out. The start area is only accessible by 4 wheel drive truck but Nick is concerned about damage happening to the roadbed while its wet. So the other option is to walk to the start area about 0.5km in (plus into the trail). We are a couple of weeks away from the road drying out and having reasonable access to the start area.
Dale