It was a cold morning out at Poston Park! More work done today and some trail recon as well. We started the day finishing up the connector trail that will allow us to stay off the powerline cut. Ben and I worked on benching the rest of the climb while Scott and Carlton finished cutting the trail up to where it attaches into the existing trail-bed. Once that work was complete we hiked up into the hills on the lower side of Spencer Mountain to scout out new trail. Although we do not have access/permission to build up the mountain (maybe one day) some of Poston Park's parcel does still sit on a pretty significant portion of the bottom slope of the mountain. We spent an hour or so walking the land and trying to figure the best layout for a trial in this section of forest. We will probably examine it a few more times and tape off multiple options before we cut trail; coming up with a good layout in this hillside terrain will be difficult and it's nothing to rush. The real challenge will be figuring a route back out of the hollar that's doable. This climb is guaranteed to be the worst at Poston...or best if you're into that type of thing!

The Catawba Lands Conservancy has permanently protected another 300 acres in Gaston County on the outskirts of Stanley along Mountain Island Lake! While that doesn't mean that pieces of land like this will ever hold mountain bike trails or greenways it does leave that possibility open and more importantly means they will never be commercially developed. That's good news for those of us who hope for continued land access and recreational opportunities in our surrounding communities. Be sure to thank the Catawba Lands Conservancy for everything they do and join their FACEBOOK group so you can keep up with their amazing work.

Here's an article explaining more about the latest conservation: Conservancy adds 300 acres to lake’s protection | Mountain Island Weekly

So we’ve been pretty excited about having a rideable loop out at Poston again! Although the trail still is not getting tons of action yet (finding your way onto the trail is still a bit weird) quite a few of us have been enjoying the new hacked together loop. One of the things we had decided to do (I’ll take the blame for this one) is ride in on the powerline cut from the back parking lot. Seemed like a good idea at the time however after a few nice freeze/thaws and rain that powerline cut is perma-nasty. A week back we did a night ride and by the time we got to the trail from the powerline our bikes were locked down with sticky red clay. The new plan was to scout a way into the loop without using the powerline cut which in this particular section of the woods at Poston is quite a challenge because of the local relief…we’re talking major steep hillsides. After a good 10 minutes or so debating on the right line we stumbled on a deer trail and the decision was made for us; deer always choose the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance in this case is still gonna be a pretty nasty climb but hey that’s Poston…deal with it. :)

(above: nice fresh bench cut on the new "Magnolia Hill" climb)

Thanks to Blair, Calvin, and Scott for coming out this morning and working on this section, we got a lot done and even got to see a little snow. Next week we should be able to finish up this connector. The more the merrier so come on out and give us a hand if you’re free.

More great work was done this morning at Poston. A new short section of trail was cut which allowed us to tie two old sections together. The (old) trail is all sliced up right now because of the lake however reclaiming and using existing pieces of segmented trail to create new runs of singletrack is providing nice quick mileage. A few hours of work with a small crew lead to an extra half mile or so of distance! Once that work was done we added signage along the entire new route to make sure following the trail will be fairly easy even for a first time visitor. Thanks to Blair, Calvin, and Scott for coming out and helping with today's project. Plenty more work days to come so all who are interested be sure to keep an eye on the Trail Projects Forum which is where all trail work days are posted. In the mean time get out and ride the trail, it needs the traffic to pack it back in and get the speed up!

Calvin, Scott, and Blair cutting new trail to tie two old sections together...