Western: Ionia

[Special Goodness]

Saturday, March 17, 2007

I stayed clear of the shorter loop and the first .8 miles of the long loop. I ended up with just less than 5 miles on the trail. I think I probably walked about a mile. There are still sections covered with snow. There are many soft and muddy sections. If you can ride in the morning while the ground is still frozen, you?re probably fine to ride. I found lots of branches on the trail and a couple small trees down. Overall, the trail is in pretty good shape. Most of the holes from the horse that someone road on the trail last fall are 70-80% filled in. If you absolutely have to ride after the morning thaw, PLEASE walk your bike around the wet sections. I saw lots of tracks through the mud. A little bit more time and this trail will be ready for the season. It?s just not quite there yet.

[pathfinder]

Sunday, April 1

Rode the Short Loop on the west side, and it has about 3 soft spots, very small, and that was after Saturday's Rain. The east loop is still pretty muddy. West loops look good.

[Special Goodness]

Muddy. Avoid.

[rmidd]

Rode it Sunday (4/15) and the 5.8 mile loop was great. Couple of mud puddles. The smaller loop was very muddy and should be avoided.

[Special Goodness]

4/29/07
West loop was pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good. The new log ramp is a bit strange. It's not very well built. Log ramps are cool, but I hope this one goes away.

Didn't try the East loop.

[Gary]

5/22/07

Trail is in excellent shape, weeds are starting to make their way onto the trail. Ticks are very populous this time of year, make sure to take a good look when done riding. I put that log pile back in, if riders don't like it, pull it out, some like it, some don't.

[Special Goodness]

I did the west loop today, between rain, and it was in surprisingly good shape. It wasn?t too wet, but who knows now. I nearly endoed when I ran into a log across the trail at the bottom of the first hill. I tried to move everything that seemed dangerous, but there is still a lot of trash down from the trees.

There may be a pair of geese and some little ones nesting along the outbound section between the shortcut and the turn around. Be cautious. I?ve heard stories about geese being protective of their offspring.

The grass is really overgrown, and you can?t see the trail at all in some places. This further complicates things when there may be large fallen branches hiding in the tall grass. Depending on my schedule and the weather, I may go out and try to thrash some of the worst sections (thorn patch, the meadow area after the pines, the pines, basically all of the meadow areas) this weekend. Speaking of the thorn patch, there is a tree down?kinda. It?s 12-14 inches in diameter, and it broke off 10 or 12 feet off the ground. The ?trunk? section is still standing, and so is the top. The top is still completely vertical, and is sitting, dead center, in the middle of the trail. It looks like it just grew there. I imagine it?s pretty unstable, so be carefull!

[paydirt_07]

I was wondering what the trail conditions were for this weekend.

[Special Goodness]

The trail tread is fantastic as of 8ish last night. However, there is a lot of overgrown grass. I think it's still very enjoyable, and I recorded a new personal best at this trail last weekend.

[icer]

Overgrown grass is an understatement. I rode yesterday morning and the grass was so thick in places you couldn't see the trail..... or the rocks. The combination led to a spectacular endo. Good thing the grass was there to break my fall.

[guyb]

There has now been a great deal of work done on the trail--78 people hours yesterday.

The trail has now been trimmed. No more person eating grass, briars, and sumac. Also the small loop has been rerouted.

Give it a ride; the difference is amazing!

[killercarbon98]

Check out the NCT group ride and camp out on the Forum page. This weekend on the best section of NCT. Bring your fav beer and ride on!

[paydirt_07]

Trail is good shape. 1st time I've. been there this year.

There are a couple of downed trees. 1st one is just past the bridge, coming out of the beginner's loop into the next section. Sorry, I don't recall exactly where the 2nd one was.

[x98myers7]

i rode ionia this weekend. it's a decent trail. it's slow and has TONS of rocks everywhere. conditions were just "OK". grass is getting quite overgrown again.

there's one sweet obstacle (huge rock drop-off before the old sheriffs building) but otherwise... not worth the $6 to me. i'll drive up to EC next time

[brie_boy]

Why did they reverse the small loop direction at Ionia? How long has it been routed this way?
Rode it yesterday and I am not in favor of the change. It just does not flow very well.
I think trails are typically designed to be ridden one direction and this trail is definitely one of them.
Who would have changed it; DNR or MMBA or ?
I started wondering if some smart *beep* had just switched the signs!