Chasing Colors

Monday was the first "real" taste of Fall weather here. This past weekend we went from the 90's to it being 40°F when I stepped out the door to ride on Monday morning. The brisk Northwest wind made it really feel like the seasons had changed. 

It is about this time of year when I get that feeling that I need to do my "pilgrimage" ride. The ride through the Green Belt which I do every year to mark three things in my life. 

One is the recognition of my introduction to mountain bikes. The Green Belt is where I learned to off-road and it is where I took my first mountain bike to ride it in the late 1980's. 

The second reason I feel the need to do this ride is to enjoy the peak Fall colors. I don't always hit on the perfect time, but I try! I also very much enjoy riding single track in the Fall, so that tracks for me as well.

Finally, I use this ride to assess the condition of the Marky-Mark Trail, a single track connector trail I helped put in the Green Belt with an assist from another friend named Mark. While I did the bulk of the work, I didn't do all of it. Still, I consider this trail to be my work up until this day, 27 years after it was put in. The once or twice a year check is done just to make sure the trail is passable and still there. (Sometimes I do a Spring checkup on Marky-Mark also)

The colors weren't too impressive in the Green Belt until I started coming up on the maple grove.

A little better color here.

This year the maples are popping but everything else is kind of muted. I think the drier latter half of Summer and all of Fall has had a poor effect on some trees and therefore the colors have been negatively affected. Just a guess on my part there, but many trees have dried up leaves and they just are not getting much beyond a pale yellow or brown for color this Fall. 

A monster branch which probably blew down over the weekend.

I came across a branch which had busted off an old ,maple about 25feet up in the air and which had fallen across the trail. We had major gusty winds Sunday, so I am betting that this was felled by a nasty gust then. The tree it came off of had already been damaged previously, and by the looks of it, the tree wasn't well internally. I am no tree doctor, but I have slept in a Holiday Inn before! (IYKYK)

I bet that branch made a mighty crashing noise when it came down from the approximately 25feet high place on the tree where it broke off. Glad I was nowhere near when it did come down! 

The West end of Marky-Mark is looking swell here.

As is the East end of Marky-Mark!

Marky-Mark isn't the name I gave this bit of trail that might be what? A half a mile long, maybe? I don't know, as I've never measured it that I recall. Anyway, I did not name it. Another former resident of the area did that, and I have come to use that name as it fits the trail well, I think. 

I found the trail in remarkably great condition. I moved one small blow-down and there is another that is no big deal, but too big to move on my own. There is also one other place where a dead fall is hanging about ten feet above the trail that should be taken down. A half an hour and a saw would do wonders to clear that up. There are a few tiny branches that could use some trimming back, but honestly, I was surprised at how good everything looked! 

Fall colors on the shores of Green Belt Lake.

I ended up making a partial lap around the Green Belt Lake and then heading home. I may have to throw the axe and a nipper in the Big Dummy and go see about taking down that dead fall and doing a bit of clean-up in Marky-Mark, but I also have to get on some review work before it really gets cold and riding in the country is difficult or impossible. 

More soon....