03/11/2025
Historic Hiking Trail Report, from 3/8/2025 (Saturday)
My friend Aaron and I rode on the Historic Hiking Trail (aka Brown's Camp, aka Roger's Camp) last Saturday. The first picture is Aaron and I, at the start, in the Roger's parking lot.
That parking lot, at 10AM, was surprisingly full with motos. There was still room to park, though. I'd estimate the lot was 3/4 full?
It wasn't very wet or muddy in the parking area, which bode well for the trail.
We went clockwise, as is the normal direction, from the parking lot. Aaron was looking forward to trying the new ending section of the trail, even though I told him it added maybe a 100 feet of climbing at the end of the ride.
We soon started coming across what would be the first of many trees across the trail. The first 2 or 3 we came across were not too difficult, so we removed them.
Side Note: Please get and carry a saw with you this time of year, on these types of trails. Somebody has to remove those trees, and ODF is understaffed, overwhelmed, and their policies don't allow regular people to(like me) to help. Only "clubs" are allowed.
The section of the trail that can be wet year around was, indeed, wet. But surprisingly not *that* wet. I had my waterproof boots on, so I didn't care, but Aaron was grumbling a bit. 😃
The tail surface was littered, almost everywhere, with branches and greenery that had been torn from the trees. In some places I have to admit we just rode over the crap on the trail. If we wanted to clear all of it, we couldn't have finished the loop before dark. But in some places it was either so thick it had be cleared, or it would grab Aaron's derailleur or mine, and we had to stop and punish it.
All in all, I believe we cleared about 5 or 6 trees or tree tangles, and we skipped another 10 to 12 that were either too large to clear, or to late in the ride for us the have energy left.
In case you're still following along, when we got to the new section at the end of the trail, it was just as hard as I remember it. I thought my legs might actually give out. I feel sorry now for giving friends s**t, over the years, when they rode this trail and complained it was hard. Saturday, for Aaaron and I, it was indeed hard. And there were even trees down in this last section, despite the fact that we were maybe 100 yards from the parking lot. 😯
So get out there and enjoy! I look forward to the trail reports from others!
