horse trail2

More tough spots with mud.

The creek crossing does not control the traffic at all, so there are several trails converging/diverging on the other side.

Once past the Buckeye Trail, we run across more mud holes.

One might expect this slope to drain better…

…but the mud once again leads to trail widening and rogue re-routes.

Here again, some reinforcement or re-route is needed.

This area has been widened significantly.

…significantly.

This type of recurring damage shows either a poor location, or poor construction.

This is really unacceptable, by any standard.

Even the original route was abandoned in this area.

It has many of the same problems as noted up to this point.

Someone had even bothered to install a drainage culvert, but abandoned it anyway. Many wasted work hours here.

Near the top, the re-route and the original route rejoin.

Near the bottom, the re-route is barely raked into existence. This is not a “built” trail.

The re-route has been made with little learned from the closing of the original route.

Slope, and outslope are in question here.

This fall line trail goes up to Riverview Rd. Note the horse trail marker.

Crossing Riverview Rd., there are some nice, stable trails…

…but that is short-lived. The barn at the top of the hill on Riverview North of Jaite is visible in the background.

This hill has good outslope at the top (yellow line), but due likely to poor compaction it is lost farther down the hill.

From the bottom of the hill it is obvious that this trail has been reduced to a rut: no outslope, with water collecting in the middle.

This sort of erosion should not be allowed from man-made structures.

Farther East of Riverview Rd. there is another nice double switchback.

Lower switchback.

At issue here is not the fact that horse trails are in need of repair. I am sure someone will get to it.

At issue is the fact that mountain bike trails are not allowed and that the excuse is because they cause erosion, or they disturb hikers, or for any other faulted reasoning that someone will offer without any data to back it up.

At issue is the fact that certain rules are said to govern trail building practices, and exhaustive environmental studies must be conducted in order to approve such construction, when by all outward appearances it is used strictly as a stall tactic to certain groups, while other groups go ahead and build haphazard trails in the park.

At issue is the fact that the same staff who cites the above reasons for not allowing mountain bikers also enable the undertaking of such poorly executed trail plans as pictured previously.

Brecksville Reservation…

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