Anybody know what the deal is at the top of the baseball field (pavilion area)? It looks like all of the berms were bulldozed, and a bunch of logs/trees were thrown in the middle where the trail used to be. Such a bummer to see such a nice, flowing, trail destroyed...
Incoming!!!!
But in all seriousness, this is being discussed in length on another thread here. I can say the BoD is working diligently to address the issues surrounding this situation. It seems like I've done more work for PMBA than my day job for some weeks now. This is a tough situation and the solution is not cut and dry. You may also want to read DaveFOW's post for a more thorough background of the issues.
I'm sad to see that trail go, it was awesome ripping down the hill from the pavilion into the coil trail, I will miss it.
indeed, it was awesome
i am absolutely FURIOS right now. This week, all i have had a sum total of 0 fun. so the oppurtunity to go for a ride for an hour arises, and i jump on it. i drop in by the pavillion, and quickly notice that one of my favorite trails, and the hundreds of man hours the mountain biking community has put into it, has been destroyed. and not just destroyed, razed like atlanta during sherman's march to the sea. i hopped off my bike to inspect the damage, and when in turned around, i noticed FOUR F***ING NAILS AND A THUMBTACK right where the first roller used to be. i move back to my bike, and what's that i hear? i've popped my 6th tire in the last 2 months, doubtlessly on some aspect of the wanton destruction the trail saw. what makes me even angrier than the 50 bucks i'll have to spend replacing a new tire which now has a hole in it is the second class citizen status we as bikers in the park see. we UNEQUIVOCALLY put more work, care, and attention into the park's trails than any other group of user, and when a fun trail that we all enjoy gets built, the parks act like the spanish did after the pueblo revolt. furthermore, the park didn't just destroy the new addition that got built this summer, it also destroyed a trail that had been used for years. this whole thing makes me sick, and while i don't condone illegal trail building, this seems like condemning a huge group of passionate people for a victimless crime.
In this whole sad turn of events most of us have been resigned to this closure for a while now. I don't condone the build, but I definitely don't condone the destruction which is far more of a 'rogue' move than any rogue trail that has ever been built in the Wiss. Nonetheless if you read through the boards here and learn about it all you'll see they have a dubious reasoning to their madness. I will never agree with it, but the powers that be will continue to exercise their authority and there's little we can do about it. In the future we have to continue to avocate for MTB, but we have to find a way to do things only with park authority approval.
That all being said, thumbtacks and nails I just can't imagine. In early days of riding long before PMBA I knew you could never assume a log ride you'd done a hundred times would be built up the same way the next time. Back then a number of features were sabotaged, like the backside of a rollover pull out, with no warning until you were atop the feature. I was even warned by other bikers back then about this happening. Sometimes destruction occurs naturally or even by accident, but there did seem to be an attempt to actually hurt mountain bikers. I consider this assault, no different than setting a booby trap. It’s like kids throwing rocks off a freeway overpass; fun to them, potentially deadly to the travelers below. But the difference could also be intent, and some people back then definitely had the intent to hurt riders. Fortunately I have not heard of any similar occurrences in years, and perhaps that speaks to the efforts of PMBA, FOW, other organizations, and just better acceptance in general.
But I can't imagine that the park authorities would, while attempting to close the trail, purposely place boobytraps it an attempt to hurt mountain bikers or damage their property. I could see this happening accidentally or by a totally ignorant person thinking they were creating a deterrent and totally failing to realize the ramifications. But really I can’t imagine this happening on purpose in any respect. But I also think this must be investigated further no matter how it happened. Keep in mind even after we are channeled elsewhere there is still wildlife, dogs and children who will be running around back there. No rational person would do such a thing.
Count me in for $5 donation toward your costs.
speaking of intent, i realize i left my theory of the nail a bit ambiguous. i am totally not implying or insisting that that FOW was responsible for leaving the nails, but i still think that their treatment of mountain biking in general cultivates an atmosphere where some random nut laying traps in the woods to hinder mountain bikers is more acceptable than doing the same to, say, hikers or equestirans. someone needs to tell the people who were outraged by the trail in the first place that mountain bikers aren't just adrenaline addicted malcreant skinheads. only the first is true for most of us 
i know we all feel passionately about the wiss due to the massive work that is done in there, but i wonder what would happen if we tended other parks like pennypack and belmont. this is supposed to be the philly mtn bk org, not the wiss mtn bike org. i don't think this org should back down, but arguing about land we don't own or seem to have much respect in even though we do a lot of maintenance in seems like a wasted effort to a newer member unaffiliated with the long entrenched politics of the wiss, pmba, fow and the city.
i am probably less affected because i have to drive to the wiss and live equally between pennypack and the wiss. it is a longer drive to belmont, but i have driven there to ride.
Obviously I'm disappointed in FOWs recent decisions and I think all this could have been resolved much earlier with proper communication between everyone. I completely don't understand how a beef with a few individuals could result in a sanction against the entire membership and perhaps a unintended indictment against all the good works we've done together. What's done is done though, and I can only hope that nothing like this happens again. I've also no doubt that the problem trail would never existed in the first place if people, rightfully or wrongfully, had not felt cut out of the process. I hope everyone has learned from this.
Though I'm not a fan of recent actions I do give credit to FOW for helpng to keep MTB in the park in the first place, and realizing early on that MTB was not the cause of trail problems but instead part of the solution. David Dannenberg's post here does a lot to remind us of the history. Perhaps we can move forward and work together to recapture the enthusiasm of the first three years.
Guswalls, you're inline with other's thinking; check out the TMD tomorrow: http://www.phillymtb.org/events/trail-maintenance/pmba-september-2010-trail-day-nockamixon-state-park
or come to the Sunday Morning Casual Ride instead!
This would be the result of the rogue trail being built further down the trail.
I checked it out last night to see the work that District 3 (aka Parks and Rec, aka FPC) had done, to my surprise they had not removed the new section of trail, but rather the old section of trail.
Also, whomever they had doing this clearly doesn't ever ride a mountain bike, the trial is now maybe more fun than it was before!