The Nockamixon trailbuilders were out on the South Park loop this early this morning working prior to the rainstorm on drainage issues as well as flow improvements requiring the trimming of brush and old stump removal in the trail corridor/trail tread.

It was observed that the South Park loop is extremely muddy from weeks of rainfall, freeze-thaw, and melting snow, a condition that today's nearly inch of rain has only aggravated. 

Fortunately, very few people have been riding at Nockamixon as of late and rutting is relatively minor - this is keeping damage to be fixed to a minimum. Please continue avoiding riding at Nockamixon until the cold snap at the end of this upcoming week makes early morning rides possible again.

-RIDENOX Council

*** Trails are unofficially CLOSED! ***

The RIDENOX Council undertook key trailwork on the South Park loop the majority of the mild morning and early afternoon today and observed ONLY ONE rider the entire time inappropriately riding trails under clearly extremely wet conditions and who, to his credit, exited promptly via the nearby road when asked to respect the trails.  The trails are NOT in any shape to ride and WON'T BE any time soon unless a longterm deep freeze develops later in this winter 

The Council would like to both generally remind everyone "don't be that guy" damaging wet trails mindlessly as well as to thank virtually the entire mountain biking community who normally ride at Nockamixon for staying away during the current period of freeze-thaw and wet weather that we've been experiencing (and which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future).  Nockamixon soils simply do not handle late morning-to-sunset winter riding well - plan to ride on rockier, better-drained trails elsewhere now through the early spring.  Love your Nox trails  - give 'em a rest.  We'll continue making improvements in the meantime so everyone comes back to awesome riding when things truly dry out next year.


Please remember that once SIGNIFICANTLY colder weather returns - that riding only at dawn when a freeze in the teens or lower the night before has frozen things solid is key and that you should continue to wear orange as hunting continues through early February 2014.


Thank you,


-RIDENOX Council

About 4" of snow fell today on trails that were mostly unfrozen.  Through Friday temperatures at night will fall below 15 degrees at night ensuring great riding FIRST THING IN THE MORNING ONLY.  Temps later in the day reaching the upper 20s or lower 30s will promote thawing of the trail as any sizable number of riders out will wearing tracks through the snowcover to still-warm trail tread.

Please try at all costs to ride first thing in the morning at Nox the rest of this week keeping in mind that a warmup including some Sat. mixed precipitation) will take place this weekend that will limit riding.

-RIDENOX Council 

The RIDENOX Council would like to thank everyone who respected the 12/7 trail closure and 12/8 'do-not-ride' advisory this past weekend.  Council members doing trailwork Sunday morning noted very few riders out which was a good thing.  Despite the cold temperatures Sunday morning a number of wet spots remained not only coated those few riders disregarding the advisory with mud but created additional work for the Nox trailbuilders.  The melting snow and ice today plus another quick shot of light snow tomorrow that'll need to melt means that the 'do-not-ride' advisory remains in effect this week.

Rule of thumb at Nockamixon December through March is ride basically only in the early morning or on an extremely cold days where a hard freeze has taken place (teens or lower).  Once air temperatures reach the mid-twenties to near 30 degrees and/or there's a decent amount of sun, riding is NOT advised.  Our soil contains large amounts of moisture naturally and is still radiating geothermal warmth from this past summer so it doesn't take much.   Love your trails - give 'em a break this time of year and ride rockier ground elsewhere.

This past Sunday, the Council worked on a significant trail improvement on the Upper EWR.  Stay tuned for more progress to come when riders return in large numbers this spring.

The RIDENOX Council cautions that the Nockamixon mountain bike trails will be CLOSED on Saturday, 12/7, for the first Saturday of shotgun antlered deer season at the request of park management.  Do NOT ride at Nockamixon on 12/7.

Furthermore, heavy rains expected Friday, 12/6, into Saturday morning the 7th will create very wet conditions that will persist into Sunday, 12/8.  The Council asks all riders to strongly consider riding elsewhere on Sunday as well - do NOT ride at Nockamixon this weekend.  Please respect the trails, help them remain rut-free, and allow them to dry properly into next week.  The Council will be out on Sunday and prefers to make improvements to make the ride even better rather then fixing drainage problems caused by ruts. 

Thank You,
RIDENOX Council

The RIDENOX Council would like to remind riders that:

1.) The Nockamixon Mountain Bike Trail System will be CLOSED tomorrow, Monday, 12/2 AND on Saturday, 12/7 for the first day and first Saturday of shotgun antlered deer season respectively. Please do NOT ride at Nockamixon on these two specific days and wear orange at all other times (excluding Sundays) to aid hunters in seeing you.

2.) The park management has asked that all mountain bikers park either at the newly-expanded Tower Road parking lot with 40 spaces or at the Haycock Boat Launch parking area off Route 563 - Mountainview Drive.  A park sign directing riders to park at the Haycock Boat Launch parking lot has been installed at the Route 563 - Mountainview Drive trailhead.  Please do NOT park along the shoulder of the road in this area.

3.) Avoid riding from approximately 9:30 A.M. or so to dusk now that we have entered the wet season with daily freeze-thaw where the daytime high temperatures hit the upper 30s to low 40s or higher.  The potential for rutting will develop and at the very least the thin top coating of thawed trail will make your ride unnecessarily slippery with mud.

Trailwork continued on both Saturday, 11/30, and Sunday, 12/1, along all of Lower EWR and portions of Lower Jaywalk, Upper Jaywalk, and Haycock Run near its intersection with EWR.

Flow improvements and drainage work were undertaken along with removal of brush in select areas to increase visibility and reduce the rate of vegetative growth into the trail next year.