However, with all the rains recently and more anticipated, most trails are not yet firm enough to ride. Why does that matter? I know some of you do not see why trails are closed at times. But consider what happens when we ride muddy trails:
Of
all trail user groups, horses have the highest
potential impact to muddy and soft trails. A
horse carries a heavy weight on a small,
usually shod, hoof. This weight can exert as
much as 1,500 lbs. of pressure per square
inch. According to an article by Carolyn
Widner and Dr. Jeff Marion titled Horse
Impacts: Research Findings and Their
Implications, “Horse traffic causes
significant compaction to the underlying soil
layers, thus reducing water infiltration. In
addition, the action of horse hoofs tends to
dig up and puncture the soil surface. The
process of loosening the surface trail tread
while compacting the subsurface soils leads to
impermeable basins, which retain water and mud
long after runoff events occur.”
In other words, those awful
deep mud loblollies
that could easily
pull off a horse's shoe or, worse yet, cause
tendon strains or "bowed tendons" for your
horse are caused by riding through muddy
trails instead of letting them dry.
In
addition, in Shimek, since there are
lots of up/down hills, riding some of
the trails under muddy conditions
causes the next rain to wash away the
loosened dirt and results in deeper
and deeper ditches where once were
trails.
So--your help is needed, not only to help clear and clean trails and make repairs in camp--but to not damage our trails by riding when they are too muddy.
So--your help is needed, not only to help clear and clean trails and make repairs in camp--but to not damage our trails by riding when they are too muddy.
You
can tell if those trails
are wet--if they are, stay
off--even if the trails
are open, some trail areas
will be too wet to use
without both damaging the
trail for you and the rest
of us later and without
putting your horse at
risk---so be aware of wet
conditions.
John Byrd, Shimek
Forester, is trying to help us
have more access to the trails
and keep the trails in usable
condition for wetter
conditions. To do this, he is
rocking a complete loop of
trail. To rock the loop
requires both rocks (money) and
dry conditions suitable for
hauling and spreading rock. We
hope more progress will be made
on this later this summer.
In the mean time, John has marked the trails that he is preparing for riding in wetter conditions on maps that have been posted at each campground.
Please read John's note below.
In the mean time, John has marked the trails that he is preparing for riding in wetter conditions on maps that have been posted at each campground.
Please read John's note below.
**********************************************
Clear as Mud.....
Clear as Mud.....
This gives us the
following classifications regarding trails:
OPEN—In dry weather,
most all trails should be rideable. But when you know there
are wet conditions, even though trails are open, I am asking
that you ride only on the trails marked in red on the
recently posted maps. These can be ridden under wetter
conditions than others. If you will cooperate in this, we
can keep the trails open under wetter conditions than in the
past.
CLOSED—All trails,
including those that we are improving and are rocked are
closed due to extremely wet conditions. Even rocked trails
can be badly damaged by riding in extremely muddy
conditions. When trails are CLOSED that means ALL TRAILS ARE
CLOSED.
Today the trails are
closed in anticipation of more rain ---I am monitoring the
weather carefully and if the additional rain does not
materialize, we can reopen soon. Check the website and if
that has not been updated yet, check my office phone number
where I will post the change first as sometimes I can not
get the change online on the weekend.
Thank you for your
cooperation in protecting our trails.
JOHN BYRD Area Forester, Shimek State Forest
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
P 319.878.3811 | F 319.878.3821 | john.byrd@dnr.iowa.gov
33653 Route J56 | Farmington, IA 52626
