Clarification of Trails for Wet Conditions /Message from John Byrd

That time of year when we can actually ride at Shimek is almost here.
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: 

(From: http://ken-carylranch.org/spring-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. 

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.
                                                                                     

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Clear as Mud.....

 I posted a new map at each campground this past weekend trying to clarify when and where to ride under different conditions. It seems to have been clear as mud to readers. I've revised those now. As most of you know, we are trying to develop and rock a so-called “all-weather” trail for equestrians at Shimek. We are not finished with that trail. But the marked maps I posted show where the trail is being developed and include both what is already rocked and what we plan to rock as soon as we have the resources and the weather permits the hauling and spreading of rock. Some unrocked trails that are easier to maintain are also included .

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