The Soquel Demonstration Forest's Braille Trail

Local off-road bikers hae a victory of their own. A trail informally known as the Brail Trail in the Soquel Demonstration Forest was slated for closure by the California Department of Forestry last year.

The reasons for the closure were multiple: It was an unofficial trail, unmarked, unpatrolled, it went through some environmentally sensitive areas. However, officials for the California Department of Forestry, local advocates such as Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz and Stewards of Soquel Forest got together and put together a strategy in which the trail would be officially closed for the winter so that work could be done to realign the boggy bottom section, install waterbars, rebuild safe crossings for two drainages, and install signs naming the trail as part of the official trail system in the Soquel Demonstration State Forest. If all goes according to plan, the trail should be official by June 1, when it will be re-opened.

Interesting. Where did you read this?
Last time I rode it, someone took down a lot of the stunts that were built up over the last few years.
A bike shop in Santa Cruz originally built the trail. It used to be hidden and only a limited few rode it. Then word got out and everyone and their mother started riding it.
I thought it was legal since they put up official signs.
That's good to hear that they are working with the mountain bike community. Nice change...

i found that in the Cycle California mag.
http://www.cyclecalifornia.com/Hot_news.html

Well I am glad that trail is staying open. That is my favorite trail. I have been there a lot lately and havn't seen or heard anything. thanks for the update.

Originally posted by colebronco
Well I am glad that trail is staying open. That is my favorite trail. I have been there a lot lately and havn't seen or heard anything. thanks for the update.

It's fun, but a little short. I really like sawpit :evil:

Have you guys ridden the sneaky single track on the way to the top?

actually that last time I was there, we went up the out trial, and then took a short cut up to the start of Braille. I have wanted to take tractor trail, but I hear it is a long way out.

Originally posted by colebronco
actually that last time I was there, we went up the out trial, and then took a short cut up to the start of Braille. I have wanted to take tractor trail, but I hear it is a long way out.
Tractor is only an addition 3/4 miles and sawpit is a little over a mile it think. Worth the extra downhill time.
We might ride Sunday AM if you want to tag along...

I just rode that trail about 2 months ago... Sick trail! It was only my second time but it was ill.

I think they re-opened it last year. Maybe just not publicized?

It was an official trail. A group of riders worked with the local authorities to meet their requirements. Hence the sign that went up. They had to make provisions to get a quad through the trail to hall fallen riders out. :D
There was an official trail opening day a while back.
There are a bunch of boggy places up there. I wish people would walk their bikes around it. I know it is fun, but it leads to trail closures. :(

Originally posted by MellowYellow

There are a bunch of boggy places up there. I wish people would walk their bikes around it. I know it is fun, but it leads to trail closures. :(
No No No. walking around a boggy spot widens the trail, just making the problem worse. you have to either reroute the trail or fix it with rock reinforcement and proper drainage. We do this quite frequently in western WA where mud and erosion is a big issue.

Thanks for the input.

I'm not sure how I'll deal with this next time, but it just didn't seem right to dig big grooves in the muddy trail.

There was some trail maintenance done. They put wood across the trail to sort of pave the wet areas, but that just seemed to extend the area.

Vova, what do you do on those parts of the ridge trail and brail with the standing water?

Walking on the firm ground next to the mud seemed reasonable to me.

Originally posted by MellowYellow
Thanks for the input.

I'm not sure how I'll deal with this next time, but it just didn't seem right to dig big grooves in the muddy trail.

There was some trail maintenance done. They put wood across the trail to sort of pave the wet areas, but that just seemed to extend the area.

Vova, what do you do on those parts of the ridge trail and brail with the standing water?

Walking on the firm ground next to the mud seemed reasonable to me.

I try to avoid Brail when i gets real wet. The rest of Demo gets regular maintanance so it's actually really good.
Now if we can just get people not to skid all the way down the trail we'll be golden :)

[i].
There are a bunch of boggy places up there. I wish people would walk their bikes around it. I know it is fun, but it leads to trail closures. :( [/B]that is completely counterproductive. walking around puddles widens them making the problem worse. better to ride straight thru and better still is to fix with good drainage and gravel reinforcemnet. you have to look and see where the water is coming from and either reroute the trail, or make some way for the water to run off(waterbar or drainage ditch. is there any clubs there? Im sure there is and this area sounds like such high traffic Im suprised their not all over it. Ive heard horror stories about the trail access situation in cali.

I'm not talking about riding in the rain or even in the damp. There are places on the trail leading to brail that stay wet for months after a rain.
The spots that bugged me were narrow sections on a descent before a meadow, then a narrow sandy area. The ruts down the middle 1-1/2 feet wide are about 8-12 inches deeper than the surrounding 4 feet. The trail has a foot on either side of the rut that is firm and dry. I suppose a good rider could hang on the edge, but it seemed to me that people were hitting the mud for fun.
I am not a trials rider. I'm not always able to ride 20-30 feet off camber on a 1 foot strip....so, I walk it if I'm not confident I can stay out of the mud.
I think the guys that ride the trail a lot probably know what I'm talking about.

There are several clubs that look out for the trail, but word got out about this fun trail and the crowds of tail draggers have made their mark. I agree that work should be done to the trail, but I'm not likely to do this on my one chance every few months to get out and ride.

sounds like a candidate for rerouting. Problem is, this can be a hassle to do depending on whoever manages the land. sometimes you have to go through a bunch of red tape to get permission to change anything but I dunno how it works down there.

Around here the Red tape is that high temp reinforced duct tape. :eek: