raking leaves?

[speedjunkie]

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for a bunch of us to get together and go out to rake the leaves off the trails to get them to dry faster? we need dry trails because I'm starting to get crabby and not sleeping with this week long lack of riding

[SweetSVT99]

Please post in the appropriate forum. Moved to open since a specific park wasn't mentioned...

[bleedfororbea]

we cant rake leaves..... our "ranger" says it hurts the enviroment/trails ? beware as drew says "ranger danger"

[speedjunkie]

hmm seems bikes do the same thing when riding them on the trails. I guess not having leaves in a 12" wide path in the woods would be bad......

[SweetSVT99]

hmm seems bikes do the same thing when riding them on the trails. I guess not having leaves in a 12" wide path in the woods would be bad......

That only pertains to one park. Sylvan, Sunderbruch and Scott County we routinely rake trails in the fall.

[Rage]

Similar to "tubes vs tubeless" or "shimano vs sram", whether or not to rake leaves from trails comes down to personal preference as there are advantages/disadvantages to both sides. Do a quick search on mtbr and you'll find them extensively documented, mostly boiling down to prevention of erosion vs decreased drying time (even the method of leaf removal is subject for debate - blower vs rake).

Since it boils down to the land manager, we follow the guidance we're given. We've had enough traffic at Sunderbruch this fall that the leaves have been pretty well ground up, probably not as much need to rake there as in the past.

Rg.