- Trim overgrowth
- Treatment of exceptionally sandy areas
- Repair of wooden structures
- Remapping Osprey and adding names to existing trail sections
- Adding more signage
Updated 2008: Trail Maintence Blog
01/20/06 - Bill, Steve, Jason and Frank inspected
the entire burn area Friday morning.
Tortoise, the East side
of Fire Ring and 8/10 trails are now open.
01/13/06 - Trail closed for controlled burn.
11/12/05 - 18 Volunteers showed up for hurricane
clean up. All trails are now open.
11/05/05 - 20 Volunteers showed up for hurricane
clean up.
11/02/05 - Trails are closed for hurricane clean
up.
08/31/03 - 10/15/05 - Uhhh..huh?
07/31/03 - Steve, Jason, Frank, Tom, Ken, Walt,
Bryan, & Dave worked on the perma-sandy 8/10ths drop. They
installed a wooden plank contraption and filled the area between
the slats with sand.
07/19/03 - 14 hearty souls defied the heat and put in some
serious trail maintenance time on Saturday. The new trail extension
at the southern end of the Osprey loop was finish cut and signed.
Frank, Jason, Adrienne, Ian and Walt “Bush Hog” Philipson put
in over 7 hours of back breaking work. This extension should
add about ½ mile to the Osprey and will eventually become a
stand alone loop. A second team of volunteers mulched from the
trail head to the hourglass section. Park equipment was not
available due to the recent fire so mulch was moved using wheelbarrows,
Brian’s diesel pickup and lots of muscle. Thanks to Brian, Shawn,
Dan Tuesta, Mike, Robbie, Pat and Michael Samz, John Lee and
Mike Lugo for all the hard work. Thanks again!
06/22/03 - Steve, Walt, Tom, Frank, & Dave created a new
entrance obstacle for Bunker Hill.
06/11/03 - Dan did some sand removal on Wed. Rode in with shovel and worked
on some of the deep spots in the first half. John L. and his wife
did some trimming.
04/19/03 - 12 people showed up for maintenance day. Numerous water bars
were installed on the first part of the mid ridge trail. About 50 bags
of mulch were worked into the ground with a tiller in these same
areas. Thanks go to Dan for the hard work and for purchasing that
wonderful little toy. Work was done to repair the turn after
the plank jump on the tortoise trail and clean up tree debris.
Water bars were added to the drop by the lake, bushes were trimmed,
and sand was mulched as needed. Everything in the Gatorhole was trimmed
and the corners were worked on. A make shift water bar was added
on the slab to try and combat the water problems.
04/18/03 - Jason, Dan, Tom, Jan, & Dave M. did a scouting ride to identify
problem areas in need of maintenance.
11/16/02 - Large group of workers mulched areas of the "Midridge
Trail" and cut the new "Osprey Trail". Frank wrecked shop
with the brush-hog. More directional signage was added to the trail.
Joe M. fixed the climb out of the Halfpipe. Ian worked on the Gator Hole
slab to divert water. Six pallets of mulch delivered.
11/13/02 - Jason, Frank & Dave M. scouted, re-flagged and planned
the new "Osprey Trail".
11/06/02 - Jason & Dave M. finished the sand land bridges on the
south fire break.
10/26/02 - Mulched areas after the tortoise mound and areas around
the land bridges. Replaced pavers after the Gator Hole with pallets.
Mulched Hill after the new pallets.
10/16/02 - Steve & Jason replaced the log-jammer hill leading to
the road before the paved road section with a ton of mulch. Dave M. showed
up late and approved of their hard work. Also removed some low hanging
trees and branches.
09/28/02 - As many as twenty volunteers came out to help with some
much needed maintenance. All major problem areas saw some much needed
work. Mulch was thrown various places while water breaks and drainage
ditches were added other places.
09/15/02 - Dave R., Steve, Frank, Jason, Kenny M., and Tom worked on
the new exit from bunker hill and it is almost complete, with new fade-away
jump that you can get some big air off of. Final plans call for a 4'
high dual-slalom type berm after the jump on the final turn out to the
parking lot.
04/21/02 - Scouting the south is complete. Steve and Frank submitted
the proposed trail map to Mark.
04/07/02 - As many as fifteen volunteers showed up for an extensive
day of mulch spreading and trail repair.
03/31/02: - Frank and Dave M. continued scouting and mapping new south
trail.
03/17/02 - Frank, Dave M. and Steve continued scouting and mapping
new trail in the south section.
03/10/02 - Frank, Tom and Dave M. continued scouting and mapping new
trail in the south section.
03/03/02 - Steve, Tom, Dave M., Ken and Ian patched the Gator Hole
with the jungle mulch.
02/24/02 - Steve, Tom, Dave M.and others patched the Double Jump with
the new mulch.
02/17/02 - Park management donated several loads of mulch. The mulch
was chipped from downed vegetation in the park. It consisted of: South
Florida Slash Pine, Sabal Palm, Turkey Oak, Beautyberry, Cocoplumb, Gallberry,
Staggerbush, Lyonia, Saw Palmetto, Wire Grass, Gopher Apple, and others.
The mix is tuff and stringy and makes a great surface for the sandy areas.
01/20/02 - First Annual Scrub Scramble Race.
01/13/02 - Steve, Jason and Ken installed "The Stairway to Dirt
Pie" on Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill is now finished in time for the
race.
12/23/01 - Jerry donated another four pallets of mulch. We had a lot
of help from everyone in the parking area moving a pallet of mulch up
to the top of Bunker Hill. Steve and Frank used the Mulch-A-Matic while
Jason reinforced one of the drops.
12/16/01 - Steve completed the marquee at the trail head. Frank, Steve
and Dave finished the down ramp of "The Slingshot" bridge on
Bunker Hill. Ken continued the final groom of the expert trail on Bunker
Hill.
12/02/01 - Jason, Ken, Steve, Dave, Joe, Ian and Frank continued work
on Bunker Hill. Trail segments on top of the hill got the "mulch-a-matic"
treatment. Work began on a new "up and over" bridge which runs
between the split trunk of a large oak. The downhill side of the bridge
will be short enough for riders to jump clear from the top of the ramp.
It's been named "The Slingshot."
12/01/01 - Jason, Ken and Frank continued work on Bunker Hill. Slow
going do to extremely heavy vine growth through the scrub oak. However,
they were able to complete the rough cut. Grooming and mulching will
start Sunday 12/02/01.
11/04/01- Trail work started on Bunker Hill.
10/21/01 - New trail segment open. This segment adds .85 miles and
brings the trail up to 6.05 miles.
09/30/01 - Frank and Steve were the only volunteers to show due to
heavy rain. However, they got a lot done on the new trail. They finished
the ramps on and off the foundation, cleared some down trees and cleaned
the debris from the rest of the new section. Next Sunday, we will begin
mulching. The trail should be open by October 21. It will boost the trail
to 6.05 miles.
09/23/01 - Steve, Jason, Dave, and Aaron built
a bridge over the flooded area just west of the half pipe. See pictures.
Frank installed reinforcement on a jump in the new section. The new section
needs the Mulch-a-Matic treatment. Then it will
be ready to ride. Expect to see the trail open sometime mid to late October.
June - September: Enjoying the rain! Fast packed trails, lots of daylight.
Steve, Dave and Jason built and installed the marquee at the trail head.
Frank and Jason took time from riding to finish rough cutting and begin
grooming the new section (points 15 to 15a back to 15.)
05/27/01 - Frank, Jason and Dave mulched southern portion of the Teeter-Totter
trail.
05/20/01 - Mulch-a-Matic: Stan, Sheryl, Jason, Steve, Rennie, and
Frank mulched from the log bridge just south of the Florida Trail to
the top of the lake loop. Also mulched segment just past the K-mart bridges.
Used the power tiller (Mulch-A-Matic) to mix the mulch into the sand.
05/13/01 - Frank and Jason began rough cutting new trail from points
15 to 15a.
05/11/01 - Bill, Jason, Steve and Frank worked on a reroute of the
trail just west of the "land bridge" adding a downhill with
a log jump and a couple of bridges.
05/09/01- Frank replaced the green "novice" signs with the
blue "intermediate" signs at a number of locations.
05/06/01 Frank, Steve, Ian, and Jerry completed the mulching of the
Half Pipe today. The Honda power tiller proved effective in mixing the
mulch deep into the sand. This created a very natural looking trail which
could be ridden immediately. They also mulched the climb out of the Gator
Hole to the Florida Trail.
05/04/01 Frank and Jason began scouting the route for the final trail
segment of section 1 (points 15 to 15a back to 15.)
05/02/01 Rain. At last. The rain should continue for several days.
The marl put down during Sandbuster weekend is really firming up with
all this rain.
04/29/01 Mulch-a-mania continues.
04/22/01 Mulch-a-mania: Jerry donated 920 bags of mulch. Team Berm
went to work spreading the mulch over the sandy spots on the trail.
04/19/01 We held our planning meeting for Earth Day at the Crab House
on Jupiter Inlet. Steve is supervising the Earth Day event. The annual
Earth Day celebration is this Sunday (4/22) at the park from 10:00am
until 4:00pm. Club Scrub will have an awning tent at the river recreation
area. We will be passing out membership applications and t-shirts will
be available for an $18.00 donation. Steve needs volunteers to help man
the tent for 2 hour intervals. Please contact
him ASAP if you can provide support. Jerry Paolucci has been appointed
to direct our fund raising and public relations. Thanks Jerry.
04/14/01 Sandbuster event completed. click here
for details.
03/12/01 After the excitement of moving the K-mart bridges to the
park, it was back to the grind of cutting new trail. But before that,
Steve and Bill finished their Stairway to Nowhere on Bunker Hill. If
you try it, make sure you get back off the saddle. Experts will just
jump the whole thing.
We began work on the "Half Pipe" which is the ridge running
east to west on the north side of the lake (points 21 to 21a on the map.)
This area will have several nice drops and at least 3 bridges. Also,
it will get us off the sandy service road. It should be open to ride
by the end of March.
02/25/01 Moving day! Many people showed up down in West Palm to insure
that the bridges from the soon to be destroyed K-mart trail will live
on at Camp Murphy. With a lot of team work, the bridges were removed
from the K-mart trail and transported to the JD park storage facility.
The bridges will soon be installed along the Camp Murphy Trail. Click
HERE
to go to the BearKlaw web site for pictures (a lot of high res. pictures
make for a slow load so please be patient - it's worth it.)
02/01/01 We had another great turn out last Sunday. All the regular
volunteers plus a few new faces. The trail is really starting to come
together. If you haven’t ridden it lately, come on out, cause it’s
a blast!
After a couple of months of hard work, the trail around the south
side of the lake is finally open (points 9,10,11,12,13,14, and 21on the
web site map. This took a lot of time because it was the longest trail
section built at one time plus we’ve had several other things going
on. "The Slab" had to be cleared to provide a go around for
"The Gator Hole." The Gator Hole" is a tough section full
of palmettos - advanced riders only. We also had to take time to create
permanent trail signs. (You need to look down for the signs at "The
Slab" because they’re painted right onto the concrete.) "The
Slab" and "The Gator Hole" are located half way between
points 12 and 13. We’ve also spent a lot of time patching up sandy
spots on the western side of the loop. The drought brings out the worst
of the sand, but Team Berm (consisting of Dad Berm and Side Berm) have
been able to keep it from getting too bad. One thing is for sure, after
a good rain, this trail is sweet!
After finishing the Lake Trail, things have gone faster. We opened
another quarter mile last weekend. Thanks to Scott and Todd from Ft Pierce
for taking time from their trail to come down and help out. This section
includes Bill Klausmeyer’s new teeter-totter which will probably
be known as "The Mule Kick." We will finish the final grooming
of an additional quarter mile this weekend (points 24 to 16.) This brings
the total trail to just over 5 miles!
11/05/00 - The trail survived! We inspected the trail today and found
that there was little damage from the adventure race traffic over the
past two weeks. Steve, Dave, Jim and Frank patched the fire break sand
at point 22. We began patching sand from point 23 to point 24. Much of
the sand on the trail has been patched. Two or three more days of work
and the trail should be sand free. We also installed a 16' long bridge
over some palmettos in the Gator Hole (between point 12 and 13.) This
bridge is necessary to open the next .9 miles (point 9 to point 13.)
We still have a lot of trail cutting before this section is open. It
should be ready by early to mid December.
10/22/00 - We had a great turn out today. Team berm was at it again.
Bill, Steve, John and Jim greatly improved the S turns south of the Tortoise
Mound. They also patched a few sandy areas in that vicinity. Frank, Joe
M., Ian, Stephen, Joe D. and a few other passing through, had a lot more
fun working on the double jump. Thanks to Brian for repeatedly testing
the jump. Tough work, but somebody has to do it.
Jerry, Thanks for arranging the Bobcat. What a help loading the Gator!
Your friend did a great job carving up the dirt mound.
Trail conditions continue to improve with the patching that has been
done
and with the little bit of rain we've had this week.
10/21/00 - Maybe we're biased, but Club Scrub had the best booth at the
Jonathan Dickinson's 50th Birthday Party. Thanks to Joe at Tequesta Schwinn
for the club sign. It was incredible! Thanks to all the club members
who showed up to help with the booth.
10/18/00 - Steve and Frank worked on the soft sand at the west loop.
They worked out a system using a substrate of plastic fencing material
buried and inch or two below the sand and covered with pine bark. This
seems to be very effective.
9/24/00 - Loop is now 3.1 miles long! Dave and Bill patched the sand
pits at point 4 on the map. The hard right turn now has a nice berm so
you can carry some speed from the hard pack. Alec and Frank finished
grooming the trail down to the FTA trail. We still have a problem with
vandals destroying our trail signs.
9/21/00 - Joe and Frank installed some permanent signs with directions
back to the parking lot.
9/21/00 - Article appeared in the Palm Beach Post about the Camp Murphy
Trails.
9/10/00 - Land bridge over fire break completed.
9/7/00 - Frank, John V. and Steve B. rough cut more trail between
the fire break and the Florida Trail. On the map, It's the red segment
starting between points 7 and 23 and ending a point 8. Later, we rode
the 2.5 mile loop. The rain has really helped tighten up the trail. It
rides better with every loop.
9/3/00 - We had a good turn out this Sunday with several new volunteers.
We groomed from point 17 to 24 to 23 which increased the trail to approximately
2.5 miles.
8/27/00 - Joe, Steve B., Ian, Ian's son Stephen and Frank completed
the section from point 18 to point 17 linking to the loop at point 4.
This increases the loop to 2 miles. We were all impressed with John Vitsur's
work selecting the route and rough cutting this section. On Saturday,
Frank and his nephew David rough cut most of the section from 17 to 24
to 23. This section will be the temporary east side of the loop. The
actual east side (point 13 to 16) is scheduled for controlled burn.
8/24/00 - Updated web site to reflect new club name and trail name.
8/20/00 - Completed the fence for the parking area. We had a very
good turn out this Sunday. If we get this kind of turn out every Sunday,
we'll have this trail done in no time. Thanks to Ranger Richie Roth for
all his hard work and guidance with the fence construction. We hope to
have a garbage can and picnic tables at the trail head soon. Last week,
John Vitsur roughed in new trail from point 17 to point 18. It will only
take about 15 man hours to finish this section and add it to the existing
loop. That should bring the loop up to about 1.8 miles. We will also
continue to work from point 5 to point 8. This area has burned so it
should go quickly. The park is planning to burn the east side of this
area as soon as we get some rain. This will be a big help with the section
between points 13 and 16. This stuff is really thick and would take weeks
to get through. So in the mean time, we plan to work west of that area
and form a temporary loop by connecting points 8 to 22 to 23 to 24 to
17. Then we'll work on adding 9 to 12 to 13 to 21 to 22. We'll add the
rest of the stuff after the burn.
8/15/00 - Meeting with park management. We decided that the trail
system will be called "Camp Murphy Off Road Bicycle Trails."
Originally, the park was called Camp Murphy and was used as an army training
facility during W.W.II. Mark will order the trail head sign this week.
We also plan to install the fence at the new parking area. Mark said
they plan to burn the rest of the area in which we are currently working
as soon as conditions (rain) permit.
7/30/00 - We now have our first small loop. Look for the orange arrow
at the southeast corner of the parking lot. Follow the arrows to complete
a 1.4 mile loop. On the map the route is from the parking lot to point
3, then to point 18 and then back to the parking lot.
7/23/00 - Frank, Urs, and David worked from point 19 towards point
20. Thirty man hours needed to finish this segment to the parking lot.
Once it is completed, we will have a small loop by riding from the parking
lot to point 3, then to point 18 and then back to the parking lot.
7/09/00 - Segment from point 2 to point 3 completed. Joe and Rob built
bridges over two logs.
6/15/00 - First cuts! Ian, John V, and Patrick started clearing trail.
Joe and Rob continued clearing from the north parking lot heading south
and hooked up with the old trail.
6/13/00 - Trail Plan Approved!
6/12/00 - Map #2 shows our latest proposal for the Trail #1.
6/11/00 - We looked at about all there is to look at for Trail #1.
All the likely areas have been marked with ribbon.
6/4/00 - Shane and Frank marked more trail on the north side. Marking
is complete from the north parking area along the east side to the FTA
trail. Map #1 has been updated. Blue areas should probably be explored
before we commit to a final proposed trail.
6/2/00 - Ian, John V., Joe, and Frank marked more trail on the northeast
side. This area looks good. It looks like the current plan of action
is to continue to explore the area and mark sections that have potential.
Then we'll log the sections with the GPS, drop them on the map and stitch
the trail together.
6/1/00 - See maps for trail route proposals. map #2 and map #3 are
the latest proposals.
5/30/00 - Joe is working on the trail proposal for the meeting with
JDSP management and for grant money. Check the forum and give him some
help.
5/27/00 - West side of section 1 has been marked. Southeast side of
section 1 has been marked. The following areas of section 1 need to be
marked: North side. South side. Northeast side.
