Scarlet O'Hara's Southern BBQ Menu

We'd like to have Scarlet at the BASH, but we're having issues with getting power to her. Sooo.... be sure to visit her on Route 209, outside of Elizabethville. She's "parked" in the parking lot a Rita's, adjacent to the bowling alley, about 1/4 mile from Walmart (on opposite side of street from Walmart).

Rattling Creek Trail Woes

Yesterday was the Rattling 50 Marathon and about 40-50 riders were on the trails. Luckily, it appeared the rain held off for them (I wasn't around to check things out unfortunately). I plan to contact Frank McGuire of IMBA and try to figure out how to deal with DCNR after seeing the trails today after the bike race. It's NOT the bikers that are the problem. I'm sorry to say the DCNR singletrack the horses were on are now super soft, and after a week of wet conditions and bike race on the singletrack, it's obvious the DCNR singletrack trails will not hold up. They were fairly soft and mucky with clear bike lines (muddy). The Rattling creek trail system hardly ever had a muddy spot for many years. Now, after a horse event, the single track the horses traveled on are showing signs of wear and tear. It was most evident after the bike race. Two years ago after the Rattling Marathon, club members purposely checked the trails the next day to make sure they were "ok", and they were. The only sign of 100 bikes on the trails were on Doc Smith on a fast turn or two. Hardly no evidence of 100 bikes racing. Yesterday? 50 bikes and it was obvious on the DCNR singletrack. Something was also very obvious on the Lykens Watershed trails -- trails the same 40-50 bike traveled on -- showed NO signs of a race. There was hardly a bike track and nothing but hard-packed, smooth trail. The watershed policy is no horses on watershed singletrack and it DOES make a huge difference on the singletrack. I'm hopeful there's a resolution -- but the vibes we are getting from DCNR is the trails are for everyone. Frank, help!

Hopping Along Again on Hopback!

You regular riders know how Hopback trail gets grown in pretty bad and needs regular trimming. Well thanks to Ricky Brown and having too much vacation time on his hands, he spent 5 hours trimming Hop back 2 weeks ago. It's rideable again.

8-14-09 BASH Update - Get Your Registrations in!

We're down to the final two weeks of getting everyone registered so you can get a t-shirt and chicken dinner. I mentioned in the previous post, the t-shirt guy and the chicken guys need the orders by the end of August. So click on the below link (previous post) and get registered! And for you vegetarians -- we just confirmed VEGAN lasagna this year; no eggs, no dairy, no meat. You'll get the lasagna in place of the chicken and still get all the fixings that come with the chicken (tater, cole slaw, roll). Keith confirmed two acoustic guys for the Saturday evening entertainment. You asked and you received. Folks were not happy with the bands and the suggestion was made for something a little more camper-friendly (at the campsites), so these guys will be down by the campsites on Saturday evening rather than sitting under the pavillion all night. Lastly, Keith was contacted by a gal who has a food truck and wondered if we'd be interested in her setting up for the weekend. We're still working out the details on that and will let folks know via e-mail if confirmed. She sells things like pulled pork, BBQ, eggs, etc -- the normal "food truck" types of things. Might be nice for people who don't really want to camp-cook. Fun stuff! It's all coming together -- just like other years. Gonna be a good time again.

10th Anniversary BASH T-shirts -- Need Your Registration by Aug 31

The t-shirt maker will need our order for the special BASH 10th Anniversary t-shirts by September 1. Sooo….. we need to have your registration in our mailbox by the 31st. So if you want a shirt get registered ASAP !! We may, (or may not) order some extra shirts in whatever sizes, so if you register after Aug 31st there are two possibilities. (1)you may get a shirt, that may (or may not) fit. Or....(2) you may not get a shirt at all.

So please get your registration and preferred t-shirt size to us by Aug 31. Registration info can be found at the RCST website BASH page. Thanks! Jill

Checkin The Trails

If you get out riding this weekend on the Rattling Creek Trails, we'd appreciate your assessment of trails (the trails the horses were on last weekend... Shale Run, Preserve Line, Matter, Wolf Pond, and Rock's Ridge far West) if you could take a moment and comment to this post. Keith (yup Keith!), Rick (Yup, Rick too! Neither have been riding much) and myself will do some riding this weekend to see how things are to get ready for the BASH. Of course, we need to see how Shale Run and Preserve Line held up to heavy rain this week, now that the trails are rototilled. Rick is predicting a nice washing off of topsoil at spots with bare rocks showing through. We'll check it out and let you know. Let us know what you think of Shale run. Thx.

A First Hand Rider's Assessment of "Horse Trails"

I decided to be totally objective when making my assessment of the singletrack the horses were on this weekend. Forget what's been said, forget what's been written, and simply ride and see for myself. This is Rick's 4th day in a row he's been at the trails looking them over. You've read his opinions and of course DCNR's assessment -- now its my turn.

I've been on dozens and dozens of all types of trails in all types of conditions and yes, there IS some damage, but not significant (as DCNR stated) -- YET (more on that shortly). What came to mind most when I was riding was growing up on the farm and me and my brother would grab our bikes and head out across the horse fields on the trails the horses would make. They were rutty, bumpy, rocky, and bro and I would get a kick out of seeing if we could make it up this one hill that was slippy from the horses chewing up the gravel and making it loose. Yup, that's the impression I got of the trail. Bumpy, rutty (they are drying out now and after digging it up in wet conditions, they are becoming rutty), hard to climb on the steep sections because of the looseness, and full of horse shit. Before I even started riding, I tried to get on my bike and slipped and fell in rocks -- in horse shit! Stupid me.

Now my verdict -- at present, the trails are definitely rideable, but bumpy and loose at spots. The worst parts are minimal - maybe 25% of entire length of trail? The bumps will likely smooth out over time with bike traffic and a couple rains; unless the rains are SO hard it starts to wash which is my next verdict. I think over time there will be areas that will begin to erode and that's the part I'm not so sure DCNR was really thinking about - how will these trails hold up over time with this kind of traffic. But time will tell that story. I can't imagine the horses will be back for another year - at least not in the numbers they were in this past weekend. We may see a horse or two every now and again, but one or two may not cause that much trouble.

So... get out and ride and smooth out the trails! Ride Shale Run, Preserve Line, Matter Singletrack, Rock's Ridge West and Wolf Pond.