LHT Under Construction

I took the day off work Thursday just for a break and decided to get the mountain bike out and ride the LHT trail. Last year when I did the GAP trail I really enjoyed riding the mountain bike in warm weather since I mostly ride it in the winter. I heard that they made some changes including a new bridge at Rosedale park so I was interested in trying out the new section of the trail.

To get a few more miles in I actually started at Alexander Rd in Princeton and did this route and was joined by Jack. We headed down the D&R and then switched over to the LHT just before getting to 295. When we went through the ballpark by the Lawrenceville school there was tape across the entrance saying the path was closed but we rode around it and there was nothing blocking the trail. However when we turned into the school itself there was major construction and the normal asphalt roads were gone and there were piles of dirt and debris every where. It looks like they are totally reconfiguring the roads at the school.

We rode along the dirt paths where the trail use to go but ran into a fence that went across the whole campus. Jack found a gate with a chain on it but no lock so we opened it and went through and got the hell out of there.

Back on the path as we approached the area by Rosedale lake there were a couple of new paved sections where the path gets muddy when its wet. When we made the turn off to go to Rosedale lake there was another sign that said the path was close. Of course we went around it but didn't get very far.

There is another big construction project they are doing on that downhill that approaches the lake. The first curve was always a little squirrelly so it looks like they are taking that out and are putting in some kind of bridge. So back we went and used the other path to go round the south side of the lake then took Blackwell to Federal City to get back to Rosedale park.

Once back in the park and on the trail we found the new bridge and section of trail which we actually had to ride over the grass to get to because they were doing yet more construction of the new path that leads from the lake to the new section of the trail

The new bridge is nice as is the new section of trail which is twisty and turney and has a lot of small bridges to cross. Its a good addition to the trail and gets rid of that messy part going through the horse farm. This part of the trail will be a lot better once they fix all the other parts getting to it.

The rest of the trail was construction free and I got back to Princeton before 11am and before it got really hot. I'm not sure when I will do the LHT trail again but hopefully there will be less construction next time.