Dempsey/Coleman Connector Trail

So the lower trail that parallels the BP and brings you out via at that abandoned house on Coleman, now has some obstructions near the far eastern end of the trail. There's also a fence preventing passage through the abandoned property and therefore onto Coleman. There is no signage anywhere along the way, so it will come as a surprise to many wandering down that way to see it's closed.

It's not really a surprise though. One of my riding buddies happened to exit that way a couple of weeks ago and bumped into the owners of the property...not new owners....these guys have owned it since the last ice age. But in talking with him, the owners said they were concerned that someone might hurt themselves and that they (the owners) would be liable. They were wondering what to do. I guess they decided. We expected something might happen, but this was quite sudden.

So...a couple of summers ago, the district laid down some sort of trail that leads behind the homes and up to join Lower Ladies so that folks can ride back to the parking lot...but it's not really ride-able at the moment.

Does anyone know of an alternate exit (other than Lower Skull)? Or if there are any plans to finish the trail now that it's a dead end?

Yeah, I discovered the fences last week. Passing bikes down the retaining wall was fun.

From emails to the DNV, there are no plans to work on that trail as it is on 6 parcels of 'corporate land' so it's not in parks' wheelhouse. That's the reason they gave as to why nothing was ever done at that end, even whilst a lot of money was expended on the other end with new bridges and beautifying it all up after the creek remediation.

Talking to my neighbours who have been here since the 50s, there was originally a plan to connect Coleman up through to Braemar so those parcels were all set aside, but the plans were abandoned due to massive granite outcrops and creeks.

So those loamers behind that house, known as 'Dirt Diggler' etc are on private DNV property, not Parks. Not sure if those are the trails you are referring to, Mudrunner, but they're all 'illegal'.

You'll have to hit up lower skull -> Mill Street connector is you want to avoid some pedalling back up.

On the plus side, the 'new' exit does include a fun rock roll once you can navigate the slick mud section. It really wouldn't be a massive task to have DNV build an exit through that walled section somewhere as they already pushed 3 massive Kubota diggers up into there last summer to dig out the creek section and work on the wildfire brush stuff. But again, it appears to be a game of 'not my jurisdiction'...

Posted by: DanL

From emails to the DNV, there are no plans to work on that trail as it is on 6 parcels of 'corporate land' so it's not in parks' wheelhouse. That's the reason they gave as to why nothing was ever done at that end, even whilst a lot of money was expended on the other end with new bridges and beautifying it all up after the creek remediation.

Talking to my neighbours who have been here since the 50s, there was originally a plan to connect Coleman up through to Braemar so those parcels were all set aside, but the plans were abandoned due to massive granite outcrops and creeks.

So those loamers behind that house, known as 'Dirt Diggler' etc are on private DNV property, not Parks. Not sure if those are the trails you are referring to, Mudrunner, but they're all 'illegal'.

You'll have to hit up lower skull -> Mill Street connector is you want to avoid some pedalling back up.

On the plus side, the 'new' exit does include a fun rock roll once you can navigate the slick mud section. It really wouldn't be a massive task to have DNV build an exit through that walled section somewhere as they already pushed 3 massive Kubota diggers up into there last summer to dig out the creek section and work on the wildfire brush stuff. But again, it appears to be a game of 'not my jurisdiction'...

Interesting... it seemed odd that Dempsey Connector just ends. This seems pretty silly, though I guess DNV has bigger fish to fry, in the grand scheme. RIP haunted house exit.

Posted by: D_C_

Posted by: DanL

RIP haunted house exit.

It's never dead, it just comes back in a new form.....

but I also better get my Lower Skull Skills on point

Posted by: DanL

So those loamers behind that house, known as 'Dirt Diggler' etc are on private DNV property, not Parks. Not sure if those are the trails you are referring to, Mudrunner, but they're all 'illegal'.

No. Different trails a bit lower and they run parallel to the slope.  Not sure how Parks got put into this...they were never mentioned. It's definitely all DNV. The DNV had done some "fire suppression" behind those houses and if you follow the lower cleared section, it leads to the bottom of Lower Ladies. I spoke with them a while back and their intent was to create a trail loop that takes riders off the BP and off of Dempsey, but back to the gravel parking lot. It is is a maze of land stewards and ownership all the way along from the bottom of Lower Expressso. Curious if they are considered "illegal" since many trees have stamped relic metal markers on them that would indicate an old road or trail (there is some flagging, but anyone can put flagging up).

Posted by: D_C_

Posted by: DanL

Interesting... it seemed odd that Dempsey Connector just ends. This seems pretty silly, though I guess DNV has bigger fish to fry, in the grand scheme. RIP haunted house exit.

Yes it is weird it just ends. Especially all the work that has gone into it...

Posted by: mudrunner
 Not sure how Parks got put into this...they were never mentioned. It's definitely all DNV.

Sorry, my poor explanation there - I meant DNV Parks dept as opposed to DNV general - the parks dept the ones who replied to me saying they had no oversight in that section and that it was corporate land owned by DNV for sale at some point. That lower cleared section that you can walk out to to the yellow gate is still considered to be crossing corporate DNV parcels apparently.

They also talked to me about how hard and expensive it would be to continue any of those natural trail(s) that go from mid skull to behind all the houses due to the large outcrop and then the creek that drops down by the Van Tan. Whilst ignoring the enormous amount of volunteer hours and knowledge that the NSMBA brings to the table.

According to GEOWeb, these four lots are "Corporate", everything else in that area is DNV.