2024 + BEYOND PROPOSED PROJECTS

The Ride NoCo Board often talks about the “endless potential” of the Hurricane Mountain Zone. That potential fills our dreams and keeps us energized, and it’s why we are stoked to announce a capital campaign for $100,000 that will fund projects to expand the Hurricane Mountain Zone and maintain and revitalize existing trails. Our 2024 fundraising goal is $32,000.

We hope you are as excited as we are about the following projects, some of which will occur in 2024. Ride NoCo will undertake the projects with a price tag as soon as funding allows, and be on the lookout for a GoFundMe to raise money for the first phase of this capital campaign. In the meantime - become a member! All membership fees and donations will be counted towards our goal.

Two-part Tech Trail (estimated completion 2024)

For many, this is what we’ve all been waiting for. This new two-part hand-built trail will use the same entrance as Kandagnar but will parallel Surf’s Up and then make multiple turns across the fall line to achieve a moderate gradient, ending on the Kandagnar flats. The terrain includes a plethora of small-sized features and large dirt mounds leftover from when the nearby ski trails were built, both of which will make for an incredible intermediate tech trail. A few hundred yards down the Kandagnar flats, the second part of this trail will diverge right, across from the entrance of Pinball. The trail will follow a beautiful natural ridgeline with deciduous and coniferous forest and end where upper and lower Tornado meet Hurricane Highway. 

Fine-tuning Half Day (estimated completion 2024)

IdeRide will return in 2024 to do one or two days of trail work to fine-tune the Half Day reroute. The professional trail crew will address any issues that arose from breaking in the new trail this fall and any problem areas that the spring snowmelt uncovers. In addition, with volunteers, Ride NoCo will complete a small reroute at the top of Half Day that diverts rider traffic from the rock climber’s trail and post the final signage to clearly mark the trail entrance. Thanks to all who donated in 2023, funding is secured!

Charlie’s Maintenance (estimated completion 2024)

Tulip Trails, a professional mountain bike trail builder, generously plans to donate a week of machine-powered trail work on Charlie’s. As our flagship trail, Charlie’s sees a lot of wear and tear. To get it in tip top shape, Tulip Trails will primarily focus on rebuilding the berms we all love and improving drainage. This work is scheduled for May of 2024. However, Tulip Trails will not be able to address all of Charlie’s problem areas in just a week, so Ride NoCo plans to fund another week of professional maintenance as soon as funding allows.

Upper Red Tail Rebuild (estimated completion 2024)

At 2.75 miles and with nearly 1300’ of elevation change, Red Tail is the sleeping giant of the Hurricane Mountain Zone. Ride NoCo aims to rebuild Red Tail into a modern, sustainable trail that is enjoyable for riders of varying ability to ascend and descend while staying true to the original nature of the trail.

Originally built in 2001, Red Tail is a true classic of the Mount Washington Valley. However, many sections of the trail have heavily eroded, are poorly defined, and have drainage issues. Repairs throughout the trail will include benching off camber sections of trail, building berms, defining the trail where multiple lines exist, rock armoring erosion prone areas, raising the trail tread to prevent water damage, and smoothing heavily rooted and degraded areas.

Very few choose to descend Red Tail because of its purpose-built downhill neighbors, so this rebuild will virtually add a new descent. In addition, the rebuild combined with the New Connector project below will create the easiest top-to-bottom ascent and descent in the network. 

New Connector trail (estimated completion 2024)

The new connector trail from Red Tail (just above the exit of Hurricane) to Kettle Ridge will create the easiest top-to-bottom descent and ascent in the HMZ and enable Red Tail and Hurricane trail users to more easily reach other trails and the primary lower parking area at Cranmore Mountain Resort, further increasing the variety of riding options in the network. Importantly, the new connector will also reduce traffic on Charlie’s and more evenly distribute trail utilization.

The new connector will be approximately half a mile long and built for two-way rider traffic. The trail will have 100' of elevation change and will be primarily smooth and rolling to allow riders to carry speed in both directions. The trail grade will be less than 5% and incorporate many natural grade reversals to minimize erosion, and the trail layout avoids seasonally wet areas. This construction will be fully mechanized with a 4’ tread and 8’ corridor.

Mid/Lower Red Tail Rebuild

Rebuilding mid and lower Red Tail will likely occur in a second phase after rebuilding upper Red Tail, and it will address many of the same problems, including widening abrupt corners and smoothing degraded areas. The lower part of Red Tail is the least used trail in the network, with some riders even choosing to use Hurricane Mountain Road to skip this section of trail. Once complete, Red Tail will once again be a trail that riders love to ride from top to bottom. 

14 Weeks of Paid Trail Crew

It is time for Ride NoCo to invest in a paid trail crew. As the Hurricane Mountain Zone expands and the number of riders who use it increases, so does the wear and tear on our trails. Ride NoCo relies on over 700 hours of volunteer work annually, the majority of which is dedicated during the month of May to open the network. 

A paid trail crew will work primarily during the summer months when we all just want to put the shovels down and ride! In addition to general maintenance, such as smoothing tread and addressing drainage issues, a trail crew will be able to focus on longstanding problem areas, rock armor erosion prone sections, and assist and potentially reduce the cost of future projects.

Ride NoCo funded a trail crew in the summer of 2021, and the resulting work is still present throughout the network.

Excited? We are, too! Your membership, your donations, and your time will help us grow the network!


2023 SEASON RECAP

The beginning of the 2023 season was marked by major success punctuated by a storm of adversity. In early April, Ride NoCo launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to rebuild upper Hurricane and reroute the bottom of Half Day. Just six weeks later, we exceeded our $20,000 goal, and through the second quarter of 2023, Ride NoCo raised $29,500. This was Ride NoCo’s most successful public fundraising effort ever, which included winning two grants.

This success was a blessing because a storm on April 30th dropped over three inches of rain and caused the worst flooding in the Mount Washington Valley since Hurricane Irene. Trails all over the Valley and beyond saw significant damage and the Hurricane Mountain Zone (HMZ) was not exempt. Hurricane Highway and Hurricane were hit hardest with many washouts and several large crevasses on both trails. 

To address the storm damage, Ride NoCo expanded Tulip Trails’ planned scope of work to tackle the entirety of Hurricane, not just the top, and to address the washouts on Hurricane Highway (see details below). Volunteers addressed the rest of the network during six trail days throughout May, and the whole network was looking spiffy right in time for summer. We are so thankful to our volunteers for a massive effort to open the network!

Then, well, it just kept raining, and the summer of 2023 became the wettest summer in New Hampshire’s history. Yet, the rain did not seem to dampen most riders’ spirits. According to Trailforks data, ridership in 2023 remained the same from 2022.

The last big push for the season was completing the Half Day reroute. Ride NoCo held multiple trail days to supplement IdeRide’s work and opened the new trail in September (see details below).

Thank you to everyone who donated and volunteered their time. Without you, the HMZ could not be the most rad publicly accessible place to ride in the northeast!

Rebuilt Upper Hurricane and Tune-up - $12,500

Tulip Trails rebuilt upper Hurricane to match the flow and style of lower Hurricane. To address storm damage and because funding was available, Tulip Trails also spruced up the entirety of lower Hurricane. The result is a much smoother and faster trail with more berms and exposed ledge.

Hurricane Highway Repairs - $2,500

Tulip Trails not only fixed washouts but also constructed catch basins and improved drainages that will prevent future storm damage.

Half Day Reroute - $23,500

Ride NoCo agreed to adopt and steward Half Day in 2018 and committed to rerouting the lower half as a way to legitimize the trail with the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF). Ride NoCo has now fulfilled its commitment, and the WMNF was impressed with final trail. IdeRide began and finished rerouting Half Day in August. This reroute eliminated the last quarter mile of trail, which was overly steep with an average grade of 28% and heavily eroded. The reroute more than doubled the distance to .54 miles and decreased the grade to a more sustainable average of 13% so it will experience significantly less erosion and degradation. The soil and terrain in the new corridor is also much more suited for mountain biking, and the reroute has some unbelievably fun rhythm sections and beautiful rockwork. Half Day now caters to a wider array of abilities but stays true to the technical riding that we all know and love.


2021-2022 Projects

Tornado (completed)

A 1.36 mile downhill-only trail in the Hurricane Mountain Zone descending from the junction of Sendero and Kettle Ridge to the Hurricane Highway Trail.

  • Trail building completed by Tulip Trails

  • Trail length of 7,150 linear feet (1.36 Miles) with approximately 600 feet elevation loss at an average grade of 8%

  • Construction was completed in August 2021

  • Riders will experience a machine built downhill-only, intermediate flow trail with opportunities for more advanced lines

  • This project includes a new connector trail route at the southern end Tornado to the base of Cranmore via Charlie Don’t Surf, helping to move downhill traffic off of Cranmore’s Kandahar ski trail.

  • This project further advances Ride NoCo’s goal to utilize Cranmore Mountain Resort’s parking area and alleviate traffic and parking at the base of Hurricane Mountain Road.


Restoration Projects

Original Cranmore Connector (completed)

The White Mountain Trail Collective will re-route and restore the original Cranmore Connector trail, used by both bikers and hikers. The goal of this project is to restore erosion from heavy traffic. Additionally, a handful of re-routes will be added to make the climb on mountain bikes more palatable.


2020 Projects

Summer 2020 marks a big step in creating connectivity and bringing in professional trail builders to the Mt. Washington Valley. A key partnership with the White Mountain Trail Collective has helped fund two major projects in the Hurricane Zone, addressing traffic flow and connectivity. Grant funding from REI, our fundraising efforts and your generosity are key components to making these projects happen!

  • Cranmore to Water Tower connector(Hurricane Highway): The Cranmore to Water Tower connector trail is a sustainably built, two-way heavily trafficked Beginner trail that is the main artery, connecting the entire Hurricane Zone to designated parking at Cranmore Mountain Resort. Almost every trail terminates on this main line and gives us several options for future new trails. This trail was designed to be sustainable and wide enough to accommodate a very high volume of rider traffic.

  • Lower Kettle Ridge: Updates to Lower Kettle Ridge Trail provides a two-way traffic trail that serves as an outlet for Redtail, Sendero and Hurricane riders to more easily climb. The improvements to this trail increase accessibility to beginner riders and other trail users.

  • Black Cap to Cranmore Connector Trail(Surf’s Up): A secondary trail to the Northern side of the existing trail was constructed as an alternative option for bike traffic heading towards Cranmore and will flow into Charlie Don’t Surf. Vermont-based trail builder Knight Ide(Ideride builders) and his crew constructed this trail in August 2020.

  • Charlie Don’t Surf re-route: To keep grading consistent, and re-routing the bottom portion to bring traffic flow off of private lands, we are bringing more turns and length to an already popular trail! Thanks Tulip Trails, our Ride NoCo Trail Crew, and volunteer efforts for this project.


2018 Projects

Late summer 2018 saw the construction of Mount Washington Valley’s first gravity fed machine built trail, Hurricane, on municipality (town) land. The project was funded in part by WMNEMBA, with additional volunteer efforts and equipment donations from Lucy Hardware. Thanks to Tyrol Trails for helping bring this project to reality.