The snow melted into mud season a little earlier than usual this year. The frost heaves have settled down and the trails are currently a mix of firm and sloppy, trending more toward one or the other depending on the weather. There is even a nice crop of wild onions growing along the upper single track on course – a little something for everyone!
For returning racers, please note that we have some course changes on order. All the low and high points are the same as in the past, but the course takes you on some new routes along the way:
- Reroute at the start. As you head into Butternut Cabin Trail, you’ll take a zig zag through the new Butternutter trail.
- From KOM/Adirondack View high point, you’ll continue past the old turn-off and head down Kasie’s Climb before rejoining the original course to the bottom.
- On the 2nd sustained climb, you’ll turn off Eli’s Escape just before the top, onto lower Darth Vader, a new-to-SHMR racers pleasant section of single track.
- Later on, you will leave Darth Vader (avoiding the sketchy cliff bridge!) and instead finish the ascent up Rogue One – a very fun single track with some sections of rock scramble.
- Final change. On the 3rd loop you’ll take a slightly rerouted way along the single track and will come out a little bit further on Ridge Rd trail, still finishing up on the wide sweeping downhill (and that little rise to the finish…).
Please check out Trailforks for a detailed GPS map: https://www.trailforks.com/event/6016/
There is also lots more info and updated course maps over on our the Course page.
For anyone local, a first round of orange arrows are in place to show you the way. Your will find the first arrow in Molly’s Meadow near the start of Lower Saddle/Butternutter.