‘Upper Gussy’ Opens Trail For Hoof And Tread

By Kendra Bobowick

Heading uphill over stones and moss, Mark Lurie set the rising trail behind him. Pointing toward the ragged hard-pack, he noted a concern. “This goes up and [rain] water shoots down. This becomes a stream.” Moving again up the rise, he approached an anomaly of field stones piled into a wall — once an old sign of farmland — now sitting beneath stands of poplar, maple, and evergreen trees. Less than ten feet away another stone wall sits parallel, bracketing a stretch of woodland floor in the Upper Paugussett State Forest.

Pointing into the distance where the walls stretched beyond view, Mr Lurie said, “This swath here is the Upper Gussy Trail.” He has spent the past several years planning and mapping out the Upper Paugussett State Forest multiuse trail that opened last April and incorporates the corridor between the stone walls, creating access for riders on horseback and on mountain bikes.

“It’s historic; it is the first official multiuse trail through the Upper Paugussett,” said Newtown Bridle Lands Association (NBLA) President Cindy Miller. Previously, the only route for horses had been an old fire road. The forest’s Blue Blaze trail areas that crisscross beneath the trees are meant for hikers only. 

Working with old logging and farming roads that are barely discernable indentations along the ground, the Upper Gussy is a combination of turns, erratic terrain, occasional water and stone crossings, and fallen trees that offer a “skinny” ride for a mountain bike’s tread along the rutted bark. Laughing at a fall he took that tossed him to the ground, Mr Lurie said, “It was a yard sale.”

The trail is a mix of old and new paths through the forest, where horseshoes leave marks beside the winding bite of knobbed tires. “We use a little old road here, some old road there …” Slightly less than half of the approximate two-mile route of meandering footpaths or harder switchbacks covers old ground. “The rest is trying to work with the land,” Mr Lurie said. Stepping past rotted stumps and sapling branches cleared away from the trail, he walked through a break in a stone wall, up a ledge and back down again toward an elbow in the path, then stopped to consider the landscape.

Seeing an invitation, Mr Lurie left the path and pushed himself up a low-slung slab of rock. “You can take the path, or go up and over [on your mountain bike],” he said, standing at the peak a few feet above the ground. Stone, streams, inclines, and fallen trees are part of the Upper Gussy’s allure to riders looking for adventure. Mr Lurie sought to create an experience: “Challenging,” he explained, “but, not overly technical.”

The trail blazing was a collaborative effort with the NBLA. In a recent email, Mr Lurie, vice president for the New England Mountain Biking Association, Connecticut chapter, explained that the idea dawned about two years ago when he learned that the NBLA was trying to put in a trail on the west side of the forest. They encountering hurdles, he said.

“Knowing the forest as well as I do and having mapped just about every possible trail, I suggested they join forces with my organization to create a trail.” Subsequently, NBLA members, including Tom Ramsdell, who was “integral and went beyond the call of duty,” helped to clear the trail. The Upper Gussy has also found approval through the state’s Department of Environmental Protection trails department head Laurie Gianotti.

Several years of mapping, planning, and rerouting the Upper Gussy have finally yielded something that Mr Lurie feels is a “rewarding experience.”

Shading his eyes and adjusting the brim of his cap last week, he looked at the recreational corridor he had help carve through the woods. “This trail is great; it has variety built in,” he said. “It keeps you guessing.” As a bike rider in recent years, he said, “You are focused on what’s in front of you, on your endurance, and to a degree, what’s around you.”

See video clips of his rides on YouTube.com, using the search term, “Upper Paugussett.” Read about trail rides firsthand from one of Mr Lurie’s blogs at UpperGussy.BlogSpot.com, or CycleSnack.com. The trail is accessible from the parking area where Echo Valley Road ends. Find maps at UpperGussy.BlogSpot.com.