Jackson Hill

I am planning to ski with some out of town guests for the weekend and would like to know if the trails at Jackson Hill will be groomed for the weekend and if the warming hut at is open and if the wood stove is still in place.

What are conditions going to be like this weekend?

I can see that some of Tug Hill is getting lake effect, but you seem to be on the eastern edge. I’d love to ski there Sunday, but it’s a long drive for ice. What news?

Cooperstown, NY

Re: Trail Closing

If we might borrow from an earlier December post regarding the closing of the Alder Creek Gorge trails during the week:

BREIA is now partnering with the Potato Hill Farm Outdoor Education Center (PHFOEC) to provide campuses for outdoor activities to area school groups. Given the large size of the groups and the fact that they will be snowshoeing or hiking on the trails, it was determined that access to the trails at Alder Creek Gorge would be limited to the school groups during the weekday hours of 8:30-2:00 PM. It should be noted that the general public still will have access to the Great Trail, and Cherry Tree Trail on Egypt Rd. and also the Canal Trail and Jackson Hill trail system. We regret any inconvenience that this new restriction causes, but hope that the benefits derived from trail usage by area school children will compensate.

BREIA

Trail closing

I am disappointed to learn that you are closing the Alder Creek Gorge Trail System weekdays until 2:00. As a retired person, I have enjoyed use of the trails during the weekdays when they are less busy. There are typically 10 to 15 people that I meet on the trails on a typical day who comment on their pleasure of skiing when there are fewer people. What is the reason for closing the trails?

Re: Dogs (revisited)

Rick,

That sounds like a very unpleasant experience. Any bicyclist that's been chased by an aggressive dog would probably relate to your story as well. Your point that adults as well children can feel threatened by a large, unleashed dog bounding down the trail is very well taken. The seeming lack of concern of the owner makes the situation even worse. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Oneida County deer predation law prohibits unleashed dogs off of an owner's private property from mid-Dec. through mid April. Unfortunately BREIA cannot prohibit dogs on the Canal Trail because it is part of the state right-of-way along the Black River Canal. If folks encounter similar situations you might want to contact the local dog control officer or sheriff.

BREIA

Dogs (revisited)

First I want to say that I love animals and never want to hurt one. However, if it comes down to me or the animal, I'm going to defend myself. That being said, I was out for a ski today on the Canal Trail down at the trail's end (south of Pixley) when a tall (I'd say 5'10"ish) woman in about her 60s comes skiing at me with a black lab...loose. I stop completely and the dog runs at me and jumps on me! I'm the type of person that will ALWAYS smile and say "hi" (unless their dogs are after me) and I've met some really nice people out on the trails. I actually yelled a profanity as I was poking the dog with the metal tips of my poles trying to keep him off of me as the woman did not even acknowledge that it was happening. She just skied past! Unbelievable. It's not just the kids, but adults that the dogs go after, too. I would even go so far as to suggest that NO dogs are allowed on the trails. That kind of behavior shouldn't be accepted any place and that
woman should be ashamed of herself.

rick

SKI WAX

Do you recommend a particular all-purpose ski wax? If so, where can it/they be purchased. We skied Black River Canal Trail New Year’s Day and 1 of us got bogged by sticky snow. Thanks



Gail Person

Re: dogs

You bring up a very good point Linda. A large, unleashed dog and small children is not a good situation. It should be noted that Oneida County has a deer predation law requiring dogs off of an owner's property to be leashed from Dec. through April 15th.

BREIA

Re: dogs

BREIA-
I commend you for your stance on dogs on the trail. I skiied Christmas week four times and twice (Egypt Road)witnessed owners and their dog on the trail. Neither time were these dogs leashed. I was with my four children (10, 9, 6, 5) and when they see a dog about as big as they are coming at them, they are scared even though they hear shouts of "He's friendly!" It really puts a damper on fun. How can we be sure these people will clean up after their dogs when they are clearly ignoring the rule that bans them in the first place? Please keep this rule in place.
Thank you for providing us with a great place to ski!

Linda

Re: dogs

Dogs and ski trails certainly create a dilemma. Certain folks love to ski with their dogs and don't feel that anyone should be able to restrict that right. What users of our trails must understand is that the vast majority of the trail system is private property. The wishes of the property owner are to provide an outstanding cross country skiing experience to the general public.

To achieve this we set a double track with our state-of-the-art groomers. Anyone familiar with the process knows that this is a costly endeavor, involving expensive machines, many operator man-hours and thousands of gallons of fuel. This is particularly so when you consider that the BREIA trail system encompasses 50 Km. Unfortunately, many years of experience have proven to us that dog traffic on the trails severely degrade the trail. This is especially evident on the Canal Trail where dogs are permitted. Skiers have mentioned on many occasions that within an hour of grooming the tracks were nearly obliterated by dog traffic.

A question that begs to be answered is: Given the vast surrounding landscape of woods, fields, logging roads, snowmobile trails, etc., why would you choose to take your dog on the only groomed ski tracks for many miles?

BREIA

dogs

I think it is great that dogs are allowed on some ski trails. I have 2 snow dogs (Siberian Husky & Samoyed), and they love the snow and skijoring. We use the other trails mostly in the winter, because The Canal trail is just too boring to do often. Where we go, the trails are groomed by volunteers, and with the packed trail, the dogs don't affect it in any way. I think it is unfortunate that there are some closed minded people out there that just don't like dogs, period. I can understand the aggravation caused by people that don't 'clean up' after their dogs, and therefore ruin it for the rest of us. I get upset with that too. As for degrading the trail, that is rather on over statement. I have yet to have my ski swallowed up by a dog's footprint. There are more and more real x-c ski areas that are opening certain trails to dogs, because of the growing need. It is very unfortunate that Salmon Hill ski area in Redfield had to close. They were very dog friendly. We love the breia trails in the summer for bikejoring. There really are some awesome trails there.

Re: Grooming

We groom as budget, time, and the weather permit. We'd love to groom 24/7, but sadly the budget doesn't permit. Given the heavy weekend usage, we try to groom just before the weekend to maximize conditions for the largest amount of people.

BREIA

Grooming

Dear BREIA,

Do you have a grooming schedule? Thanks.

rick

Canal Trail

I skied the Canal Trail Twice last week (Wednesday & Saturday) from lower lot to 1st road crossing

Conditions were perfect -

Thanks for your efforts!

Re: Directions to Alder Creek Trails

The Alder Creek Trail system is located on Egypt Rd. in Alder Creek. Take Rte. 12 North. Egypt Rd. is the first left after the Rte. 28 junction in Alder Creek. The lower (railroad) lot is just across the railroad tracks on the right, and the upper lot is approx. 2 miles up the hill on the right.

The entire system map and individual trail maps are available on the Where We Are link of the BREIA website.

BREIA

Directions to Alder Creek Trails

Hello BREIA,

I cannot find directions to the Alder Creek trail system. Any chance you could post them onto the BREIA site?

Thanks

Scott

Re: Jacksonhill Rd Warming Hut

As per last ski season, BREIA has started grooming the Jackson Hill trails and opening the Jackson Hill warming hut in mid-January. This is for budgetary reasons.

BREIA

Jacksonhill Rd Warming Hut

Hi, my friends and I were wondering why this hut is closed. We are the kind of people that like to leave it better than we found it. I hope no one has violated this place and ruined it for the rest if us. Please keep us posted at robertb@kalexenergy.com. Thank you.

Re: Jackson Hill warming hut

The plan is to reopen the Jackson Hill warming hut and start regular grooming of the Jackson Hill trail system in mid-January.

BREIA

Jackson Hill warming hut

Just wondering if the hut at JH will open eventually or is it closed for the season? Thanks.
MC Wolf