Upcoming 2025 and Future 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.
Ride NoCo will undertakes projects as soon as funding allows, so become a member! All membership fees and donations will be counted towards our goal.
Two New Tech Trails (estimated completion 2025)
For many, this is what we’ve all been waiting for. Construction of one of the new hand-built trails began at the end of 2024. The trail starts to rider’s left of Kandagnar, parallels 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 which make for an incredible intermediate tech trail.
A few hundred yards down the Kandagnar flats, the second new trail will diverge right, across from the entrance of Pinball. The trail will follow a beautiful natural shoulder with deciduous and coniferous forest and end at the top of lower Tornado.
New Connector trail (estimated completion 2025)
The new connector trail from Red Tail to Kettle Ridge will create the easiest top-to-bottom descent and ascent in the Hurricane Mountain Zone. It will also increase the variety of riding options in the network by enabling Red Tail and Hurricane trail users to more easily reach other trails and the primary lower parking area at Cranmore Mountain Resort. 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 (estimated completion 2025)
Rebuilding mid and lower Red Tail will occur in 2025, and it will address many of the same problems that existed in Upper Red Tail, 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.
Fine-tuning Half Day
Ride NoCo will fund one or two days of professional 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!
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.
2024 Projects
Upper Red Tail Rebuild - $17,750
Ride NoCo hired Tulip Trails 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. Repairs throughout the trail included benching off camber sections of trail, building berms, defining the trail where multiple lines existed, rock armoring erosion prone areas, raising the trail tread to prevent water damage, and smoothing heavily rooted and degraded areas.
Charlie’s Maintenance - $4,000
Tulip Trails, a professional mountain bike trail builder, generously donated a week of machine-powered trail work on Charlie’s, and Ride NoCo funded another four days of work. As our flagship trail, Charlie’s sees a lot of wear and tear. To get it in tip top shape, Tulip Trails enhanced the berms we all love and built and improved drainages.
2023 Projects
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 the 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 rock work. Half Day now caters to a wider array of abilities but stays true to the technical riding that we all know and love.
2021 and 2022 Projects
Tornado
Tornado is a 1.36 mile downhill trail in the Hurricane Mountain Zone which descends 600 feet from the junction of Sendero and Kettle Ridge to the Hurricane Highway Trail. Tornado is a machine-built, intermediate, flow trail. Construction was completed in August 2021 by Tulip Trails. This project further advanced Ride NoCo’s goal to utilize Cranmore Mountain Resort’s parking area and alleviate traffic and parking at the base of Hurricane Mountain Road.
Charlie’s Link
Charlie’s link was developed alongside Tornado and connects the end of Tornado to the bottom of Charlie’s, which gives riders the option to use Charlie’s instead of Cranmore’s Kandahar ski trail to end their ride.
Original Cranmore Connector
A local nonprofit re-routed and restored the original Cranmore Connector trail, used by both bikers and hikers. This project restored erosion from heavy traffic and made re-routes to make the climb for mountain bikes more palatable.
2020 Projects
Summer 2020 marked a big step in creating connectivity and bringing in professional trail builders to the Mt. Washington Valley. Key partnerships helped fund two major projects in the Hurricane Zone, Hurricane Highway and Surf’s Up, both of which addressed traffic flow and connectivity.
Hurricane Highway
Hurricane Highway is a two-way beginner trail that is the main artery that connects Cranmore Mountain Resort to the water tower. Almost every trail terminates on this trail 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
Updates to Lower Kettle Ridge Trail make it a two-way traffic trail that allows riders to more easily climb, increasing accessibility to beginner riders and other trail users.
Surf’s Up
Surf’s Up replaces the Cranmore Connector as the primary trail riders use to start their descent from the top of the Hurricane Mountain Zone. Surf’s Up is a masterpiece in the art of flow built by Vermont-based trail building company IdeRide.
Charlie’s Re-route
To keep grading consistent and bring the trail off of private lands, Tulip Trails and Ride NoCo’s trail crew rerouted the lower part of Charlie’s, bringing more turns and length to an already popular trail.
2018 Projects
Hurricane
2018 saw the construction of Mount Washington Valley’s first gravity fed machine built trail, Hurricane, on municipality Conway town land. The project was funded in part by WMNEMBA, with additional volunteer efforts and equipment donations from Lucy Hardware. Tyrol Trails also helped bring this project to reality.
Sendero
Ride NoCo volunteers built Sendero in 2018, and it has since become a staple of the Hurricane Mountain Zone. Sendero is fast, rowdy, and full of character.
The Beginnings of the Hurricane Mountain Zone
Red Tail
Red Tail was built in 2001 and was the first official trail in the Hurricane Mountain Zone. It was one of the first mountain bike-specific trails built in the Mount Washington Valley, and the layout and construction were ahead of their time. As a result, Red Tail quickly gained popularity. Originally managed and built by WMNEMBA, it is now managed by Ride NoCo. The trail descends from the Cranmore Connector to the base of Hurricane Mountain Road. It is 2.75 miles long with nearly 1300’ of elevation change. This makes Red Tail the longest sustained descent and trail in the Hurricane Zone. It is located primarily on Conway town land with the lower approximate 3200’ on Cranmore Mountain Resort property that is in a conservation easement held by the Upper Saco River Valley Land Trust.