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Chestnut Ridge has been rehabilitated. It wasn’t total tread reconstruction for the whole 7 mile section of trail. We only had enough money in the grant to have Trail Dynamics install rolling grade dips where they were going to help keep water from running down the trail. Use caution if you ride it, there are still some sections that are very rocky and rutted. Check out the clip from the upper section near Little Bald Knob. (Thanks to Shenandoah Mountain Touring for the Video)


Funds from the Federal Gas Tax and then administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Natural Resources paid for North Carolina’s own Trail Dynamics to build 57 Rolling Grade Dips to get water off the steeper parts of the Chestnut Ridge Trail. Many of these grade dips are nearly 75 feet in length from beginning to end. These long structures allow for a smooth transition when cycling down the trail without feeling as if the Rolling Dips want to “buck” you off of your bike. The large nature of the dips also ensures that they will drain water off the trail for many years to come. While more time consuming and costly to build than traditional water bars, properly built Rolling Grade Dips are not nearly as dangerous for cyclists as water bars and they effectively drain water much better for far longer periods of time.

Other work done to Chestnut:
-1200 feet of trail reconstruction
-300 feet of new trail construction
-500 feet of old unsustainable trail closure

This is a new build section of Chestnut Ridge Trail
This is what a section of Chestnut Ridge looked like before Trail Dynamics built rolling grade dips to divert water off of the trail

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