Accidental Trail

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

This trail adds another 0.4 miles to the Main Sprague Brook Loop. It gets its name from when WNYMBA was building the main loop. Taking a shortcut through the woods, building began along an old stretch of trail to be repurposed into the main loop. Except it was the wrong old stretch of trail. Oops. The area was quite wet and was quickly abandoned as the builders moved onto the the correct old stretch. However, enough was "built" that it started getting some use, which was a shame because it was extremely wet from no drainage. Eventually, rather than fight it, the trail was armored with lots of rock and corduroy and added to the system. Always good to have more mileage.

The loop begins and ends at the Main Sprague Brook Loop, on opposite sides of a small creek crossing. If you're doing the main loop clockwise, you'll see if veer off to the left at about 1.5 miles in. It makes a hard right at a heavily armored turn and then meanders to the above-mentioned "old stretch of trail". That old stretch has actually been used more during the spring 2013 WNYMBA Wednesday night race series, although it doesn't really lead to other trails (the race loop went across an old wet meadow).

The Accidental Trail itself veers right along the "old stretch", eventually leading to some wet creek crossings. Soon it loops back towards the main loop. As it parallels the swamp that feeds the creek separating the start and end of the trail, long sections of corduroy keep the tread dry until the swamp turns into a creek and the ground is dry once again.