Originally Posted by
ogmtb
This is actually the opposite of what you should do.
Do not ride around the mud - that leads to trail widening. Keep singletrack single. Ride through it.
In many areas mud is unavoidable (temperate rainforests like the PNW, higher latitudes, etc.) but is fine to ride through if the loam content is high. Again, the last thing you want to do is ride around it on singletrack.
There is no reason to worry about ruining the "trail" by riding through the mud in many of the previous photos. Those aren't trails, they are roads.
Post
#7 is a trail.
Besides...riding through mud like that prematurely wears out the brake and drivetrain components.
This is the mountain biking forum. One can safely assume most of us are riding trails with our mountain bikes and not roads. Therefore if there is mud on the trail then stay off of it until it dries up!