Trail Work Report

Upon my arrival to the valley I was greeted first by what some would call a second winter. A few cold days and some fresh snow meant a slow start to the season. After meeting Chris and learning a few of the ins and outs of MBT I was ready to get out and get my hands in the dirt. However, the weather had other plans. It continued to snow and rain but that gave Cam (trails crew member) and I an opportunity to take an inventory of all the tools and make sure they were all sharp and in good condition. Along with a day of chainsaw training to get our appropriate certifications.

The second week the weather warmed up and stayed pretty clear so it was good to get to work on some trails. We started out taking care of a pretty sizable trail collapse on Training Wheels in order to get that open as it would probably be one of the first to melt. We also had the pleasure to train with Paul Mead who gave us some good practices and techniques for trail maintenance and working with volunteers. The next day, having decided that Bovine would need just a little time to dry out before we could work with any dirt to address drainage, we headed up Channel Lock and took care of some brush cutting along with clearing and reconstructing a few drains. While at the top of Channel Lock we took lunch and got a chance to meet with some of the trail users. Talking with riders we heard a lot of interest in when Bovine would be open. This led to a bit of a realization that this is where we will head next and we need to get as many trails open as quickly as we can.

With our sights set on getting riders less concentrated on Channel Lock, we headed out to the Mike Harris Campground. Cam assessed Hillbender and I assessed Lady Slipper from the pole canyon side. Hillbender and Grumpy both still had a good bit of snow on them. Most of the trail were dry but with the scattered snow piles riding wouldn’t be very enjoyable. Lady Slipper however did still have a few snow spots but a lot less with water draining and the majority of the trail dry. After clearing some blowdowns Lady Slipper was good to go with limited advisory. Next we headed to Bovine to tackle drainage. When we got to Bovine a lot of the issue spots had dried out but one remained that wasn’t going to drain the water the way it needed to so we got to work. While working we had a couple of riders pass and inform us that the snow had melted but the trail was still a little wet in some spots. We continued our hike up and encountered some spots that were in fact wet from melt but were doing their job draining the water. It’s been a bit of a slow start, but we’re starting to get things opened up and will have our hands full as long as the weather cooperates.

-Sanders Forrester, Trails Director