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EJ’s Trail Update 5-30-10

** National Trails Day Saturday June 5th Munger Mountain Area – Details below**

Submitted by Erik Jacobson – USFS

Hello everyone. Operation layout is now complete. We have pin flags up on Josie’s Ridge, upper Game Creek, and the lower Ridge Trail. I’m happy with the layout. Thank-you Galen and Chris P. for all your work and expertise. Thank-you Lloyd for volunteering two days on the Game Creek layout.

Next week we will commence operation project area prep work. We will be clearing the new trail corridors and micro pinning the new trails. Drew Kneeland and Lloyd Wiser start work this Thursday, and I am looking forward to working with them. We have a massive summer of trail building ahead of us, and they are the kind of hard working trail folks that we need. Clay Curly and Chris Owen are also slated to work on these projects, and I am looking forward to working with them as well.

I’ve been thinking about the Cache/Game bike race scheduled for June 21st quite a bit lately. It makes me nervous. I really feel that there will be some unsafe racing conditions if the race happens on the 21st. The race is scheduled smack dab in the middle of the Game Creek trail construction. Trail conditions are going to be very loose and dangerous. A suggestion has been made to leave the old trail open for the race. Unfortunately this cannot happen. The old trail is close to the new trail. As we dig we will be uncovering the rehab material that is needed for the old trail. We have to rehab as we go. Cache/Game races have been delayed in the past, and I feel that the race should be delayed again. Let the new trail ride in and compact. The racers should love the new trail, and a safe, new course will be show-cased.

We spent a lot of time on the lower Ridge Trail layout this past week. The trail is going to be very nice when it is done, but it is not going to be easy. We are going through one tough area. The tough area is going to be in the middle of the project area, dubbed as “Shock Treatment” by Chris P.. The trail will be right underneath the powerlines here. There was not too much room for layout as the ridge is quite spiny in this area. Shorter legs were necessary; and ,yes, we are going to have to build several switchbacks. Trees are not readily available as they were in “Wiggle World” to build Galen’s famous log cribbed switchbacks. We are going to have to use rock and build more of a switchback/climbing turn hybrid.

Galen found some great trail solutions above and below “Shock Treatment”. He eliminated many switchbacks in these areas. This saved a lot of work! The layout is very nice and will be much easier to build. During the construction I plan to focus on the easier upper and lower sections of the Ridge Trail first. We should be able to build these fairly fast and get folks using them. Much of the uphill hiker vs.s the fast downhill rider on the BPA road will be alleviated. We will also get trail users off the Vanderater’s land on the lower section of the Ridge.

National Trails Day fast approaches on June 5th. We will be digging for the first time in the Munger Mountain Area on a National Trails Day. This Munger Project is Tim Farris’s baby. Since the Forest Service adopted the MMA trails after the implementation of the new motorized plan, Tim has spent countless hours working on trail solutions for the MMA. He has been working directly with Mark Ames and Dave Sourman, the two key trail enthusiasts of the area. Mark, Dave, the Red Top Meadows kids, and Big Wally have been doing tons of trail work in the MMA for years. National Trails Day will be a huge event. The USFS, FOP, Teton Freedom Riders, and JH Ski Patrol have combined forces. We dig in memory of “The BIG”!

Have a nice week everyone, and see you at National Trails Day.

EJ

One Response to “EJ’s Trail Update 5-30-10”

Dave says:

June 1, 2010 at 8:36 am

Postponing the Cache/Game Race is a small price to pay for the gift of a sweet new Game Creek Trail section. Thanks for the great updates EJ.