Friends of Pathways has a formal partnership with the USFS to collaborate on design, construction and stewardship of local trails for all users – hike, bike, horse, and ski. We’re committed to providing easy year round access to trails that is essential to maintaining our high quality of life in Jackson Hole.

Trail Conditions 4-18-17

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As usual in early spring there are a few dry trails out there in sunny spots and at low elevations.  The trails between Snow King Ski Area and the Winter Wildlife Closure to the west are 99% snow free and dry.  They can be accessed via the Rodeo and Pine Drive neighborhood access trails or by hiking up some snow from the base of Snow King.  Over in Cache Creek the road and trails on the Hagen side are still covered in snow and passable but starting to get muddy in spots.  The Sidewalk Trail is snow free and dry up to the Bridge 2 junction and Putt Putt is 95% snow free from the Cache Creek trailhead to the Nelson Drive trailhead.  Remember to try to stay on snow or dry dirt this time of year and if you see yourself gathering mud on your shoes or tires or leaving tracks you are doing damage to the trails.

Cache Creek Trailhead still closed to vehicles

The Bridger-Teton NF staff was able to improve parts of the road to Cache Creek Trailhead, but there is still more work to be done before cars are able to go back to the trailhead.

Walking, biking and skiing are still encouraged, although the Town and BTNF suggest that you park at May Park and not block local driveways on Cache Creek Road. There is NO PARKING near the barricade on Cache Creek Drive. Many vehicles have been ticketed.

Bike Raffle to Support Cache Creek Singletrack Grooming

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It has been a difficult winter for our trial year grooming singletrack in Cache Creek.  We have managed to stay ahead of the storms and keep a little over 9 miles of singletrack groomed for hikers, bikers, runners, and skiers.  We are hoping your donations to this bike raffle will allow us to purchase all of the equipment we need to continue this grooming program in future years.  If you have enjoyed the trails in Cache this winter or could use a new fat bike, please consider purchasing a raffle ticket.  Each $100 donation will get you entered to win a Salsa Beargrease size large from Fitzgerald’s Bicycles.  The drawing will be held at the Togwotee Winter Classic Race on March 4th and you need not be present to win.  You can donate here: Bike Raffle

Cache Creek Road Closed to Vehicles

RELEASE FROM THE BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST

JACKSON, Wyo., FEBRUARY 16, 2017 – The Cache Creek road on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Jackson Ranger District, is temporarily closed to vehicle traffic from the edge of town to the trailhead.

People are still welcome to recreate in the drainage but no parking is allowed in front of the road barrier or along Upper Cache Creek Drive. There are small parking areas available at May Park which is approximately 1 mile from the trailhead and at Mike Yokel Park which is a little over a mile from the trailhead. Due to icy, narrow roads, and wildlife in the area, people walking with dogs are advised to leash their dog while on the town roads and leashes are required on the Cache road through the trailhead area.

The Cache Creek road was temporarily closed on Thursday February 9th when conditions significantly deteriorated and the snow base turned to slush. These conditions exceeded the capability of the Forest Service pick-up plow to move the slush and no other equipment was available. Despite the road closure, people attempted to drive up to the trailhead over the weekend and many vehicles became stuck. The subsequent cold temperatures have now created a one-way, frozen lane on the hill leading to the trailhead. The one lane is VERY icy and narrow and does not allow safe passage for both incoming and outgoing vehicle traffic. Forest Service personnel attempted to plow the road on Monday February 13th but found that it could not be accomplished without damaging the small plow or potentially tearing up the road. Thus, the decision was made to keep the road closed until temperatures warm enough to soften the ice and enable widening the road. Similar conditions exist at Nelson Drive. The trailhead is not plowed and people driving should plan to park along Broadway Ave and walk to the trailhead.

Teton County Parks and Recreation Department will continue grooming the Cache Creek trail on Friday. District Ranger Dale Deiter said that he recognizes that the longer walk is inconvenient but hopes that people will still visit the drainage and take advantage of the chance to experience Cache Creek with fewer people around. The area will continue to be patrolled with conditions checked daily. Warmer temperatures are forecasted, increasing the hope that the road can be opened early next week. In the meantime, recreationists may also want to explore the many alternative areas available to ski, walk, bike, or exercise your dog. Check out the Jackson Hole Nordic Report at www.jhnordic.com for ideas or contact the Bridger-Teton National Forest at 307-739-5500 for suggestions.

 

Cache Creek Road Closed Until Further Notice

Conditions at Cache Creek have become increasingly icy and difficult to manage. The road was closed over the weekend, but vehicles did attend to drive up to the trailhead, many getting very stuck. People are still welcome to walk, ski, or bike into the area

The Bridger-Teton National Forest staff ask that the public please stay off the Cache Creek Road until further notice. A facility tech did attempt to open the Cache Creek road on Monday, but was unsuccessful. On Thursday, conditions significantly deteriorated and the snow base turned to slush overwhelming the capability of a plow on a pick-up truck. Despite the road closure, vehicles did attempt to drive up to the trailhead over the weekend with many of them getting very stuck.

Currently, only one lane is open up to the Cache Creek trailhead and it is VERY icy. It does not allow safe passage for both incoming and outgoing vehicle traffic. The USFS is unable to plow the road at this point without damaging equipment or potentially tearing up the road. Patrollers will still cover the area and check conditions daily.

Cache Creek Road is closed until conditions improve. People are still welcome to walk, ski, or bike into the area but recognize that there is no parking. Please do not block driveways in the residential area.

New Singletrack Grooming Approved for Cache Creek this Winter

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We are excited to announce that Friends of Pathways, Mountain Bike the Tetons, and Teton Mountain Bike Tours have worked with the Bridger-Teton to pilot a Singletrack Trail Grooming program in Cache Creek for this winter.  This program which is being supported by donations at our Crowd Rise campaign site and will include a mixture of snowmobile and human grooming on 10 miles of trail.  Cache Creek saw an average of 286 trail users per day last winter, 66.1% hikers, 14.7% bikers, 10.3% runners, and 8.9% skiers.  This program will help to maintain a compact groomed trail surface for all trail users that is wide enough to allow people to pass each other without stepping off into deep snow on the side of the trail.  We worked with the BTNF to provide options close to the trailhead as well as additional grooming farther up the drainage to help spread out use.  We also are grooming upper Cache Creek road to Noker Mine an extra day each week to help bolster Parks and Rec’s grooming efforts.  If you enjoy using the trails in the winter take a look at our Crowd Rise site to learn more about FOP and MBT’s  joint venture to groom trails in Jackson, Victor, and Driggs!

Trail Conditions for 9-8-16

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We are working to finish the last 2 miles of the Skyline Trail.  We are working downhill towards the Game Creek Trail narrowing the wide bench that the trail machine built to support itself.  This involves pulling down the backslope to prevent erosion, slightly outsloping the tread and making it 18 inches wide, and raking away the excess dirt on the downhill edge to allow snow and water to drain off the trail and to allow any vegetation covered up to regrow more quickly.  Crews will be working throughout the fall and into next spring to complete this project.

 

Skyline Trail Connected, not Finished

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After a ton of hard work by everyone involved the crews made a rough connection on the Skyline Trail this week.  I emphasize rough!  The trail is passable and we encourage people to go explore it but to heed all closures and instruction by the crews working on the trail.  There are several switchbacks where crews could roll debris onto the trail below and when they are working the trail may not be passable so plan that into your outings.  Know that crews will be continuing to work into the fall to cut the backslope, rake the outslope, and narrow and improve the tread.  The photo above illustrates the full bench cut the trail machine made so it didn’t roll down the side of the mountain and as he works his way back the machine and handcrews will be improving the backslope and slightly outsloping the trail for better drainage.  Both of these will narrow the tread behind the machine and we will end up with a nice singletrack trail.  Thanks to everyone who has helped so far and feel free to stop while you’re out there and help the crews for a few minutes, I hear they also love cookies…

Ferrin’s Trail

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You may have noticed some trail names and junctions changing in Cache Creek this summer.  This is part of a larger signage project Friends of Pathways is working on with the Bridger-Teton National Forest.  One of the first parts of the process was to simplify trail names, especially connector trails, and to consolidate dog leg trail junctions into simple 4 way junctions.  With help from volunteers from STIO and Lillard Flyfishing over last weekend we were able to finish one of these reroutes on the Ferrins/Hagen/River trail junction.  If you take a look at the map above you can see the old names and alignment and the new, the main difference being bringing the River to Hagen Connector Trail and the Tiny Hagen trail together at 1 junction and renaming all of this the Ferrin’s Trail.  We did this for 2 reasons, one being the surplus of trails with Hagen in the name (Hagen, Hagen Highway, Hagen River, Tiny Hagen) and the other being that Ferrins is one of the more popular trails and finding it was difficult as it used to start miles up from the trailhead through a combination of junctions.  So get out for a hike or bike and try out the “new” 3.36 mile Ferrin’s Trail.

Youth Trail Crew Update

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The Friends of Pathways Youth Trail Crew has been hard at work this summer on projects on around the Bridge-Teton National Forest.  They have installed several dozen rock steps and drainage features on Josie’s Ridge and the Woods Canyon trails, built the new Nelson Knoll trail and installed a new bench at the overlook, improved the Ski Lake trail above the lake to the ridge line, dug parts of the new Skyline Trail, pulled weeds in Game Creek, mapped weeds and trail problems on the East Table Creek trail, moved several tons of gravel to turnpikes on the Big Rocks trail, and cleaned hundreds of drainage features and improved line of sight on almost all of the trails in the front country system.  A big thanks to them for their hard work and to Mountain Khakis for supplying them all with uniforms for the summer.  Look for them out on the trails!

FOLLOW THE YOUTH TRAIL CREW! @FriendsOfPathways on Instragram We’ll Be Taking An In-Depth Look at the #YouthTrailCrew During Their Last Week of the Summer!

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