Trail Conditions for 8-9-19

This week the crew worked on rebenching some switchbacks on the Ferrin’s Trail and breaking off the corner of the Ferrin’s Rock.  After a hearing more stories of bike crashes there (handlebars are getting wider right?) and having to try and shore up the half bench trail that dips under the rock on a steep side hill several times over the last few years we finally let loose the raw energy of the youth trail crew on it.  Turns out a half dozen people sledge hammering on a boulder can break off a foot or two of rock in a few hours.  The crew then reenforced the cribbing and leveled the trail out with all the rubble and dirt so the whole corner is much more sustainable now.

The crew then moved to a section of braided trail on the KC trail and closed and rehabbed the lower trail which had eroded into a gully.  They then added check dams to the lower trail to prevent erosion, tilled up the old trail, reseeded it, and covered it with erosion netting made from shredded Aspens.  Then they rebenched the upper trail and added drainage features to make sure it won’t form a gully like the old one.

Next the crew moved up to the History Trail to clear a large tree and build a turnpike on a boggy section of trail.  The crew extended the turnpikes that the Boy Scouts built in 2008 and channeled the water under the trail in a culvert and dug a large Y ditch to catch the water seeping from above.  They finished it off by peeling guide logs, staking them in place, and filling the whole thing with gravel to raise the level of the tread.  The crew finished up the week by working on the new East Table take out trail.  This new trail was built to replace the old take out trail that was on a very steep side hill that was slumping.

Also this week the new layout of the Big Munger trail was connected by the members of DIRT who are working as Crosscut Trails and Forestry.  The 4 new reroutes on the southern leg of the Big Munger trail removed the 30-45% eroded sections of the trail that went straight up the hillside.  When myself and Tim Farris laid out the trail we did so with the sustainable grade of the soils at Munger Mountain in mind.  This also means the new trail is much more accessible by Mountain Bikes and specifically E-Mountain Bikes which are allowed on the Munger trails from July 1 to September 9 each year.  The project will continue to touch up the trail and rehab the old eroded sections of trail and will move the the northern leg of the trail next year to make the loop to the top of Munger Mountain much more enjoyable by all.  Head out that way this weekend and enjoy the new section of trail!