• Trail Updates

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 in order to maintain our high quality of life in Jackson Hole.

The longest day of the year should be the warmest right?  With cool temps the trails are still in great shape and slowly melting out.  Most of the south facing trails on Teton Pass are good to go but there are still drifts lingering in the north facing trees.  The Teton Freedom Riders are having their first Pass Bash of the year tomorrow so head by the coach for a shuttle ride up the pass.  Everything on Snow King is dry and good to go and our ambassadors have been clearing some new downed trees from the winds this week off of Putt Putt and West Game.  Our Youth Trail Crew started this week and this hearty bunch had a busy week, unloading the 12,000 lbs of rock from the helicopter drops on Josie’s Ridge, clearing and cleaning drainage on Crater and History, brush cutting for line of sight on KC, and building a turnpike and reroute around a beaver pond on West Game.  Look for the crew out on the trails this summer and remember they always love treats after a hard days work.

Tree clearing, bridges, and helicopters what a fun week!  The crew cleared Big Rocks and Black Canyon up to Bridge 3 before hitting snow and Cam Eddy and an unknown trail Samaritan cleared Phillip’s Canyon and the Ridge trail from Fish Creek up to the snow line.  A few riders reported they were able to ride Arrow to Phillip’s Canyon with some hiking over snow drifts in the middle and also the Ridge trail by linking sections of Arrow, Snotel, and the BPA road to avoid most of the snow drifts.  The crew also replaced the bridge on the Phillip’s Canyon access trail from Fish Creek Rd. that had developed a crack after 2 winter of record snowfall.  Thursday we also had a ton of help from Teton Helitack, literally 12 tons of help from their training session where they dropped off twelve 1,000 pound loads of rock on Josies Ridge to continue the trail reinforcement project that we have been working on for a few years.  Josie’s Ridge is a the top end of what the soils here can sustain for trail steepness and by shoring up the steepest portions of the trail we can help ensure it retains its character as an uphill challenge for years to come.

Yay more rain!  The trails have definitely reached their saturation point since yesterday and should be avoided until it dries out on Sunday.  When it is like this I like to stay to the roads like Cache, Game, the BPA road, and even the Summit Road at Snow King.  They have much more gravel and are more hard packed so it is less likely you will damage them while recreating.  The Old Pass Road is also a good option and is plowed all the way to the top.  The crews are going to push up the Teton Pass trails next week and see how much we can clear before hitting the snow line.  Thanks to everybody who came and helped with National Trails Day projects in Cache Creek last Saturday!

Finally some sunshine!  This week helped the Snow King trail system dry out and it is now 99% snow free with a few lingering wind drifts near the top of Ferrins and the north side of the Cache Game divide.  The trail crews have cleared almost everything so it should be a good weekend to get out and explore, or better yet start your Saturday at National Trails Day at the Cache Creek trailhead to help Friends of Pathways and the Bridger-Teton with some trail projects in the morning.  We will have coffee and bagels before and beer and brats after to thank you for your hard work keeping the trails in good shape.  You can also explore Munger and the lower portion of the Teton Pass trails.  The crew will start clearing at Phillips Canyon next week and work up as the snow line recedes.

Ahh the winter that keeps on giving, we are still about a month behind last year in the trails drying out around the valley.  With the snow last night and rain in the forecast the upper elevations that were getting dry are pretty slimy and slick.  There may be some opportunities to get out during dry spells this weekend but I would recommend staying low and avoiding shady north facing trails.  The crew this week cleared Ferrins and Wilson Canyon and they are both dry up to the meadows.  Wilson Canyon has more water damage to the trail as the old cow retaining pond at the top has failed and water is running down the canyon for about a mile until it disappears underground.  The crew also cleared the lower parts of History, Crater, and Black Canyon on the pass.  There is still a lot of snow lingering in the trees there, but Jim Verdone was able to plow Old Pass Road so that is a good dry option.  If you see Jim give him a big thank you for all the work he is doing to keep the Old Pass Road in usable shape.  Have a fun weekend and hopefully we will get a little sunshine.