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.
@bicyclefilmfestival is coming to Jackson Hole on May 1 @thecenterjh with a curated screening of short films. Hosted by @friendsofpathways, enjoy handfire pizza, snake river brewing’s putt putt trail ale, and a bike vendor village before the show! Documentaries, narratives, animations, award-winning directors, and emerging talents – all share equal billing. Take a journey around the globe celebrating the bicycle. It’s Bicycle Film Festival’s 25th Anniversary celebrating bicycles through art, film, and music. BFF has spanned the world to an audience of one million people in over 100 cities worldwide - and now Jackson Hole! Let’s celebrate. Bikes Rock! Link in bio for BFF Jackson Hole tickets.
The rise of e-bikes has brought a surge of positive and negative repercussions to our Teton County pathways. Friends of Pathways received an Opportunities Grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole to explore this topic, and whether changes in e-bike regulation, public education and/or pathway design would benefit the public.
We want to hear from you! Please take our e-bike use survey at the link in our profile. Now is your chance to share your thoughts with a larger group of pathway stakeholders, including Teton County, Town of Jackson, law enforcement and federal government representatives.
Take they survey at the link 🔗 in our bio !
Winter Trails Day is Saturday, March 1, noon - 3 p.m. at the Cache Creek Trailhead!
Free demo skis, fat bikes, and snowshoes!
Free snacks and hot drinks!
Come try a new sport on the 12 miles of winter singletrack groomed by Friends of Pathways!
🎿 🚲 ❄️ ☕️ 🍪
Winter is blowing in, and as the snow stacks up, Friends of Pathways is grooming 12+ miles of winter singletrack in the Cache Creek area - the only free winter singletrack in Jackson Hole.
Currently, all the winter trails are ridable (although thin). Grooming has begun and will go through April, weather depending. If you enjoy using these trails, please give to FOP’s Winter Grooming Campaign!
Thanks to @velo_twentytwo , the source for cycling events and routes in Teton County, who started us off with a generous $1,000 donation!
Donate $30 or more to this campaign and you will be entered to win one of three prizes from our generous partners!
You could win a Salsa Heyday Fat Bike from @openrangecycles , a one-night stay this winter at @turpinranch , or winter running shoes, sports nutrition and supplements from @skinnyskis .
Donate at the link in our bio!
In the fall and the spring, hundreds of students in Jackson Hole bike to school, thanks to Teton County’s well-connected pathway network. @friendsofpathways wants to make sure kids get to school safe, so once a year we do bike safety checks at the middle school - the epicenter of e-bikes! Many thanks to @wheelwranglers @openrangecycles @hobacksports and @thehub_jh for helping do bike safety checks this year.
Sweet bollard bike lanes
That connect community
Will be gone Monday
🍂
That’s a bollard haiku to let you know that on Monday, October 14, 2024 Teton County Parks and Rec will be removing the bollard bike lanes from Willow Street and Snow King Avenue for the season.
While it will be sad to see them go, let’s celebrate the thousands of people who use the pathway network daily.
This year, from May 1 - Sept 30, Snow King Ave alone saw 126,552 total bike trips. That’s 827 average trips a day. 🚲
The peak daily use on Snow King Ave. was July 4th when 2,014 bike trips were taken. 🇺🇸
There have been 1,201,610 total trips on all pathways so far this year! 🙌
Today was Bike Safety Day at Jackson Hole Middle School.
✔️Over 100 bikes checked
✔️Brakes adjusted
✔️Headsets tightened
✔️Tires pumped
Students could opt-in to get their bikes checked. All bikes that were checked were given report cards. If a student had a bike with major issues, they were asked to bring it to a local shop. Students who may need financial assistance with their bike repairs can contact the school to get a voucher good for a free tune at @wheelwranglers. ❤️
Huge huge thank you to the bike shops that helped us out today: @hobacksports @openrangecycles @thehub_jh @wheelwranglers
✌️ ❤️ 🚲
E-bikes and our well-connected pathway system enable thousands of people in our community to get around without the use of a car. But with that benefit comes safety issues - speeding, poor etiquette, and serious injuries. Love them or hate them, when it comes to e-bikes, there’s lots to talk about!
At the link in our bio, listen to Friends of Pathways Executive Director Katherine Dowson and Teton County / Town of Jackson Pathways & Trails Coordinator Brian Schilling talk to 89.1 KHOL Host Pete Muldoon about the pros and cons of e-bikes on Jackson pathways during his new show called The State of Jackson.
Twenty five years ago, 13-year-old Gabriella Axelrad was struck and killed by a vehicle while cycling with her family in Grand Teton National Park. In response to the tragedy, Friends of Pathways and the Jackson Hole community advocated for the separated pathways in the park, which exist today. Back then, there was only about 10 miles of pathway in Teton County, now we have more than 70 miles.
On Sunday, we celebrated Gabriella with her family by cycling from Moose to Jenny lake along the pathways that commemorate her. It was encouraging to see so many in support of pathways, how far we’ve come as a community, and to also recognize how much work still needs to be done.
Friends of Pathways Bike Safety Education coordinator Aaron Nydam works with our elementary schools and our middle school to teach kids proper bike skills and etiquette. This past week he worked with the New Comers program - kids that are just arriving to the school district. He taught bike safety and during the class, realized many of the kids didn’t have access to helmets. So we rounded up 24 helmets from @lemhelmets and got the kids quality lids to protect their heads! The kids were very grateful and even wrote Aaron very kind thank you notes that should make you smile and improve your day! ❤️ 🚲 🏫
Friends of Pathways
Friends of Pathways champions a safe, connected system of pathways, trails, bike lanes and sidewalks that encourage active transportation and healthy recreation in our Jackson Hole community.
PO Box 2062
610 W Broadway Avenue, Suite 204
Jackson, WY 83001
307.733.4534
info@friendsofpathways.org
© Copyright Friends of Pathways 2018-2022 | All Rights Reserved
PassWords: Getting Ready for a Day on Teton Pass
Trail UpdatesThere is no next best place to Teton Pass, but it can get busy on a powder day. This week, we caught up with Jay Pistono to give you tips for success from the moment you leave your door, until you park your car.
1. Before leaving your house, check the Avalanche Report and the Teton Pass Web Cam. Know the conditions of the snow pack and make sure you’re prepared if it will be busy to park. If conditions are unsafe or if the parking lot is too full, consider alternate plans. There is parking at Phillips or Cole Creek Trailhead.
2. Avoid congestion in the parking lot by:
Carpooling whenever possible
Parking at the bottom and ride sharing to the top
Parking tight (45 cars fit with a large space between them, 60 cars have fit on the best day.)
3. If you arrive and the lot is full, line up behind any waiting cars. Remember to keep the waiting line out of the way of the flow of traffic and try to keep room for commuters to stop to clear their wipers, adjust their chains, ect. Turn on your flashers on and communicate with the other drivers.
4. When you’ve parked your car, prep for your day behind your car, so others can get in and out of the parking lot easily. Keep your dog under control and maker sure you have the proper saftey gear for a backcountry trip.
If you plan to Ride Share, we thank you, enjoy our Tips for Ride Share success.
The Pass Ambassador is a community-driven program with partner support from Friends of Pathways, the Bridger Teton National Forest, Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and others. The AmPassador program is also supported directly by Outdoor Research
Ride Dirt, Not Mud
Trail UpdatesThis weekend, the trails were looking quite muddy. Below is a friendly reminder from the FOP/USFS trail crew: Riding in mud can wreck the tread on the trail by leaving ruts that dry into hard bumps. This in turn contributes to erosion and further damage, while creating unridable and hard to fix trail surfaces. If you are leaving a visible rut, the trail is too muddy to ride! Varying weather conditions during the spring and fall can be especially critical for trails. You can still get out and ride and walk the trails, but please be aware of wet trail and very muddy spots. If you see that it is too wet, dismount your bike, push your bike through the mud, and walk on the edge of the trail. Please don’t ride around the mud spots either, this creates an unsustainably wide trail and can even create two trails in one spot.
Path 22 Update
Trail UpdatesPath22 West Segment – Snake River Bridge
Crews have completed all underground work on the central in-river pier, the first of the three in-river piers to be completed, and have now started work on the east pier. The exposed end of the 3’x5’ concrete base and embedded rebar of the central pier are now visible above the river bed, and the finish work to complete the hammerhead “cap” that supports the steel bridge girders will follow shortly.
As of last week, work on the east in-river pier had started and crews are currently in the process of driving sheet piles to build the coffer dam for the east pier. The coffer dam will extend approximately 30’ below the river bed and will allow crews to construct the below-ground components of the pier, a process that is expected to take several months. As soon as the sheet pile driving is complete crews will move on to excavating the interior of the coffer dam, driving H-piles, pouring the concrete seal cap, dewatering the coffer dam, and then begin the forming and pouring of the concrete pier itself. This process must be repeated for the west pier as well. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Path22 West Segment – WY390 Underpass
The contractor has received final approval from WYDOT and work is expected to start next week (September 30th) on the underpass near the WY390/WY22 intersection. The project will install an 80’-long concrete culvert underneath WY390 approximately 450’ north of the WY390/WY22 intersection, connecting the existing pathways at Stilson Ranch to the future pathway that will extend through the new Rendezvous Park, across the Snake River, and east along WY22 connecting to the pathway system in the Town of Jackson.
Path22 East Segment – West Broadway
Work is ongoing on the East Segment – Phase I portion of the Pathway 22 Project, which will construct 1.1 miles of pedestrian and bicycle facilities on West Broadway (US89) between the Flat Creek Bridge and the “Y” intersection of WY22/US89, and on WY22 between the “Y” and Spring Gulch Road. The facilities generally include a 6-foot wide protected bike lane (“cycle track”) separated by 2-4 feet from an 8-foot wide pedestrian sidewalk on both sides of West Broadway, and a 10-foot wide pathway along the west side of WY22. The 6-foot cycle track will also continue on the east side of WY22 from the “Y” intersection up to Spring Gulch Road.
Crews are focusing this fall on the area near the new Walgreens at Budge Dr. and along the undeveloped hillside just west of the Flat Creek Bridge. Most of the prep work and major grading will be completed this fall, with actual pathway installation occurring in spring 2014. The project plans are available on the Teton County website at: http://www.tetonwyo.org/pathwy/topics/wy22-east-segment/252075/
Game Creek Bridge Project
Trail UpdatesDuring the month of September, the trail crew has been hard at work replacing bridges and restoring trail in the Game Creek Drainage. Many of the bridges in this area were showing signs of their age by rotting and flexing. Additionally, some of the portions of Middle Game Creek Trail were aligned too close to the creek, resulting in washout and flooding in the early spring.
Last year, Friends of Pathways was awarded a grant for this project from the Recreational Trails Program through theWyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources. This summer, the trail crew set to work pre-cutting lumber and transporting tools and lumber to the site. Once the boards were in Game Creek, the real fun could begin. Each board, weighing over 20 lbs, was transported from the top of the Game Creek Road to the bridge site. The crew had two fantastic volunteer groups to help with the project: Jackson Hole Community School students and the BTNF Fire Crew. The amount of lumber they transported for each of the bridges was impressive!
During the second week, the crew had the help of mini-x to move fill dirt for turnpikes and to carve a new trail out of the hill adjacent to the road. The higher placement of this new trail, will help to keep it dry and erosion free.
Share the Trail
Trail UpdatesRecently, Friends of Pathways received a few questions about how to share the trail with horses. We thought it was a great opportunity to get a little perspective from the Back Country Horsemen on horse behavior and sharing the trails. Thanks to the BCH for giving us a glimpse into the horse’s mind.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE HORSE KIND
By: Teton Back Country Horsemen
Horses are prey animals, and flight is their primary defense. Horses have had the right-of-way on trails because the horse has its own unpredictable reaction to every trail encounter. If the horse is not startled, the rider can maintain control and quickly move from blocking the trail.
What startles a horse is not always obvious. It might be approaching from the front quickly, or an oversized backpack or an odd fishing pole, or approaching quietly from the rear, or unfamiliar trail obstacles, or thrown gravel, or a strange bike. On rare occasions, a particular horse may not pass a rider/bike combo unless the bike is laid on its side.
For the safety of everyone, when encountering a horse on the trail:
1. Make sure the horse has seen you from a distance and knows that you are human. Slow down and prepare to stop. Give the rider a chance to quiet the horse. Call out in a friendly voice. Usually the rider will want to start a conversation with you for the horse’s benefit. Watch for the horse’s reaction. Keep the ‘small talk’ going as you approach and pass.
2. Look for guidance from the horse rider before passing. Horses need the upper side of the hill, and they will go there if startled. It is usually easier for the horse to leave the trail to bypass a biker.
3. Bring accompanying dogs under control. Even a friendly dog might appear threatening. Horses can and will kick dogs nipping at their heels.
4. Use extra caution on blind curves on the shared trails.
In addition, all users should use common sense and share-the-trail courtesy. If any user has the easier opportunity to accommodate the others, they should do it!