Trails Update
Harlan has had the mini excavator up on Candlyland and it sounds like a few features are ready to ride. Use caution and scout first as the trail work continues. Here are some sweet before and afters. The Step Mom has a new landing too!
Trail
Report, July 20, 2011
Greater Snow King
Area/Munger Mountain Area/Teton Pass Area
All Greater
Snow King Area, Munger Mountain, and Teton Pass Area trails are now open.
Seasonal maintenance continues.
Arrow to Phillips is rideable and 99% snow free, but do be aware of the trench
near the creek crossing at the bottom where the high water caused damage.
Blacks is now snow free; the Ridge Trail is riding well as are the lower
downhill trails. The Jumps Trail reroute is finished and the Teton Freedom
Riders - as part of the JH Trails Project - are working on the bottom part of
the Fuzzy Bunny Trail, which is closed halfway down during construction.
Trails
Projects, Summer 2011:
- Wiggle (GSKA) - Complete for the season.
- Cache Creek Sidewalk - Complete for the season.
- Hage Reroute, Bridge 4&5 - Complete for the season.
- Turnpike repair to be completed this season on Hagen between Bridge 3-4, Salt Lick Draw and Gin Pole Draw on Putt-Putt. These projects will be completed in mid-August.
- Game Creek - Almost 200 hours have been spent on GC in an attempt to restore the trail and remove the water. Work is complete for the season.
- Phillips Ridge Trail - Work is just starting on maintenance. Folks should note that parts of this project are less than a year ld and work will continue.
- Phillips Canyon - Crews will be in there for the remainder of the season to complete sight distance, tread widening, fall zone and two to three bridges.
- Blacks is cleared, work will be forth coming and will continue for the season.
- Powerline Jump Trail will be finished this week and should be open and good to go very soon.
- Kiosks - Crews are in the process of building six new kiosks for the Teton Pass and Greater Snow King Areas. This will take the rest of July.
- Ski Lake is getting a face lift; 12 workers will be in there for the week.
- Tunnel Trail - scheduled to be started on August 1st, with machinery. This project is estimated to take two weeks and should be open September 1st.
Crews and volunteers are working hard daily, addressing problem areas first and then moving to trail improvements as needed. Please be patient, send in your observations, and come out and help - Friday AM's have now moved to the Teton Pass Area (meet at the Stagecoach at 8am).
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Thanks to the Jackson Farmers Market for selecting TFR as this weeks non profit to receive 10% of Saturdays total profits.
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July 10th Dig Day
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June 18th
A few shots from the weekends dig day. Another great turn out and alot of finish work completed. JH Weed and Pest joined us to educate us on the invasive plants that we see on the trail.
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June 13th
A few pics of a berm rehab that Kevin did this past weekend.
June 4th 2011
Seasons first dig day.
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5/22/11
The conditions are getting closer and there are some who have been hard at work making the trails better for when the time comes.
Support the Skyline Trail & Putt Putt Extension
Your Support is Crucial to Getting These Trails Approved
On March 7th, 2011 the Bridger-Teton National Forest released a public comment Scoping Document as part of the approval process for a proposed new multi-use trail in the Greater Snow King Area, tentatively called the Skyline Trail, as well as an extension of the existing Putt-Putt Trail.
The BTNF will be accepting comments on the Scoping Document until April 7th, 2011. Your comments are crucial to moving ahead with these two projects.
The Skyline Trail and Putt-Putt extension would be designed as nonmotorized multi-use trails for biking, hiking and horseback uses. These trails would complement and enhance the existing Greater Snow King Area Trails, and would create significant benefits for National Forest visitors and the Jackson Hole community.
Skyline Trail and Putt-Putt Trail Needs and Benefits:
- A sustainably built, non-motorized, multi-use (hiking, biking, horseback) trail would create new trail loop opportunities close to town and replace user-created trails that currently exist,relieving pressure and helping to mitigate conflict on existing trails experiencing increased use.
- These trail additions would expand close-to-home recreational and hunting opportunities on public lands adjacent to the Town of Jackson.
- The new trails will incorporate sustainable design to protect wildlife in the more critical winter and spring seasons. For example, the trail will be constructed using north slope alignments in key sections to hold snow in May, thereby naturally restricting use.
- If approved, the trail would be constructed by the Forest Service over the next several years with a combination of public and private funds, volunteer labor, and significant community involvement.
- Trails like Skyline and Putt-Putt are excellent examples of facilities that meet the new Forest Service Sustainable Recreation Framework criteria that supports healthy lifestyles, support for local economies, cultivating community engagement, and connecting citizens to their public lands.
- The proposed new trails are compatible with the guiding principles for the management of the Forest’s Greater Snow King Area, which seek to facilitate community connection to public lands in areas close to Town so that people can maintain daily contact with our natural environment.
- The trails will be designed for hiking, running, horseback riding, hunting and mountain biking
We Need Your Help:
The BTNF is accepting public comment until April 7, 2010. Please send them a brief note explaining why having these new trails would be important to you; make your story unique, as your experiences in the National Forest certainly will be!
Please send comments via email to Tim Farris, Trails Supervisor.
Please send written comments to:
Skyline Trail/Putt Putt Construction
c/o Dale Deiter, District Ranger
Bridger-Teton National Forest, Jackson Ranger District
P.O. Box 1689
Jackson WY 83001
If you have questions about this proposal or need more information, please contact: Tim Farris - Trails Supervisor, 307-739-5414 or write to tfarris@fs.fed.us.
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10/9/10
Our last dig day, and a good one! Completed etching in a reroute towards the bottom Lithium that will add a decent size section that connects the other reroutes done in the last two years. Thanks to all of the volunteers and sponsors.
Does this keg make my ass look big?
Seriously, a lot of work was completed.
10/5/10
How-dee! Just wanted to keep folks in the loop on TFR trail progress.
Our state funding/reimbursement has been greatly delayed so my hands have been tied as far as finish work on the Fuzzy Bunny and performing the Powerline Jumps facelift. I'm confident that we will be set to go first thing next Spring. 2 weeks with a hand crew and 4 to 5 weeks with a (not so) mini excavator as soon as the snow is gone.
In the meantime... been working on the Friends of Pathways trail crew. We just spent 5 weeks with a CAT 305 c mini ex busting out the middle section of the Ridge Trail. Attached is a pic of one of very many climbing turns. What a fun project this has been! We're currently working on the last 2 switchbacks up high, after which the trail will FINALLY be complete. 10.8 miles of singletrack from Hwy 22 to Fish Ck Rd.
Speaking of finally... we finished developing that large rock feature near the bottom of the original Lower Lithium. That damned thing is the whole reason I put the trail there. It turned out nice, I think. Not quite as fast and jib-friendly as I'd hoped, but exciting nonetheless and it tosses you into the
berm below at a healthy clip. Attached are a few pics.....behold "The
Turdburgler"!
We (TFR finish crew) have been working weekends on finishing the Jimmy's Mom/Candyland extension. Wrapped her up last Saturday. Sight lines are cleared, no entry sign and post along with boulders to corral riders at the bottom, and somewhere around a million drains have been installed. As a little added bonus we stretched out the landing for the step mom jump and spruced up the landing for the double right afterwards.
Yup...Jimmy's Mom just got bigger.
Toodles.
Harlan Hottenstein
Field Director
8/7/10 Dig Day
Our first dig day on the new Candyland connector. There are multiple rock features on the lower section and room for killer features on the upper. Hard to wait, and many people aren't as the trail is getting skidded in old school style.
The stuff dig days are made of.
7/8/10
We had another huge week in the trail building world last week. On Friday we had a grand total of 42 diggers on the Ridge Trail with the FS/FOP trail crew, the Henry's Fork Fire crew, the Student Conservation Association, and Waldo's Nordic Diggers combining forces. That was a lot of workers in the woods! It was something to see.
On Monday we worked on the Josie's Ridge Project with the Henry's Fork Fire Crew. This awesome crew finished the project in one day! We rerouted a fall-line section of trail just after the K-mart switchbacks. The reroute totaled about 1,200ft. It was a project that we had wanted to do for 6 years, and it was completed in one day. The crew worked so fast that by l0 o' clock we decided that the project was going to be finished shortly after lunch. Chris P. and Drew Kneeland charged down the hill to find more work. They found a nice reroute to do on the Sink or Swim trail. They didn't have a saw to clear the reroute, but "No Worries Mate!", as Chris P. says these days. Drew cleared the line like a grizzly bear ripping out brush and small trees by his claws and teeth. A nice 800 ft reroute was completed in little more than an hour.
On Tuesday we headed out to the Ridge Trail with the Henry's Fork Fire Crew. We started up high and tied in the Hunt Trail section on Tuesday. It was a project that we started last year, but did not finish. The crew connected the dots, and now there shouldn't be a question on how to find the Hunt Trail section.
Wed.-Fri. we worked with the Henry's Fork Fire Crew on the lower Ridge Trail section after the BPA bridge as you head up-hill. Teton Helitack got a good start for us last week. It was nice to see that they had already busted out a bunch of brush, roots, and small trees. It was a huge boost and gave us a great start for Wednesday. The crew dug uphill and encountered very difficult digging. They called it the hardest that they seen. There were a lot of roots and rocks, and there wasn't too much good dirt to work with. By the end of the day the crew started a long side hill section, and that is where they found the "red gold". They found some great red soil. We brought out a couple of wheelbarrows on Thursday and used this good soil to fill in several rough sections of trail. We also worked the long side hill section, and a beautiful wide bench was constructed. On Friday we had the large force of 42 workers on the trail. We built a whole bunch of trail and made a nice connection to the road for the weekend. Over a mile of trail was constructed in just three days.
Waldo set up a great Pica's dinner for the Henry's Fork Fire Crew at the end of the day on Friday. The crew loved it and truly deserved it. It is the best that they eat all year. Thanks Waldo for setting this up and motivating the crew. Thank-you to all of Waldo's donators-
Jim Verdone, Andy Olpin's friend, and others.
Randy Roberts is back in the woods working hard. You can definitely tell when he is out there working. The woods suddenly get a lot loader. Thanks for keeping it fun Randy.
The Student Conservation Association worked the Ridge trail through the holiday weekend. They continued to work uphill, and made two more connections to the road. They are a good bunch of kids, and they have been working hard. Teton Helitack continued to work on the Ridge Trail last week and through the holiday weekend. I thank them for all their help.
This Tuesday the SCA's made the connection to what we are calling "Shock Treatment". This section really wants to be built by a mini-excavator. We have skipped this section for now and headed uphill to a section after the Hunt Trail. It should turn out to be a great section of trail. Galen did a great job with the layout in there.
EJ
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7/7/10
Hey Folks,
Just wanted to show you a pic of the first of many features to come on the new
"Fuzzy Bunny Trail" we're building on Teton Pass. The rider is Lance Canfield,
one of my trail crew, pro rider, and all around good guy.
The tread of the single track will be complete by the end of today. Due to
drying conditions and a southerly exposure, we won't be building the rest of the
larger features until this fall.
I'm naming this one "The Ramsbottom" in memory of Matt Ramsbottom, a good friend
of mine who passed 3 weeks ago. He convinced me to buy my first downhill bike
11 years ago (instead of the cross country race rig I had been eyeing up). He
is directly responsible for the life I lead today.
Cheers!
H
