OCMTBA Trail Festival, Airport Fire Restoration, and Four Corners/Motorway Ride
Greetings and Salutations!
Happy Wednesday, ya’ll! Come out to OCMTBA’s Trail Festival, learn about what we’ve been up to recently, and hear why Four Corners needs our attention again.
OCMTBA Trail Festival
Come join OCMTBA’s first-ever weekend-long Trail Festival next weekend Friday, August 14 through Sunday, August 16 at O’Neill Regional Park. Camp for the whole weekend or just come for an afternoon. There will be a poker ride, meals, campfire gatherings, and plenty of time to hang out and talk trails.
I’ll be there Saturday to participate in the ride and festivities, so if you can only join for one day, come then! This is a great opportunity to support OCMTBA, our local mountain bike advocacy organization and an important partner in protecting our local trails.
Learn more and register for the OC Trail Festival
San Juan Trail and Airport Fire Restoration
Nearly two years after the fire, approximately 40 of the district’s 50 miles of non-wilderness trail remain closed. The pace of recovery is slow, but we haven’t been sitting idle. With Forest Service authorization, we’ve been in the burn zone, which remains closed to the public. We’ve assessed the San Juan Trail as well as Joplin and have been working hard behind the scenes to understand and quantify the work required to restore our fire-damaged trails.
I have now spoken with several conservation corps and professional trail builders, giving us a much better understanding of how much work is involved and what it may cost. We are using this information to develop a realistic project budget and pursue grant funding for the San Juan Trail restoration, which is the Forest Service’s highest-priority trail. We hope the necessary approvals can move forward soon because we have a lot of work ahead of us.
Turning Our Attention to Four Corners
While we wait for the opportunity to begin work on the San Juan Trail, it may be time to turn some of our attention back toward Four Corners. The area is once again getting trashed by weekend partiers. Lets not sit idle. Join us for a ride to the top of Modjeska Peak on Saturday, August 22. We’ll spend a few minutes picking up trash at Four Corners, then summit, ride Buckthorn, and descend Motorway.
