SUMMARY
TPA Trail Crew traveled to the Cement Creek area near Crested Butte, set up camp at the guard station, and met with Forest Service staff and local partners to review the week’s priorities.
Trail maintenance focused heavily on Walrod Gulch Trail #412, Doubletop Walrod Spur Trail #405.2A, Doubletop Trail #405, and Block and Tackle Trail #545. Work included removing hazardous trees, widening tight user cuts, clearing corridor and debris, repairing tread, and improving drainage throughout the trail system. Several trees were removed from dangerous locations where tight lines and obstacles had contributed to previous rider injuries.
A major focus was repairing turnpikes on Block and Tackle Trail. Large sections had deteriorated, creating holes, water issues, and go-around lines. The crew rebuilt turnpikes with rock and dirt, improved drainage, repaired tread, and restored impacted go-arounds. Cinder-block tread armor was also repaired and restored on several sections of area single track trail.
The crew participated in a volunteer trail workday organized by the GOATS, working alongside two US Forest Service staff and local volunteers. More than two miles of the Block and Tackle Trail received drainage, tread, corridor, and debris work. Volunteers also helped rebuild turnpikes, demonstrating the strength of cooperation between local volunteers, the US Forest Service, and TPA.
Work continued on Doubletop toward Waterfall Creek Trail #555, including major reconstruction of failed drains on a long fall-line hill section. The crew also addressed drainage, hazard trees, user cuts, and corridor on Walrod Gulch and Doubletop during a cold, wet day.
The final workday focused on Reno Ridge Trail #607 and Cement Mountain Trail #553, where the crew cleared and added drains, removed debris, cut heavy corridor, widened user cuts, and addressed hazard trees. The hitch wrapped up with equipment maintenance, bike preparation, and cleanup before the next round of bad weather.
WHY THIS WORK MATTERS
Gunnison Ranger District has many miles of heavily used single track. It is imperative that agency staff, locals and NGOs like TPA all work together to protect this large trail system. We truly are in it together! Strong relationships and partner cooperation is how work gets done.
GOALS FOR NEXT HITCH
Next hitch: 10/7-10/14 Sargents Colorado, CCMR hitch on the Gunnison Ranger District
Goals: The TPA crew will team up with the CCMR motorcycle club to perform trail work on the Horseshoe Trail near Sargents Colorado. This trail is one of the hardest trails in Colorado and is thus very hard to do trail work on. There is no easy way to get to the technical high altitude environment and this will be challenging even with TPA’s expert motorcycle riders. Our goal is to make this trail more sustainable and repair off trail damage. Since this trail is so hard to get to, it has been somewhat neglected. Being one of the harder single track trails, it is also a popular challenge and sees a lot of traffic. Another goal is to keep Horseshoe as technical as possible, we don’t want to make it any easier but need to protect this trail by incorporating sustainable features.
STATS
- Reporting Period: 9/23-9/30 (includes mobilization and demobilization days)
- RD/BLM: Gunnison Ranger District
- Hours Drive time total: 13
- Trails worked: Cement Creek Road #740, Walrod Road #740.2C, Walrod Gulch Trail #412, Doubletop Walrod Gulch Trail Spur #405.2A, Doubletop Trail #405, Farris Connector Trail #445, Doubletop Waterfall Spur Trail #405.3A, Warm Springs Trail #406, Block And Tackle Trail #545, Hunters Creek Trail #410, Brush Creek Trail #400, Crystal Peak Trail #583, Mt. Tilton Spur Trail #592.1A, Waterfall Creek Trail #555, Italian Creek Road #759, Flag Divide Road #759.1E, Reno Ridge Trail #607, Cement Mountain Trail #553.
- Trail miles ridden: 172.6
- Trail miles maintained: 33
- Trees felled: 28
- Trees cut: 397
- Drainage cleared: 48
- New Drains built: 91
- Restoration feet: 55
- Reroute feet: 0
- Reconstruction feet: 675
- Debris removed feet: 375
- Corridor cleared feet: 1395
- Signage: 0
- Contacts made: 46
- Educational interactions: 42
- Volunteer hours: 75
- Total truck miles per hitch: 180
- Hitch point of Contact: GOATs and Greg Austin USFS