10/7-10/14, 2026
SUMMARY
The TPA crew partnered with the Central Colorado Motorcycle Riders club (CCMR) volunteers and the Salida CPW OHV crew to complete extensive maintenance and restoration on Horseshoe Creek Trail #482 near Sargents, Colorado. Work included clearing hazardous trees, improving trail corridors and sightlines, constructing and maintaining drainage, repairing damaged tread, and rehabilitating braided sections and tire-spun ruts. Crews rehabbed badly degraded trail sections and fixed off trail damage. Trail areas with steep climbs and technical rock moves received tread and drainage work while preserving the technical character of the trail.
A major trail work focus was restoring a user-created off trail hill climb near the top of Horseshoe Trail. The user created hill climb route was causing significant erosion and trenching across the hillside, damaging vegetation. Crews installed approximately seven large rock check dams, added logs and woody debris, and used slash to discourage further use which also captures erosion sediment and rebuilds the damaged slope. Around 30 logs were skidded up the hill to aid in the restoration effort. Work also restored many portions of the original system trail, including switchbacks and a previously abandoned sustainable alternate line. Despite rain, sleet, and snow at higher elevations, the crew connected maintenance efforts across the full five miles of this challenging trail. Previous improvements on Canyon Creek continued to hold up well, and the hitch wrapped up successfully with support from CCMR volunteers and CPW partners.
WHY THIS WORK MATTERS
Gunnison Ranger District has many miles of heavily used single track and Sargents Colorado has a few trails that few trail workers can ride too. Central Colorado Motorcycle Riders (CCMR) hosted the TPA trail crew with a mission to fix the Horseshoe trail #482- one of the hardest trails in Colorado. CCMR pulled in a few hardy volunteer trail workers and the CPW OHV crew from Salida to leverage muscle power to tune up this whole trail. Trail work day after day on Horseshoe is an extreme physical challenge, but the trail work got done, no motorcycles were destroyed and no injuries. Getting the work done protects our trails and it’s done better through partnerships!
GOALS FOR NEXT HITCH
Next hitch: 10/21-10/28 Gypsum Colorado, Rocky Mountain Sport Riders (RMSR) hitch on BLM Colorado Field Office managed lands.
Goals: RMSR club will direct TPA on where trail work needs to happen. The TPA crew will team up with the RMSR motorcycle club to perform trail work on the ReUnion trail which is being constructed and refined. TPA may also work the nearby motorized trail system depending on weather.
STATS
- Reporting Period: 10/7-10/14 (includes mobilization and demobilization days)
- RD/BLM: Gunnison Ranger District
- Hours Drive time total: 10.5
- Trails worked:
- Canyon Creek Trail #481, Horseshoe Creek Trail #482, Waunita Trail #497, Quakey Mountain Trail #537, Dawson Ridge Road #819, and Tomichi Creek Road #888.
- Trail miles ridden: 207.8
- Trail miles maintained: 34
- Trees felled: 29
- Trees cut: 302
- Drainage cleared: 24
- New Drains built: 52
- Restoration feet: 970
- Reroute feet: 300
- Reconstruction feet: 320
- Debris removed feet: 1170
- Corridor cleared feet: 580
- Signage: 0
- Contacts made: 10
- Educational interactions: 10
- Volunteer hours: 0
- Total truck miles per hitch: 72
- Hitch point of Contact: CCMR/ Greg Austin USFS