February trail crew update
February was the month of love and what better way to celebrate than showing love to the environment and the community through trail work? This month, Bill spent time blocking a lot of social trails on popular routes. Social trails are created when instead of riding the designated course, riders make their own. This could be not wanting to go through an obstacle or even talking a short cut. The problem with these is that they degrade the integrity of the course and harm the environment. Basically, it’s important to just stay on the trail. If you need to walk because something is too difficult, walk.
After spending time on Church Rocks, Jem Trail, and Flying Monkey, Bill went to Suicidal Tendencies to clean out the rubble that had fallen into the drains. After that, he went back to Church Rocks and found that the social trails that he had previously fixed needed to be worked on again due to riders ruining the work. This can be frustrating for trail workers as they spend time doing work repeatedly due to the continued acceptance of social trails among some riders.
During the last two weeks of the month, Bill took time to work on the Jem trail, specifically filling in switchbacks and followed up the work with some scouting and trail work on Broken Mesa. He finished the month by focusing on cleaning drains, removing rubble, and more on the City Creek Trail.
Fun Fact: Building trails takes a lot of planning. When trails are built, it’s important that they are thought out and are designed with weather in mind. With poor trail design comes erosion issues which means that the trail is difficult to ride and often ruins the experience. It then requires more trail maintenance for the rest of the trail’s life.
Some Work From February:
