Trail Work Day, June 27 - Cook's Meadow Trail

(From Ranger Jim Thornton)


Hello all,
I wanted to get the word out early about an upcoming trail work day. I know that the SuperD is happening on the same day at Post Canyon - hopefully this doesn't present too much of a conflict in folks' schedules.

National Trail Workday - Barlow Ranger District
Cook's Meadow Trail (along the FS44 road)
Saturday, June 27, 2009

Project:
This is new trail construction. We'll be hand-building new tread. The plan is to have the trail roughed in by autumn. June's work day is the first stab at it.

When and where:
Meet at 9am at Dog River Cycles in the town of Mt. Hood (on the west side of Hwy 35).


We'll group up, talk about the project, safety and figure out carpooling up to the trailhead. I'd think that we'd be up at the trailhead by 10am.

Please bring for your own safety, comfort and general happiness:
Lunch, water, long pants, hiking boots, gloves, bike helmet(or hardhat for you burly construction-worker types)

Tools to bring:
Rakes, shovels, picks or your favorite trail tool (wise trailmen mark their faves with tape or a sharpie). The USFS will provide some tools depending on the number of people.

Wrap things up:
Around 3pm

Things to remember:
It could be hot, it could be cold. It's June on the Mt. Hood National Forest. As of June 9, there is still 2 feet of snow on the 450 trail. Cell phone coverage is spotty at best up on the trail.

Hope to see you out on the trail,
Jim Thornton
USFS - Barlow RD

June 6th Super D 'Prep' Work Party

On Saturday, June 6th, 2009 we're holding a staff/volunteer/sponsor/athlete work party up on the Super D course. We will meet at the Binns Hill Staging Area at 10am.



Binns Hill Staging Area:

From I-84 eastbound take Exit 62. Turn right onto Oak Street. Make an immediate right turn onto Country Club Road and drive for ~6.1 miles. Drive through the intersection and make a right turn onto Binns Hill Road and drive for ~2.5 miles until the road turns into gravel. Travel for ~0.5 miles to the staging area. The staging area has two entrances on the right hand side of the road.



This work party is intended to get pertinent partners familiarized with the entire course and start/finish line areas and also understand roles, positions and race day logistics. Furthermore, we will be cleaning up all areas of the Super D footprint.



We will also be shuttling those who want to ride the course all day with our own vehicles and will most likely camp in the area that same night. This will build some good camaraderie going into the event.



Please contact Brandon if you have further questions or need help with anything.

Cheers,
Brandon Ontiveros
(503) 502-4531

Egghunt Gets A New Addition

Hello Hello,

I've replaced the jump after the Barn Door with the luminary help of Ryan Arndt Engineering/Euthenics and Design to make a feature more of us can truly enjoy after the already awesome sensation of the dropping off the Barn Door. The new design has a 22 foot radius with 5 feet of flat to the lip so your suspension can settle preventing being bucked. It was installed while being filmed yesterday and test ridden with four great riders with different styles from three countries, we feel the gap (13') is a suitable distance until I rebuild the landing. The new landing will be made out of wood with a safety platform and constructed in due time.

Enjoy the ride!

Douglas Johnson

End Of May Trail Report!

2 Chairs 2- New features to scope out-OPEN.
3 Blind Mice-OPEN.
X Chourus X-OPEN.
FMX Jump Line- ALL OPEN!
Hidden Trail to Borderline- ALL CLEAR! OPEN!
Egghunt- New Feature going in below 'Barn Door'- otherwise its OPEN!
Extended Play- SESSIONS NIGHTLY! OPEN!
8-Track- New features/ skinnies abound. come explore OPEN!
Lower GP- Lots of work on GP going on still, Its OPEN, but ride aware.
8-Track 'Basement'- Once again, the old lowest part of the OG 8-track is open.
Spag-Factory- (XC Route to Mitchell Ridge from Blue Car junction) Open, with re-routing up the 'Post Flats' ATV Staging Area. Only 15 minutes to 'Frankenstein' and another 3 minutes your at 'Postal and East Jesus'.
Drop Out- New Step-up jump, Elsmore is banging out the huge 'Grampa's Kitchen' Wallride. Ride this trail with care, projects on-going. Otherwise OPEN!
Middle School- Perfect, OPEN!
Frankenstein- At this time- TRAIL IS 80% OPEN. But drying up. New features being installed- so ride aware and in care.
East Jesus- No longer there- Decommissioned on April 13th 2009.
Postal and High Ball- Both are old, run-down, and lots of debris everywhere- currently under a full rennovation, CLOSED!'High Ball' will now be called 'East Jesus' as we felt mixing herion and cocaine isn't cool at all........
Family Man Skills Loop- OPEN! 'Rhythm Trail' Pumptrack is OPEN! Come bring out the hardtails and kids. Its a total hoot!
Psychosis DH- OPEN! Ride it with full armor and expect to go down! Big bikes only!!!


Donations of materials and cash are always welcome, contact us at gfra@gorge.net if you can contribute to the most amazing mountain bike destination that is 2nd to the Whistler Bike Park! If your tires are rolling, we doubt your frowning. See you on the trails!

Whoopee Trail Work Party Sat May 30th!

Just shooting a reminder out for the work party on the Whoopdee this Saturday 5/30 at 9AM.

We are working on a re-connection between the first little log bridge
near the Elder road starting point and about the second whoopdee. The new trail has been been 80% cleared using a DR brush hog but still needs tread work and more brush clearing.

We need as many people as we can get for this please. We can break up
into smaller groups so we need the experienced trail crew leaders as
well. I am there to work and learn how to work with larger groups and as
a crew leader so your help is appreciated.

We all need the whoopdee open. Even if it is not your favorite trail, we
need it to relieve pressure from Hospital Hill, Syncline and Post
Canyon. This trail is a couple of work parties from being open. It will be rough
but it could be open.

No wind Saturday so there goes half the excuses!!!

Put the word out.....See you there......Thanks

Steve Dunn

More info from the CAMBA website:
When: Saturday May 30th, 9:00 AM

Where: Whoopee Trail, about here: http://tinyurl.com/qph8wc. Look for
the white Sportsmobile Camper Van along Elder Road.

Why: To start the reconstruction of the missing piece of the Whoopee
trail.

We will be grubbing, clearing corridor and starting tread work. Tools
needed are pulaskies, mcleods, shovels, grub hoes, axes, loppers,
saws, etc.

Please bring water or the beverage of your choice, sunscreen, and wear
closed-toe-shoes and long pants - there is poison oak in this area!
We will be working for about 4 hours, and it will likely be a warm
day, so be prepared.

Please note that this is private land and if you are cross posting
this notice, we are NOT supposed to publish the location of this trail
- ask your friends to meet you early and bring them up. (And please,
by all means, ask your friends!)

The whole story:
The forest had a beetle infestation and the owners decided to do some
massive logging in order to remove the infected trees. Many parts of
the trail were obliterated - one chunk was turned into a logging
road. CAMBA has signed an MOU with the land owners and are working to
re-develop this trail while following the owner's few and reasonable
requests. By putting in a sustainable trail now, even using large
patches of clearcut, in a few years we will have a spectacular wooded
trail nearby. More details will be available from your crewleaders at
9am as we get ready to hit the trail.

'Rhythm Trail' is OPEN! (well, Phase One)

It brings me absolute joy to inform you all that the 'Rhythm Trail' at Family Man Skills Loop is complete and functional. I personally pumped myself silly today trying it out and its a total hoot. You can ride it both ways- clockwise and counter clockwise. I intend to fine tune the dirt in certain areas and make the area look a bit better. I still need to connect the drains and finish filling the drain holes with rock. I also plan to go back to the first berm and beef it up to accommodate all that speed you get from the first section of rollers. Enjoy 'Phase One'!







A video walk thru.......

Cam Run: 'Extended Play'

Enjoy this little ditty I filmed on 'Extended Play'.........