This weekend, the IMBA Trail Care Crew came to Mountain View to give their presentation to the crowd who’d gathered from all over Arkansas and Missouri (and Memphis) to learn about trail building and maintenance and to lend a hand in the restoration effort for the trail itself. The “crew” is actually a couple- Jesse and Lori, from Springfield, MO. They ended up staying at the cabin (along with their friend, Mark, who’d originally planned to camp before the weather turned to cold/rain) in order to avoid crowded conditions at the USFS-provided housing.
Friday, the group worked on clearing the Red Trail. I really like doing that sort of work, but I needed to get in a training ride. So, we rode a pavement/gravel/horse trail training loop that hit some of the bigger climbs in the area. (Click the link below to see the route)
http://www.strava.com/activities/110892655
It was close to 2:30 before we were finished, and by the time we’d cleaned up and eaten lunch, the work day was wrapping up, and I was becoming one with the recliner.
Saturday started with a trailbuilding class, courtesy of Jesse and Lori. Here are a few of the high points that, from my experience, seem to be often overlooked…
Once we were finished with class, we headed off to lunch and the hands-on part of the day. We re-routed a section of the yellow trail from an eroded, 20-25% grade, to a contour trail that hit exactly within the specifications for sustainable trail. It was amazing to watch… in the space of about two hours, a new trail was born, and the old trail was tilled and covered. It’s really cool to see what’s possible when 40-50 people put that sort of effort into the building process…
That evening, we had a couple of drinks and grilled some steak back at the cabin to celebrate a successful work day…
Yes, of course the only photos I took are of people cuddling with dogs.
Sunday morning, the weather was quickly turning foul. Freezing rain and snow moved in to the area around 9:00, so Matt and I GTFO’d without riding. It was a good move, because the delineation between ice and rain on the radar prettymuch trailed our route back to Memphis by about 2 hours. Jesse and Mark decided to ride a little (Lori stuck around at the warm/dry cabin), and were loading up to do so about the time we were leaving. They called from the cabin as they were leaving, and according to Mark, about 4 inches of snow had fallen between 9:30 and 2:00.
It was great to see such a huge effort and outpouring from the local community. Realistically, the Red and Yellow trails alone need at least a couple more intense weekends of work before Syllamo’s Revenge in May. However, this weekend was a great start in the rehab process.