17 Jul 2016
Natural Lands Board approves payment to Trails 2000 for work done on Chapman Hill Flow Trail
The City of Durango’s Natural Lands Board approved a payment to Trails 2000 at it’s meeting on Monday for work that it did on the jump line at the bottom of the Champan Hill Flow Trail with the help of an excavator and a water truck in April.
Logan James, left and Phil Cowan, right, help sculpt the landings for Grady James, who’s moving material with the excavator. Photo by Lucas LeMaire.
This blogger, along with the rest of the Natural Lands Board voted to approve the payment to Trails 2000, despite the payment, nor the work being authorized prior to the work that the organization did in April.
Support for the maintenance done by Trails 2000 came from this blogger, despite the organization’s Executive Director Mary Monroe Brown having stonewalled my request to do similar improvements to the bottom of the Sugar Trail, for free, during the same month.
Monroe Brown also has not returned this blogger’s email request for comments for this story that were sent last to her last Thursday.
Local mountain bikers who helped lengthen the transitions of the landings on the jump line at the Chapman Hill Flow Trail included Grady James, Logan James, Bryce Hermanussen, Rory Friedrick and Fort Lewis College’s Downhill Coaches Lucas LeMaire and Phil Cowan.
“Anyone can really hit them now and have fun,” said Hermanussen, referring to the progressive nature of the jumps.
They also helped pack down and refine the lips of some of the jumps.
Brandon Mathis and Grady James ride the jump line at Chapman Hill.
AJ Construction let Grady James use the equipment for the work, said Hermanussen.
Chapman Hill Flow Trail was in good shape when I rode it this week.
The Kid’s Zone of the trail, however, was almost completely inundated with large weeds and rocks in the trail.
The Chapman Hill Flow Trail was built in 2015 by Alpine Bike Parks as part of an agreement to replace an illegal freeride trail in Horse Gulch (Kitty Charmer) with one at Chapman Hill, as well as an agreement to rebuild the Medicine Trail in Horse Gulch.
From top to bottom, the entire Chapman Hill Flow Trail can be ridden in about three minutes. Riders wanting to just session the jump line repeatedly, however, have an easy trail that parallels it where they can take a shortcut if they want to skip the upper part of the Flow Trail.
The jump line has six table tops. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting quick access to some city-sanctioned jumps where they can get some air.
