Durango’s Natural Lands Board approved in concept a request of the Southern Ute Tribe’s Real Estate Growth Fund to trade 3 acres of open space lands owned by the City in exchange for 3 undetermined acres of contiguous open space lands owned by the Growth Fund. If the City Council agrees with the request, officials with the Growth Fund are hoping that the 3 acres off of Wilson Gulch Drive in Three Springs can be used as a new site for some affordable housing units.…

Purgatory Resort lured a large crowd of mountain bikers into riding its new Divinity Downhill Flow Trail for its grand opening day, where a Forest Service official at a ribbon-cutting ceremony said that it might be the beginning of freeride trail projects that get approved for the mountain. Riders got themselves to the top on the uplift, some rode up a trail or the road, and many others shuttled with a vehicle up the Forest Service Road that runs through the resort once they found…

Staggering social pressure brought by freeride mountain bike advocates, shortened ski seasons caused by global warming and the need to reign in the leaking tourist dollars spent by riders at bike parks elsewhere have pushed Purgatory Ski Resort in a new, progressive direction. On Sept. 13th, the new Divinity Downhill Flow Trail will be opening at Purg, complete with fat berms, table top jumps, a bridge, a wall ride, and lift access. Grady James and Josh Hamill did most of the work on this trail,…

New conceptual plans drafted by the City of Durango’s Planning Department show how mixed-use development may occur on parcels adjacent to Three Springs  with space for a big box store and a connection for the Ewing Mesa Road, to name a few. A City of Durango Planning Manager gave a public presentation Thursday night on two conceptual development plans that the City is gathering input on as a step towards determining how commercial growth will occur on land that’s adjacent or connected to Three Springs.…

Sugar Trail is a new multi-use, two-way cross country trail in Horse Gulch coming off of the top of Raider Ridge about 800 feet southwest from the top of Skyline Trail that Trails 2000 just finished building. When I say that the trail is finished, keep in mind that this trail is still soft and needs to be packed down by a cycle of rain and people using it. Sugar Trail is an intermediate trail with lots of switchbacks and berms at every corner. It…

A new trail coming off of the Extended Raider Ridge near the top of Skyline Trail down to Horse Gulch Road will be built in time for Todd and Ned’s Durango Dirt Fondo mountain bike race, says Trails 2000’s Executive Director Mary Monroe Brown. The trail will be mostly machine built, she said.

Marijuana retailers in Durango are required to pay higher licensing fees than most other businesses, which leaves people wondering what the fees are used for, and why the City might ask voters to approve a new 5% tax on recreational retail marijuana sales. City of Durango officials say that the businesses license fees are required to help offset some of the costs associated with staff having to process their applications, and the required training that they need to help keep those businesses compliant with state and…

Drinking protein shakes to help your put on some weight, keep the weight that you have, or as a meal replacement should not happen at the cost of your happiness because their taste or consistency makes you want to barf. That’s why Horse Gulch Blog has this ongoing review of the best and worst tasting protein shakes on the market. Local stores have plenty of good-tasting protein shakes to where you shouldn’t have to resort to drinking one that makes you want to gag. I’ve…

Two new multi-use cross country trails have been approved for tread reconditioning in the Logchutes Loops Trail System on the San Juan National Forest, said Jed Botsford, Recreation Staff Officer for the Columbine Ranger District. The tread work was cleared through a categorical exclusion, which permits the tread reconditioning in the area on old logging roads, without the need for any further NEPA work, said Botsford. The first trail would be a lolly-pop style loop that would start and end at the midway point of…

Rest in peace Kitty Charmer Trail. City staff finished closing Kitty Charmer Trail today after working for two days covering the trail with debris and removing the dirt jumps on it, said Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz at a Natural Lands Board meeting today. Kitty Charmer trail was a mile-long freeride trail coming off of Raider Ridge in Horse Gulch that was infamous for its gap jumps and drops. Metz said that Kitty Charmer Trail was closed  because it was illegal, it crossed over private…

One topic in the agenda documentation for the study session that the Durango City Council is having this Tuesday is the idea of adding an additional tax to the sale of recreational marijuana as a source of revenue to use on City buildings. Here’s the text from the Purpose and Background on the agenda documentation, written by City Manager Ron LeBlanc: One of the key components of Colorado’s Amendment 64 is the recognition of local control, allowing local governments not just the ability to ban…

Trail builder Erik Becker, of Alpine Bike Parks, will begin building a flow trail for the City of Durango that’s loaded with features starting this Monday at Chapman Hill. Discussions between Becker, the City of Durango, and Trails 2000 acknowledged the existence of berms, drops, tabletops, doubles, water drainage features, and a trail for the younger kids in the design that Becker explained during a walk of the corridor last Wednesday. From start to finish, the trail should be around 2,1oo feet long, of which,…

Durango City Council will soon be holding a public hearing on proposed amendments to an existing ordinance that would ban anyone living in a mixed-family dwelling from growing marijuana there. The amended ordinance would prohibit anyone from growing marijuana in their home that shares a wall with another residence due to concerns over the possibility of fire, mold or odors affecting their neighbors. This newly proposed ban on growing runs counter to the wording of Colorado’s Recreational Marijuana Act, called Amendment 64, which allows individuals…