Test Tracks and Horse Gulch have trails that are narrow, steep, have blind corners and dominant user trends that warrant official and social encouragement of one-way traffic there for safety reasons. Two City Boards are currently studying the issue to determine if they agree. While recently walking the Star Wars Trail in Test Tracks (Overend Mountain Park) with some neighbors, public officials and my friend Ben Bain regarding our proposal to designate it as a one-way, mountain-bike specific trail, we met some serious ideological resistance. “It’s…

Durango’s Natural Lands Board and Parks and Recreation Board approved funding to give to Trails 2000 to hire a crew leader, install signage and purchase a griphoist for moving heavy rocks in Horse Gulch on what will be Durango’s first sanctioned progressive mountain bike trail. A final approval of the Board’s recommendations for funding the work is expected to be made by the City Council at their next meeting. Specific to the discipline of mountain biking known as freeriding, The Scratch would allow riders to…

We shuttled Hotel Draw Trail three times last weekend. It’s fast, the trees have been cleared off of it, and the water bars have some huge huck potential.  

Durango’s Director of Parks and Recreation Cathy Metz has asked the public to walk the Star Wars Trail in Overend Mountain Park (Test Tracks) with her and Trails 2000 to discuss public proposals to encourage directional travel on it and one to classify it as a mountain bike specific trail. For those wanting to walk it with officials and provide opinions on this proposal, meet at the trail head on Leyden St. this Thursday, June 6 at 4:00 p.m. If you can’t make it, yet…

Have you ever wondered whether the money that you spend ends up funding causes that you oppose? A buycott is the opposite of a boycott. Buycott helps you to organize your everyday consumer spending so that it reflects your principles. http://www.buycott.com/about Example: During the SOPA/PIPA debate in 2012, a number of companies pushed to pass legislation that reduced online freedom of expression, while other companies fought hard to oppose the legislation. With Buycott, a campaign can be quickly created around a cause, with the goal of targeting companies with…

Southwest Conservation Corps’ Sustainable Forestry Team recently finished an 8-day fuel reduction project on the City-owned open space known as Dalla Mountain Park. One of the crew leaders, Preston Hovenkamp, helped lead 6 crew members in thinning out 5.2 acres of gamble oak brush, ponderosa pine, and juniper. They mainly took out ladder fuels and selectively thinned out trees that were smaller than 8 inches in diameter in order to reduce the threat of intense fire behavior occurring there. In the gamble oak, they cut…

A local rally against Monsanto will be held in solidarity with many others worldwide on Saturday May 25 by Buckley Park in Durango. The protest will also be a platform for: Promoting the labeling of genetically modified organisms Supporting local farmers Protecting our food supply Spreading awareness about the harmful effects of genetically modified foods Promoting organic food production/consumption solutions Exposing the cronyism of former Monsanto officials now working for the FDA Bringing accountability to those responsible for the corruption People will be protesting Monsanto…

The momentum of the conceptual Chapman Hill Bike Park project was curtailed this week when a grant request to fund its creation was rejected by Great Outdoors Colorado. At the City’s Natural Lands Board meeting on Monday, the topic did not progress beyond discussing the possibility of resubmitting an application for a grant. “We were very close,” said Hall “What they encouraged us to do when they saw feedback is try again next time. And essentially what happened is that the funding was less in…

DENVER – The Colorado state legislature passed the first bills in history Wednesday to establish a regulated marijuana market for adults. Representatives of the Amendment 64 campaign will discuss the landmark achievement and next steps at a news conference Thursday at 10 a.m. in the Creswell Mansion Office Building (1244 Grant St., Denver). “The adoption of these bills is a truly historic milestone and brings Colorado one step closer to establishing the world’s first legal, regulated, and taxed marijuana market for adults,” said Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy…

A slue of proposals to adopt pre-existing trails on Durango-owned open-space lands for doing maintenance and building freeride features on them was presented to the City and Trails 2000 last week by this blogger and friend Ben Bain. We asked for permission to adopt Star Wars in Overend Mountain Park, Medicine Trail off of Raiders Ridge or Down and Out off of Raiders Ridge. This blogger requested permission to build jumps on Raiders Ridge. All of our requests for permission to work on these projects,…

If you’re craving to work on a freeride trail project under some alternative leadership, while working through Trails 2000, this could be your chance to speak up. This blogger and friend Ben Bain are going to meet with Durango’s Director of Parks and Recreation Cathy Metz, Trails 2000’s Executive Director Mary Monroe and anyone else who’s interested to talk about doing maintenance and building features out of preexisting materials (rocks and dirt) on Star Wars in Test Tracks (Overend Mountain Park). We will also talk…

A trash pickup work party in Horse Gulch on Sunday produced several hundred pounds of trash, which was left in a big heap next to the trail head sign. The City kindly provided us trash bags. Around six people helped pick up the trash from the drainage gully of Horse Gulch, as well as from several homeless camps. A promise made by Durango’s Director of Parks and Recreation, Cathy Metz and Durango’s Parks and Cemetery Manager Ron Moore to provide a dumpster for the event,…

This blogger and sidekick girlfriend are inviting people to join us for a trash clean up work party in Horse Gulch on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve stumbled across a lot of trash left behind by vagrants in Horse Gulch, mainly off of Raiders Ridge. Those lingering pockets of trash were an inspiration for action. On April 7 (this coming Sunday), we’ll meet up at Horse Gulch trail head to brief other volunteers with maps, photographs, water and some…

Here’s a press release that was written by Shannon Borders, of the BLM in Montrose, who for whatever reason, writes press releases for our BLM land over 105 miles away from her office. This press release was obtained second hand from Ann Bond of the USDA Forest Service in Durango. Shannon Borders did not return this blogger’s email or phone call, nor my request for a copy of this press release. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 2:16 PM Contact:  Shannon Borders, 970-240-5399 Grandview Ridge,…