Bullard's Trail Day - 5/10

Join us for a trailwork day on Saturday, May 10th at Bullard's Bar. Meet at 9AM @ the USFS Yuba River Ranger Station at the corner of Highway 49 and Marysville Road. Map.

We will work to improve BONC-adopted trails in the area. We will also lead a group of college students who have volunteered to pitch in. Please bring gloves, long pants and shirts, water and insect repellent. See you there!

Trailwork Near Lone Grave

From the Gold Country Trails Council:

There will be a club-sponsored BBQ after the trail work day! A great time for trail volunteers to socialize and get to know one another!

When? Saturday, April 26, 2008

Time? Meet at the Gold Country Equestrian Trailhead staging area (off of Conservation Road off of Highway 20) at 8:45 a.m. Be ready to carpool to the work locations. Work will be completed in approximately 3 hours.

Why? We will be providing general trail maintenance on local trails.

Please bring rakes, shovels, loppers and handsaws. GCTC will provide additional trail tools. Please bring a chair and drinking water. Per Forest Service requirements, long sleeve shirts and pants and close-toed shoes are required; please wear gloves. If you're planning on attending, please call Willie and Sue Brusin at 530.265.4018.

Haire-o-thon!

Bill and Mike Haire have cut in an entire section of the Loma Rica Trail. If you drive by, this trail is just below eyesight on the north side of Brunswick Road near the Nevada County Horseman's area entrance. Plans for a bridge over Wolf Creek are moving along.

See a map of the entire proposed trail (PDF).

Please thank Bill and Mike if you see them. Mike spent a big chunk of his vacation time building this new trail for everybody.

Prescribed Burns @ Bullard's

From the USFS:

"The U.S. Forest Service, Tahoe National Forest, Yuba River Ranger District is planning to start the Bullards Bar Prescribed Fire Project today. This project includes approximately 70 acres of underburning at Vista Point, north of Marysville Road, in Yuba County.

Dependent upon favorable weather and air quality conditions, the district hopes to complete the project this spring. Goals include reducing hazardous fuels, habitat improvement, and reintroducing fire as a natural ecological process.

The legal locations for the project are T18N, R7E, sections 24. If you have any questions about this project please contact Mike Cherry, District Fire Management Officer or Janet Cowell, District Fuels Officer at 530-288-3231."

Iron Mike

Yesterday afternoon, while driving my kids to back from school, I passed Mike Haire as toiled away on the new Loma Rica Trail off Brunswick Road. There he was all alone, digging away with his Pulaski, forging a new trail for the rest of us.

I hurled some insults at him as I drove by, but he was oblivious to my harrassment. Mike did all this work after he rode the Missouri Bar/South Yuba loop, as he related in an email. So he put in 17+ miles of riding and 2.5 hours of solo trailwork in one day. Henceforth, Metal Mile will be known as Iron Mike.

BTW, Iron Mike tells us that the poison oak is prevalent on the South Yuba/Missouri Bar Trails. This matches my experience on local trails of late.

Loma Rica Trail

Some new trail construction garners a lot of attention, while others progress quietly along. The latter best describes the Loma Rica trail project. Bill and Mike Haire have worked hard on this new trail and are making steady progress.

The proposed version of this trail (pdf map) would connect Empire Mine to Brunswick Basin along the Brunswick Road corridor. In effect, this connects trails from near downtown Grass Valley (Memorial Park) all the way to Town Talk Road.

Bill and Mike could use some additional volunteers. Call Bill at the Nevada County Land Trust: 530.272.5997.

Empire Mine Trails Update

If you are like me, you miss the trails that have been temporarily closed at Empire Mine SHP. The good news is that State Parks plans to open new and better singletrack in the park (imagine that). I checked in with Superintendent Ron Munson and this is what he had to say:

"Cultural survey work for the Osborn Trails Mitigated Neg. Dec.(MND) has been completed by Sonoma State Univ. Spring biological surveys are in progress right now by our own N. Service Center staff. So the CEQA review process is on track, and we still expect to begin the implementation of the Osborn trail reroutes and upgrades this fall (Oct?), in keeping with proposals generated from our public meeting."

Basically this means that we will can hope to see some trail openings toward the end of this year or early next year. Of course, you should add alway add six months to my optimistic estimates :-)

Epic Event: Donner Lake Rim Trail

A Donner Lake Rim Trail epic-like celebration is planned for the weekend of August 8th through 10th. BONC will join FATRAC, ROMP, Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) and others as we participate in a bunch of fantastic riding and build another sweet section of the Donner Lake Rim Trail.

Please mark your calendars, as this will be a great weekend of fun. Cost is free, more details coming. I've reserved group camp sites for BONC at Donner Memorial State Park.

IMBA Trail Care Crew Coming

The IMBA Trail Care Crew will visit Grass Valley and Nevada City on November 22-23. The visit will focus on one or more of the following:

Diamond Arrow Trail
Hirschman's Pond
Miner's Trail

If you have not participated in a Trail Care Crew event, they are super fun and rewarding. Please mark your calendar or use the Nevada County Cyclists Calendar.