Pioneer Trailwork - July 17th

The ongoing project to convert Pioneer Trail fire road to singletrack continues. The Gold Country Trails Council will host a trail workday on Saturday, July 17. Meet at 9:00 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 20 and Lowell Hill Road. Volunteers will continue working on the re-route section of the Pioneer Trail. GCTC will provide lunch. You're welcome to join us.

BONC Gala Ride, 7/10

The BONC July Gala ride will occur on Saturday, July 10th. This ride will be part of a fundraiser for the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation (see below). We'll have ride groups for all abilities, from advanced to beginner. Note that beginners can ride 5 miles or less; other groups will ride longer, more challenging routes.

Please mark your calendar. We will have BONC membership forms on hand if you want to sign up. Hope you can join us!
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5 Mile Bike Ride, $5 Donation, 5 Mile House

Details:
Join KNCO's Mary West & Chuck Whitten for a 5 mile bike ride (or longer - see above) fundraiser at The Old 5 Mile House. A $5 donation is requested to participate and includes lunch and a snack from The Old 5 Mile House. All proceeds will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hosptial Foundation. For more information call SNMH at 274-6805 or Chuck Whitten at 272-3424.

Saturday, July 10 @ 10:00 AM

Location:
The Old 5 Mile House on Highway 20

Phone:
274-6805 or 272-3424

Partial Closure of the Wetherall Trail

The Nevada County Land Trust is temporarily closing a portion of the Wetherall Trail to accommodate neighbors concerns about use of the private Big Blue Road. The Land Trust will temporarily close the trail at a point some 200-300 feet above the point where it joins the NID service road. A barrier will be installed and signs will advise users that this point is the end of the trail and that users should return to the Cascade Canal rather than continuing on down to Big Blue Road or the D-S Canal.

Please abide by this closure. The Land Trust intends to build a return trail that will connect with the new trail and bring trail users back to the top of the preserve property via a different route along the eastern portion of the property. This work is being planned for this fall, and will provide another opportunity for volunteers to assist in the trail construction.

Building trails is complex process that the Land Trust does exceptionally well. Let's support them as they work through this.

BONC BoD Meeting

Please join us for the next BONC board meeting! Meet at the open cafe area behind SummerThymes off Highway 174, across the street from Memorial Park @ 5:30PM on June 27th.

Come find out what the club is focusing on and how we plan to achieve better mountain biking opportunities in Nevada County. We'll have updates on the South Yuba Ridge, Grouse Ridge, Scott's Drop and Diamond Arrow trail projects and discuss future riding, social and trailbuilding events, including the IMBA Trailcare Crew visit later this year. Whew, there is a lot going on!

I am hoping some of us can ride the Mine afterwards. See you there.

Jon and the NCLT

Jon Fisher has worked on many trails in our area. You might not know this because Jon is not the kind of guy who grandstands. For years he has quietly worked alongside Bill Haire and others creating great local dirt routes using his equipment. You may have seen his work on the Empire-to-Memorial-Park trail and other Land Trust projects.

Last weekend, Jon worked with Bill on the trail from near Twin Cities Church to A-to-Z on Ridge Road. This project may not be about creating the next big freeride drop or swoopy singletrack, but trails which offer connectivity like this are very important. They create transportation corridors and the means to avoid dangerous motorized roads when hiking or riding locally.

As someone who rides more local routes these days (having three kids will do that to you), I appreciate Jon's efforts. His work is yet another reason we need to support the Nevada County Land Trust as the primary trail building organization in our area. We are lucky to have Bill, Jon and other NCLT people creating trails for all of us. It is not easy establishing permanent trail easements with local governments and property owners. I know that from personal experience that turning dirt is least complicated part of creating a trail. But such local trails make our area a much better place to live. No one does it as well as the Nevada County Land Trust.

National Trails Day Events - Sat. 6/5

This Saturday, there will be a local celebration of trails. If you can't join BONC's Gala ride, be sure to check out the other activities.

Perhaps most exciting to me is the dedication of the new trail in Woodpecker Preserve on Banner Mountain. It will be a great day!