Trail Cleanup at Platte
It looks like Mod and crew rode the west side of Platte Sunday morning. I often wonder why we no longer ride the trails on the west side of the park. Don't get me wrong, I love riding on the horsetrail side. We've created a really nice network of trails. It would be nice to do more than the usual two to three laps and back to the car. It just seems like were leaving so much trail unused! Is anyone else with me on this one? Is anyone interested in putting in some hours getting this side of the park cleaned up? I'm down for some work sessions, so let me know!
posted by [mk] at 9:09 AM
5 Back Atchas:
Man, this just makes me sound like an asshole, but why doesn't the park work on any of their trails out there? You always see kids out there doing work. And we do keep the trails we built up and running really well, But I'm not a big fan of the west side.
and here's why
just up and down, and too many area's to run head on into somebody, I've had a butt load of close calls back in the day when that was all there was to ride, It's just up, and down, and repeat.
The thing about that side now adays it seems that your gonna find a lot more hikers on that side, and more of your novice riders on that side, even more of a chance to run into somebody.
I'd probably go out there with my weed eater but I'm not driving out, I'd hook up a ride with someone if a work day was set up.
I'm saving my volunteer time for the future damage on the stuff I like to ride, wilderness, L&C, Platte horse trails, and what not.
does this make me an asshole,
cuz I don't wana help with stuff I don't like to ride,
probably,
but I'll take that asshole comment with a smile the next time you see me out in the park fixxin stuff I like to ride...
Opinions are like assholes, if you will....everyone has one. badabing...thank you...I'll be here all week. At any rate, thanks for the input. I'm more curious than anything as to why we've completely stopped riding the west side of the park. I'm not going to spend time cleaning something up that none of my buds are going to ride. But, if folks are interested in riding the stuff thats been built. As far as I'm concerned, the more trails, the better. Thats just me though. If our collective energies are better spent enhancing and adding to the horse trail side, then I'm all behind that as well. West of the creek is brutal, I agree. I always hated riding back to the upper lot, but I think the stuff from Wild Turkey to the creek is fun. It would be nice to create more climbing-friendly section from the bottom of the Wild Creek descent that extends that climb, utilizes the trails from Wild Turkey to the creeek, and brings us back to the Wild Turkey lot. To hell with that nasty climb straight to the lot! More trails = GOOD any way you slice it!! PS - You're not an asshole, CVO! :)
I know i'm an asshole,
I'm good at it.
it's fun...
The west side is brutal, it's definatly the hardest riding out there.
dangerous, due to the proximity of the cabins and the novice riders, and hikers.
dangerous, due to two way traffic, those gravity valleys. man, I've met some people in the bottom of those going the other way one to many a time to just fly through there anymore.
I'd be down with jumpin in with the Large crew to do some work,
I'd hate to waste a day of clearin stuff out that none of us are gonna apreciate much.. We bust our ass in the heat. and suffer a stiff back or neck for a few days
and for what,
maybe we ride it two more times this year, before it's cold and it's dieing and it's all good again.?
(ohhhhh, I shouldn't say we, cuz you could have a large group of pro riders, a festival of free beer at the end, and I'm still not riding that shit. I'm stubborn, I hate that side, stupid get off your bike and climb up shit.) screw that. I'm going over to the stuff I sweated, and bled for.
granted, I would be super down with building more trails over there to make it ultra friendly.
and hell, when it comes down to it,
you know i'm gonna show up with a 6 pack of beer, gas and extra string and walk my lanky ass around there anyway. I'm a sucker for trail work...
it's almost the end of the summer,
is it worth working on now?
it'll be dead soon enough...
My initial comments were directed mainly at the loop that was built by JP and crew a couple of years ago, icluding the Minnesota switchbacks, etc. I was mainly interested in cleaning up the trails only from Wild Turkey to the creek. I'm 100% with you on how brutal the riding is from the creek to the end of the trail at the upper parking lot. I hate that stuff too. Many sections are nowhere near being IMBA-compliant, but some of that stuff is super sweet. It would be more work than most of us are willing to put forth just to clean things up. Perhaps future talks should include ideas for creating a directional loop-style sytem on that side of the park as well. Imagine how epic the park would be with two, completely independent loop systems...and a full loop system with no 8-4 restricions. We all know there is plenty of land, and re-routing some sections of existing trail might be an option as well. It might be a tougher sell to the park folks with the amount of traffic in that area of the park, but we'll never know if we don't ask. It just seems crazy to me that we're letting so much land, with existing trails no less, just sit there idle! I mean, we beg and plead for access in other places, and squeeze trails into small amounts of land, when here we have abundant land, existing trail systems to work with, and supportive park management, and we're not taking advantage of the opportunity. Just my .02....
Damn, you guys are all assholes and long winded too. I'm with butch on the twisty MN stuff. That's the part I like. Screw the steepy stuff deeper in. The waterfall trails are a great place to take beginners. It gives them a taste of what a fun place platte is to ride. Plus the falls and the creek bed are just so damn cool.
My initial comments came from the fact that some omaha folks will have almost 30 hours in preping Hitchcock for a trail we only get to use one day a year. What if those hours were used at Platte to develop or clear trails we can ride 24-365 (no horse trail time restrictions).
If you could get 2 laps in on the horse trail and then finish up with a waterfall loop it's a pretty primo ride.
Everybody's got one, an asshole that is...
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