A large crew of horsemen, motorcycle riders, mountain bikers, boy scouts, and forest service employees hit the Deer Creek South Fork Trail on June 2, 2012. A new trail will bypass the heinous ditch in the meadow (the always-washed-out section down to the Cascade Springs road).

UMB team members (at right) Dale Hutchings and Kay Hutchings dig the northern connector. The old section between here and the road will be closed once the Forest Service completes signage. This is just the "connection crew" -- workers were divided into several teams with different roles in prepping the trail.

Now it's off to the southern end. At this connection, the trail down to Elk Camp will be preserved as an access trail. In addition to Dale and Kay, UMB team member Paul Zimmerman is on the right in the gray shirt.

Kerry Smith (middle) and Steve Winters (right) break the ribbon to officially open the trail. Helping to open the trail: On the left is Bruce representing UMB; then Willard from Backcountry Horsemen, and between Kerry and Steve is Kris Nosack -- biking fanatic, and one of AF Canyon's most-frequent trail users. 

And just one minute later, here's our first rider completing the new section.

The newly-opened traversing route is contained within the "New" bracket on the map at left. It's longer than the route it replaces, but has less climbing. It will be easier to maintain, and will route riders away from the primitive camping at Elk Camp.

The old trail section north of the road (the steep trench) will be closed soon.

The bypassed section south of the Cascade Springs road will be maintained as an access trail for those who park at Elk Camp.

Link to:
   Full-res photos
   DCSF trail page (edit pending)

With members of other teams, Bruce worked on Rush on a workday in late fall (which counts for the 2012 season). The group hauled in the lumber for the big bridge, moved the big beams into position, and dug the approaching trail into the mountainside.

This photo is in May 2012, as the bridge is coming together.

Rush Trail Berm Work
UMB Trailwork Day #2

As the 2012 ICup season approached its end, racers scrambled to get their trailwork hours. For official workday #2 on July 14, 2012, we worked on problem turns -- switchbacks on Rush where experts riders had to shed speed or struggle to make the turn clean.

Rick Morris surveys a switchback near completion. We raised the berm 24 inches and moved the approaching riding line two feet toward the mountain.

On this turn, we chopped out brush that was moving riders out of the efficient riding line, improving the exit from the uphill turn as well as the approach to this turn. Moving the trail uphill routed riders into the turn efficiently, and we raised the berm 12 inches to hold tires at speed. Christian Burrell tries to move out of the photo...

The UMB team pruned the High Bench trail and made our yearly attack on thistle along the Lambert Luge area. Participating racers included Karl, Sally, Adam, and Bruce.

Bruce made and installed eight new trail signs to replace burned signs on Ziggy, Zag, White Dog, Brown Dog, and Black Dog.

Unreadable char of a former trail marker.

View up White Dog. Right now, the trail is easy to see. But as the black ash disappears, so will the riding line.