Proving Grounds Trails

Just a little work day prep

Work off your X-Mas meal! We'll be out clearing corridor for the Larry's Trail improvements Sunday morning, 8-12. Meet at the Larry Mattonnen Trailhead (https://goo.gl/maps/DaA4XZHMZLN3HXfm9), and we'll walk in from there. Please reply to this message if you're planning on coming, so that I can plan for the appropriate number of people.

Just an FYI to those that ride/run/hike on the singletrack "Larry's Trail". Tri-County water is re-doing their water main through this area over the winter. They will have a fair amount of their ROW torn up over the winter, into the end of the first quarter of 2021. They won't really be on any singletrack sections, but their line crosses the single track a couple times. Please be respectful of the work they are doing, and stay off of their ROW if they are working in the immediate area of the trail. About the time the have all of the main relocation buttoned up, we are hoping to have a significant re-route/extension completed on Larry's Singletrack.

It's the time of year that we need to share this again. Please be mindful of the freeze/thaw cycle, and don't tear up the trails.

Early morning rain made a lot of noise but somewhere around 1/2. Hopefully we can open tomorrow

FYI, you may see some pink flagging tied to trees (in the woods, not really adjacent to trail) near the intersection of Prickly Pear and Bobcat. This is a planned re-route of some legacy trail that has not been holding up well in the spring/fall wetter seasons. It's one of the last sections to dry out, and has started to become rutted. We have a scout pursuing an Eagle project that will be directing most of the work. We expect the work to be completed in the month of September. Once the new 0.10 mile section of trail is completed, we will block off and abandon the old trail segment. Please do not remove those flags. They're official.

Just in case anyone wants to rep KC trails and support UTC at the same time.

Checked conditions this morning while out flagging a reroute and deberming. Lots of areas are getting close, but about half the trail is still pretty wet and soft. We’ll check again this afternoon. Hopefully the sun will bake it out

Dear fellow trail users, Please don’t tie flagging to trees along the trails. We have periodically found flagging tied to trees, as if marking out a course. If we see it, we will take it down. We consider this similar to littering. These markings can be seen by all trail users, many of which (including trail stewards), do not know their intention. They may confuse some trail users.... Trail maps can be found at urbantrailco.com. I addition, All of our trails are mapped on the following apps: Mtbproject Hikingproject Trailrunproject Trail Forks We have markers at intersections coordinating with our official maps. You can guide people through the trails via any of the above-mentioned apps and/or maps. Please don’t litter up our trails

If someone happens to find a Gerber FastDraw on Eight Track, it's mine. I think I lost it last Wednesday while weedeating. Would love to get it back. Would be on the front/east side between the old roadbed crossing and the lowland section.

5 guys, 20 hours total labor. These trees were beast mode.

We got just under 1 of rain this afternoon. I’ll check the trails in the morning when I go out to weedeat

Quick update on trimming. To date, we have 75 hours of volunteer labor donated to trimming trails. Thanks to all those that have been out in recent weeks attacking the vegetation. Significant portions of Prickly Pear, Hoot Owl, Hatchet, Upper Ledges, Augie 4/Nellie, Augie 2, Augie 3 and Augie 1 have been trimmed. Volunteers will continue to working on trimming trails in the coming weeks. With 27 miles of trail to maintain, this is a significant workload and takes time. ... There are 4-5 large trees down on Augie 2. We are aware of them, and are working on a plan to get them cut out. You can navigate your way through them, but you will have to dismount your bike and/or walk through/around until we can get them cut out. If you see volunteers out trimming the trails, please give them plenty of space and make sure they see you before you try to pass them, especially from behind. Most wear ear protection, which makes it difficult to notice that someone has come up behind them, especially if they are focused on the task at hand. Please be patient and courteous and thank them as you go by. They are giving up their training time to improve the trails for all of us.

See below. A wealthy developer/investment group is trying to purchase a part of Blue River Parkway out out from under the taxpayers, Parks Department and you so that they can build more golf course and country club. Please call/email the Jackson County Legislators and let them know that this is not OK.

Good news people. We have nearly all sections adopted. I will be working with those that need to borrow trimmers over the coming weeks to get trimmers out. I have also attached a general guideline for trimming. Please let me know if you have any questions. Prickly Pear (1.75 miles) - John Dampier/Steve Duckworth... Bobcat West (1.5 miles) - Trafton Creamer Hoot Owl (1 mile) - Scott Buller Eight Track (2.6 miles) - Todd Posson Bobcat East (Hatchet) (1 mile) - John Sudgen Upper Rock Ledges (2.5 miles) - Jocelyn Ball/Christy/Stewart Swearingen Lower Rock Ledges (3.5 miles) - AVAILABLE Augie PH 1 North (1 mile) - Brian Stockdell Augie PH 1 South (3 miles) - Matthias Rosbrugh (and father) Augie PH 2 (2.75 miles) - George Williamson Augie PH 3 (3.75 miles) - AVAILABLE Augie PH 4 (1.5 miles) - Don Daly Nellie (1.5 miles) - Don Daly

QUICK UPDATE It's that time of year again. The rains have come, the veg is out, and the heat is coming. The trails are getting a little hairy, and we can't trim them with just a couple people. As you may know, the Proving Grounds is one of the largest systems in the metro, with 27 glorious miles of trail. Trimming that mileage can be a big undertaking, and we need your help. We would like to get started on trimming in the near future. We can supply you with a trimmer, st...ring and fuel so you can get out on your own schedule and work. I will also schedule a couple of smaller trimming parties in the coming weeks. to hit certain areas. I would also like to encourage an "adopt a trail" approach this year. If you have a favorite segment of trail and would like to volunteer to trim it (or partner with someone to trim it), please respond here or send me an email of private message and I can get you on the map. If possible, I would also like you to be the "eyes and ears" for that segment for the rest of the year if you don't mind. If you see a tree down, send me a note with a location and maybe a picture to let me know where it is so that we can plan to get in there and cut it out. Here are the current segments that are open/adopted: Prickly Pear (1.75 miles) - John Dampier/Steve Duckworth Bobcat West (1.5 miles) - TRAFTON CREAMER Hoot Owl (1 mile) - SCOTT BULLER Eight Track (2.6 miles) - Todd Posson Bobcat East (Hatchet) (1 mile) - JOHN SUGDEN Upper Rock Ledges (2.5 miles) Lower Rock Ledges (3.5 miles) Augie PH 1 North (1 mile) - BRIAN STOCKDELL Augie PH 1 South (3 miles) Augie PH 2 (2.75 miles) - GEORGE WILLIMASON Augie PH 3 (3.75 miles) Augie PH 4 (1.5 miles) - Don Daly Nellie (1.5 miles) - Don Daly Let me know if you'd like to adopt a segment or part of a segment (like Upper Ledges East or West for example). One thing I do ask is that if you check out a trimmer, that it be for 2 weeks or less, so that we can try to knock this stuff out and pass the trimmer on to the next person. Thanks!

I know we had a nice couple days with the trails finally open. I showed 1.5" in my rain gauge from last night, so we'll need to give it a little time to dry. The trails are not drying as fast as we'd like right now, due to the heavy tree cover and the lack of sun we were having. Hopefully with good sun for a day or so, we'll be able to open the trails back up soon.

FYI, I had 4" in my rain gauge about this time yesterday. It's going to take a minimum of 2 full days of sun before the trails will be open. They were already saturated before the recent rain. Please be patient and allow the trails to drain before you get back out on them.

Just an FYI, I'm fairly certain the trails will NOT open at all this weekend, even with sun. Sunday is a possibility, but we've probably had 3+ inches of rain in the last few days (pending a rain gauge check). Trail gnomes will likely be out this weekend working on some areas that have turned into constant wet spots so that when the trails do open back up, some problem areas will be fixed.