This past weekend, July 1st - 4th, the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance got back down to the Fremont National Forest to work with a group of volunteers to log 480 hours valued at $12,480. We worked primarily in the Bear Creek section, finishing a reroute that had been planned since last year. It was incredible to see the continuation of work that was begun at the first stewardship event in May. Also notable was the amount of trail that got cleaned, widened, and re-benched. The transformation that occurred in one afternoon of work was mind-blowing. As Michael Norris stated - “ I've been riding these trails for the past seven years and so much work has been done, and we can finally see the vision taking shape. This trail can be world-class!”
Conditions are shaping up for good riding this year. It's been a rainy year and snow has been late to melt out. Grasses are high in the Fremont and colorful and flowers are still popping out all over. The Grand Depart has become the Petit Depart and a very select group of riders will take off on their journey this coming Saturday, July 9th
Our stewardship coordinator, Mike Vanderberg has compiled this excellent list of updates and trail conditions. Mike has taken the lead to make sure our stewardship events are fun, safe, and productive. A huge Thank You to Thom Batty for the coordination and reports about logout of the Cave Lake and Crane Mountain sections of the route.
Trail Conditions July 2022
4+ miles of the trail along Crane Mtn has been cleared of downed trees. There may be more completed by the weekend.
The west side of Yamsey Mtn has been cleared of downed trees, and the USFS may start clearing the east side this week.
Snow continues to melt out at the highest elevations, but expect some snow along the route.
The Fremont detour goes north on US 395 and picks up Clover Flat Road at Valley Falls. Then climbs Forest Service Roads to pick up the trail at Morgan Butte.
Morgan Butte to Chewaucan Crossing is running well. A handful of downed trees along the 10-mile descent.
Chewaucan Crossing to the Bear Creek Rim is also running well. Should be clear along the entire section towards the Winter Rim.
There is active trail rehabilitation along the Winter Rim towards Government Harvey Pass. Let us know how the new trail rides!
There is an OTT stewardship event going on the weekend of July 16-17 near Tule Lake and Scar Mountain. Maybe we'll see you out there!
For those that would like a map, this is the official route for the 2022 Petit Depart. Probably not relevant for anyone wanting to continue beyond Detroit Lake, since the race route ends there.
Paul Thomasberg Update on Winter Rim Reroute
Paul Thomasberg of Terra Velo came by to help on Bear Creek and we got a great report from him about the new trail that awaits riders on Winter Rim. A note from Paul:
“We have completed the final walk through on the hand-built section north of Boulder Spring. We got chased out by the fire last year and didn't get that final walk-through done.
In that section, there is a new viewpoint that is fairly easy access for hikers coming from Government Harvey Pass and going south.
There is over a mile of newly completed machine-finished trail and roughly 3/4 of that is completely hand-finished. This is a section that is in live trees so wanted to focus on it first as fire hazard is higher in the living trees as opposed to the burned sections.
There is now another .5 mile of cleared corridor going up to the rim section of the trail. That basically entails clearing all the downed trees, burnt stumps from the corridor and pushing over trees that are accessable and likely to end up on the trail in the near future.
Of that .5 miles, I have about 1000 feet machine finished. Machine finished includes first bench cut and two to three further passes with drainage and steeper bank turns requiring track packing.
Significant hand work is done as well during the machine-finished phase.
Then there is the last piece around .5 mile from the rim down to the treed section.
Finish work is done 100% by hand after all feasible machine work is done.
We will be finished this year barring any unforeseen circumstances. ”
Ole is on vacation from Geneva Switzerland. He came to ride the OTT, but also decided to come work with us for 4 days.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone that showed up for this event. Interestingly, most came from either Lakeview or Paisley or the Portland area. But Ole wins the prize for greatest distance traveled, coming all the way from Geneva Switzerland. They continue to show up with effort and ideas for improving this stretch of the Timber Trail for both northbound thru riders and southbound day users.
A special thanks to our beverage sponsors: Deschutes Brewing, Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, and Nossa Familia Coffee. On behalf of the entire Timber Trail Alliance team, we can’t wait to see you again and get back out there. The Old Cascade Crest event is coming up fast!
The last day is for group rides and sampling new trail that we built. (L to R - Bernhard, Amy, Michael, Mike, Wayne and Ole). Photo by Jim Thomas