Hazardous Log Crossing at L&C

Folks,

One of our Trail Leaders reports that the big log crossing at the bottom of the hill at L&C is in a dangerous condition.

The logs are missing or messed up on the far side of the big log crossing so you won't see it till your commited to going over. He rates it very very difficult to dangerous.

L&C Trail Leader has been informed.

Please exercise caution when approaching and crossing this obstacle until it is investigated and remedied. Look before you leap.

2008 THOR Membership Drive

If you haven't had the opportunity to renew your THOR membership or signup as a new member, stop by the THOR booth at the Psycowpath race at Swanson Park this Saturday! Memberships are $20 for individual, $30 family.

We've got some cool new T-shirts available - get one for only $5 with your paid membership through the month of May.
For those who have already renewed membership, this offer is retroactive ... stop by this Saturday or at any Psycowpath event during the month of May to get your shirt!

tranquility tread work

Doug's been putting in a lot of 3-4 hour days smoothing and widening tread. Chris shaped a bermed corner along the big dirt pile north of the tennis courts and other tread work. Will try to remember to get pics of their work. I widened the narrow, grooved sections north of the west entrance to the evergreens; saw where the water was running off the tread and put in nicks and small grade reversals.





Also cleaned out several drainages so the low areas dry out more quickly after a rain.

Manawa Update

Manawa is in good shape - just a couple of wet/soft spots.

There are the 3 dead falls that Martin reported on Tuesday. This afternoon, I also found that the large tree crossing on Riverfront Real Estate has been damaged. Might have been mushroom hunters. As you can see from the photo, needs some rebuilding.

In between of my 2 laps, someone had piled several logs over of the trail in Fast Track. It looks (again) that it was done for hunting mushrooms. Looked like with some malice since the logs were moved and stacked right over the trail.

Swanson Trail Day for 26 April Off.

The Swanson Trail day for this Saturday (26 April) is off the calendar.

A tremendous out pouring of volunteer effort for the last couple weeks has fixed up most of the long winter damage and rerouted several sections that just aren't drying out anytime soon. Most of this just couldn't wait and folks were available for impromtu trail work, big thanks to all of them and their efforts.

Last weekend was huge for THOR supported MTB trails. Crews spent both Saturday and Sunday clearing out fallen trees and fixing up the trails at Platte River State Park. Most of the fallen logs were removed from L&C. And of course a big crew at Swanson.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into Tranquillity Park last week with many of the new corners adjusted for better flow and Doug benching in the new trail near the pine trees. Jewell has a new bridge and been cleaned up a bunch too.

We are estimating the next Swanson maintenance for sometime in June to start trimming up the eye poker sticks that will grow into the trail as Summer approaches and also some sections will probably need some weed wacking to keep the trails from overgrowing.

There is a non-THOR clean up event at Manawa trails on Saturday if you so inclined.

Manawa Update (22 April 08)

Manawa trails are rideable, couple tacky spots here and there.

There are three trees down and the Trail Leader has a plan to take them out.

1st is on the warm up loop shortly after you go thru the drainage ditch.

2nd is right after you come out of Tony's play ground and make a right and do the Long's Landing loop (side towards power plant)

3rd is located just before you enter No Second Chance.

Have fun crossing the water obstacle in the run off ditch on your way out going thru the grass field area. Hit it fast and make a big splash.

Volunteers needed!

This is a big THOR weekend!

Jesse has plans for trail work on Saturday at Platte and signage on Sunday. Please go out there and help him. If you plan on staying in Omaha on Sunday and still have some energy, come over and help me at Lewis and Clark.

There are 10 down/dead trees that need to be removed, trash needs to be picked up and reroutes need to be looked at (flagged), in that order. I will be going over there at 8am if anyone wants to join me that early that's great. Otherwise come over at 11am and lend a hand, I will either be in the parking lot at 11am or you can listen for the chainsaw and come find me.

Here's our biggest fish that needs to be fried, thanks for helping with scale Martin and Pepper. This is on both south and north bound trails, its a big one.

I will bring a chain saw and some other supplies but if you can come over and have a saw let me know. I can use as much help as I can get.

Khamail will have trash bags and will be picking up trash. She has also offered to make cookies.

Email me to let me know if you can make with or without a saw.

LewisClark@TrailsHaveOurRespect.org

Thank you!

Platte River Trails Tune Up

Platte River State Park Trail Leader (Jesse) sends,

Need some volunteers to help get the Platte trails into shape to start the season and then test ride the trails afterwards to satisfy that sweet single track appetite and enjoy the fruits of your time.

When: Saturday, April 19th 10:00am
Where: Platte River State Park, Wild Turkey parking lot
What: We will be removing debris from the trail and the build-up next to the trail.
Tools Needed: Rakes, shovels, McClouds, lopers, clippers, handsaws
Time Needed: Expect to work 4-5 hours, then ride!
Remember: Gloves, food, drinks and your bike.

Need two or three folks to help install the new Trail Markers on Sunday as well.

Platte Trail Marker Installation
When: Sunday, April 20th 10:00am
Where: Platte River State Park, Wild Turkey parking lot
What: We will be installing trail markers - approx. 20-25
Tools: We have the installation tool - we need guys to drive the posts and a couple sherpas.
Time Needed: Expect to work 3-4 hours, then ride!
Remember: Gloves, food, drinks and your bike.

Reminder the Platte River marathon is coming up soon!

Jewell update........

Jarrett, a coworker of Steve's, and myself set the new bridge in place today. We dug out and set the footings with gravel and worked the approaches smooth. Turned out nice. It's a little damp in the gully area but should be fine this afternoon to ride.

more tp reroutes

Chris, Doug, and I rerouted the NE part of the southhill yesterday. It is probably half a mile of mostly downhill grade. We looked for where to place the switchbacks and used a 6' level to make sure we had grade reversals connecting the switchbacks in order to shed water off the trail. Then we rode the flags and adjusted them for flow.

When you see several trails cut, please only ride the one marked by orange flags.

Also, a couple corners were rerouted down to the iceplex for better flow.

Several will be riding tranquility tonight at 6.

Here are before/after pics of an armored water crossing.





This should only be ridden when dry but the cement blocks will prevent the water from gouging the trail more.

Any News on Conditions?

I'm pretty sure Jewell is too wet right now, judging by what I saw last Sunday. Is anything rideable?

Swanson Safety Concerns Update

Recent comments on MTB Omaha highlighted a potential safety concern created by trail maintenance.

The problem was addressed this morning by raking off loose sand and gravel that was deposited on the left hand turn around the gully next to the creek. The areas were tamped down and flagged to provide some warning as well.

Too much materal may have been thrown in that area and didn't pack down well and sand and gravel was reported to be causing tire drift and potential slide out conditions. My unintentional mistake.

Please exercise caution in the gully area, all of Swanson Park is still soft and recovering from a long cold winter. Trails appear to be summer hard in many areas but this is only a crust over very damp dirt beneath.

Double Whammy: Jewell Report plus Manawa

I pulled a Sunday double header, so here's the scoop: Jewell is in good shape. It was a bit soft but very rideable. NO RAIN NO RAIN NO RAIN. The last bridge is getting ridiculous. There's a new bridge waiting there to be installed. What's up with that? All else is well. See the full report here.

Manawa's dirt is perfect, but there's two trees down. It's also got some overhang problems, plus the usual debris. I hope that doesn't discourage anyone-I had lots of fun.

thanks for tranquility trail day support

We had 15 sign in for the trail day at Tranquility yesterday. 28 bags of trash were collected from the park. A water crossing was armored and current armoring expanded. 13 directional signs were installed throughout the trail, including markers at every mile. We had four wheel barrels moving dirt and woodchips to install erosion control devices on the interior climb and descent on the south hill, 4.7-5.2 mile section.

We heard a couple riders out there complain that they didn't know about the work day. We forgot to send out an email blast. Next time, we will remember!

45 work hrs were put in! Thanks to everyone who helped!

I didn't take any pics. Tom, maybe you could edit a couple into this topic?

Dale explaining what work is needed. The trash picked up.

Manawa conditions

Manawa is completely rideable. I did a couple laps around 4:30 Friday. There was a few soft spots but nothing that even packed the tires up. Should be great Saturday afternoon.

tranquility

Martin putting the finishing touches on the first signage in TP wednesday. walked the trail with gps to mark milepost locations and scout the trail.

wow, there is a lot of erosion work to be done on the south hill on the interior climb to the trees and back, and on some of the retired trail.

Please bring a shovel, hula hoe, sledge hammer, pulaski/mattock (grub hoe), or wheel barrel for this work.

Doug received an ok from the doctors and will be out to help pick up trash. He already has 60 bags bought. Thankfully, they won't all need to be filled.