Tranquility Back on Line

Tranquility is now completely open again and cleared of all downed trees and branches. The trail took a battering Friday and we lost more creek embankment to washout but hey we are back riding and happy. Big thanks to Greg Gibson, D-mars, and Mark Kuntz for a fast and furious chain saw party Monday afternoon. We were able to get the inner creek section cleared in 2 hours... ( and no one lost any digits ). Thanks guys!

Doug

tp inner north creek trail

Going backwards along the creek from Fort St parking lot, the logs for the ramp have been washed away.

Loosing more of the bank.

The creek was overflowing its banks and running down the trail.

The biggest damage, turn into double dip.

Double dip to the creek.

At the creek.

Further on, we have another two places where large limbs twisted about 15' up and are hanging down onto the trail.

As Doug mentioned, the rest of the trail has been cleared of downed trees. Leaves and broken twigs on the tread so don't be surprised if it's a little slippery in places.

!!!Forgot to mention, please be extra cautious around Tranquility anytime you cross the service road because county dump trucks are busy hauling downed trees on it!!!

tranquility devastated

Just got a call from Doug, took him an hour to ride one lap with so many trees down, creek section is really bad. Doug is buying a chainsaw and heading down to the creek. If you have a few hours of energy left Sunday afternoon after clearing your yard or your neighbors, we can use your help.

trail crew leaders for calvin crest

CC has about 20 volunteers available this week to work on the trail from 09:00-12:00 on Tu, W, F. I will be out there but could use 1 or 2 more trail crew leaders. If you are interested, email me at tpmbt@cox.net.

Platte Update

The trails are sweet and the bacon is crispy!

Platte is a little shaggy on the weeds and grass side but very rideable. The nettles are not stinging you for some reason in the few areas where they do reach out to touch you...nothing but good.

The trail is flowing smooth and fast just about everywhere. Didn't go down the gully, took the bypass out by the fenceline.

One tree obstacle in the Yun 2 area that requires a dismount. Trail leader notified and developing a removal plan.

There is discussion about a week night trimming party in the next couple of weeks...Stay Tuned. One good trimming will probably carry it till the fall with any luck.

Wilderness Park Trail Days

We are needing some serious help here in Lincoln at Wilderness Park. Mother Nature took a dump, the creek washed a lot of dead wood into the trail and then there are the blow downs.

Trail Work Days - Sat. June 28th and Sun June 29th - 10am-3pm
Meet: Old Cheney Trail Head at Old Cheney Road east of 1st street, west of the railroad tracks.
What to Bring: Chain Saw, Ax (to get the chain saw unstuck), Loppers, hand saws, Chaps, Gloves, fuel bottles and an extra bar, Long Pants for sure. I will bring 5 gal water jug and some brownies, nuts etc. BRING BUG JUICE!!
Work to be done: Clear trail of the debris Mother Nature left behind.

Help when you can - for a few hours, a day, or both days. Your work is appreciated.

Please contact "rose at dakota-st dot com" for more information.

Posted on behalf of Rosina Paolini

Tranquility finally gets a Kiosk!

Thanks to the skill and labor of Mark Kuntz, there is now a beautiful new Kiosk installed at the trail head at Tranquility Park. Mark built the Kiosk all by himself and we finally got permission from the city to plant it in the ground this weekend. Dale has posted trail instructions along with a temporary trail map and also a map of the beginner race course that will be used for the Tranquility Tire Tantrum race in August.

Eventually we will install a larger easier to read trail map in the Kiosk. Please note that Tranquility trail is to be ridden in one direction ( counter clockwise ). This is for everyone's safety due to line of sight restrictions caused by the tall vegetation growth in many areas. I also want to thank Dale and Paul Nueberger for helping install the Kiosk, great work guys.

Doug

Platte Update 15 June 08

Platte was in great shape this morning before the storm hit and I was forced to seek refuge in the resturant with a big plate of Bacon!

Avoid the gully for a little while, there is still running water the farther you go down. Take the blue trail left which brings you up to the fence line trail just before you finally commit to the bottom of the gully. Its a trail not normally used by folks that ride the gully all the time. It takes you up thru some trees to a fence line and some single track that turns into double track, really fast down hill to the trail head marker.

Platte definitely weathered all the storms really well.

Thanks Jesse and crew.

Jewell's Looking Good

Saturday evening I did a full walk-thru down at Jewell for the first time in quite a while, and she's ripe'n ready for action. I came there expecting a good 4 hours worth of work, and wasn't disappointed. I rebuilt the log bridge again, cleared away 4 downed trees(and built up one trunk that wouldn't budge) macheted some weeds with my hand saw, chopped a bunch of overhangs, and tossed a plethora of branches and assorted crap.

I built a couple more debris dams like the one pictured below to keep tree turds from constantly flowing onto the trail. This involves laying some tree limbs above the trail, usually anchored by trees, at a spot where lots of debris is moving down the hill onto and over the trail. If this is some kind of trailbuilding no-no, just tell me and I'll stop. I haven't noticed that it causes any problems, and it cuts down on my workload quite a bit. Branches get caught in the dam, while water and leaves flow through it.

I also got growled at by a cute young raccoon, and eyed suspiciously by some protective momma deer.

As of this writing, all of the downed trees at Jewell have been dealt with. The trail is clean and the dirt is nice and tacky and 99% rideable. There is one spot at the entrance to the lowlands that is muddy and should be walked for a couple days. The weeds are just starting to get annoying. One thing that is causing me concern is the north side gravel road climb, which is almost too eroded to ride across. The new parking lot is ready but it's still blocked off for some reason.

"Debris dam" above the trail shrinks the workload:

Creek Bank Cave In at Tranquility

Please be aware that heavy rains have caused a delayed embankment collapse on the North side of the creek at Tranquility running right up to the trail. The affected area is at about mile 5.8 as you re-enter the north side of the creek trail coming off the curved gravel road. The danger area is flagged and riders simply need to stay inside the flags for a short distance. I will be shifting the trail over a few yards soon to keep the trail on stable ground. Thank you and happy riding.

Doug

more work on interior climb

Been a couple weeks with lots of rain since grade reversals were put in the interior climb at tp. Happy to report that they have worked well. Cleaned out the sedimentation and took the edge off the tread and cleared out more of the tread sod.

Put in three more grade reversal/nicks just below the downhill drop to the mcleod.

Chris' alternative line over barbwire pump can be seen to the left and the approach below.
Doug reports as of last night (Friday), 98% of tp was dry and very fast (till the next rain).

Tree Down at Swanson

Large tree down blocking the way to the long staight away and last little rooty climb. Easily bypassed by making a right towards the creek crossing (and the new bridge) instead of going the normal route left.

Several other low hanging branches or trees squeezing the trail but overall rideable and getting better. Sticks galore all over the trail in some parts.

Trail Leader notified and has a plan to remove it within a day or two.

THE WORD IS OUT

The city of Omaha has linked our website to theirs! How cool is that? Look at the "What's New" section to the right. Now the public will know more about the trails and the trail knomes who take care of them. More exposure could possibly bring more support outside of our community. I'm hoping that with people staying closer to home this summer, they'll learn about all of our wonderful trails and use them. We'll see.

2nd trail crew @ calvin crest

A college age group of 14 or so spent several days working around CC getting it ready for 4th-6th graders this week. I work with them Saturday building new trail. The first task was armoring a descent to the eastern creek.

We spent the rest of the day working on the trail from the top of the bluff down to the Platte River.

We finished about 1100' like above, roughed out the tread another 100', and weed wacked the remaining 500' to the river. Around 60 work hours for the day. I will be working with a group of senior adults in a couple weeks to finish the treadwork to the river.

Here is a pic of the trail cut through cedar trees the previous Saturday.

Dry at Tranquility

I just got back from weed wacking the creek sections Friday night and the course is very ridable for anyone looking for a dry spot to ride this weekend. Several of us mowed this past week and even though things are growing like crazy conditions should be good.