Category: Uncategorized

Work continues on Kirby’s master plan for a perimeter loop at SIUE which will allow you to ride what will end up being nearly 8 miles of singletrack and a couple of hundred feet of bike path. Considering the small area and the difficulty of finding sufficient terrain because of the large drainages, soil type, and flat nature of the area, this trail system is pretty amazing.

Recently, JohnnyD posted a link to some pictures of the old Mississippi River Festival site on which the current mtb trails at SIUE are located. I took one of the pictures and overlaid it on a shot from a similar angle in Google Earth to illustrate how the site looked then, and what it looks like now.

We’re busily weighing all our options as we keep walking the hillsides of Greensfelder to reroute and lengthen the DeClue trail from the tower lot to the Roundhouse loop lot. Everything is still preliminary but it’s shaping up to be yet another amazing addition to an already top notch St. Louis County park. Stay tuned to the blog for additional information and updates.

Mike Dunston also tells us that St. Charles County Parks has set up an experimental Trail Closure phone hotline. Since this is experimental, neither he, nor the rangers have worked out all the details of how it’s going to function.

Mike Dunston, the trail steward for a couple of parks in St. Charles County has sent along some photos, and a description, which will eventually make its way to the GORC Trails page, of one of the newest parks there: Indian Camp Creek.

If you’ve been on any of the newest trails that GORC has been working on, you’ve probably been surprised at how fast so much trail is being built. On of the reasons, in addition to the super hard work and dedication of all of our volunteers, is this amazing piece of equipment, the Weed Wrench.

Thanks to the hard work last weekend of the approximately 30 volunteers who cleared all of the nearly 6 miles of existing trail at SIUE, we’ll be able to spend this workday completely on the construction of the new Trail #4. The damage was impressive, requiring 4 hrs.

Well, we all knew that the ice storm had done major damage at SIUE. Here’s a rundown: the map shows the downed trees which will require sawyer work. 34 on Loop #3, 21 on Loop #2. The ones marked with asterisks will require extra work.

Yes, you read it right. GORC has designed a new trail at Castlewood, and we need your help in building it. This one is going to be called the “Rollercoaster”, and it’s in the northeastern corner of the park, off of the Grotpeter. If you like the last GORC-built trail at CW, the “3%, or Love Trail”, then come on out and help, because it will be more of the same.

Kirby and I went up to Peoria for a tour of Farmdale Reservoir, site of the 2007 Midwest Mountain Bike Festival. We weren’t quite sure what to expect since every time the PAMBA gang comes down to STL, they’re all on big-hit bikes.