Constructing the Wild Turkey

Last Saturday, I closed the shop down all day to help out at Boulder County's Heil Ranch Open Space. Due to succesfull lobbying over the last year (mostly from mountain bikes), BoCo has agreed to build another multi use trail at the park. This new trail, the Wild Turkey Trail, will create another loop opportunity on top of Heil, or the ability to ride a figure 8 at the top. Eventually, the connector to Lyons will split from the Wild Turkey trail. We worked on the trail earlier in the year, about a month ago in September. I left feeling a little dissapointed that we were just building more 4' wide rocky multiuse trail. Don't get me wrong, anything is a gain, but I prefer a narrower trail. Last Saturday, BoCo officails told us to go 24" wide. Progress has been made, slowly but surely.

We got to our spot. It looked promising. Here's what we had after a small chunk of time working the terrain.

After we had cut in trail for about 3 hours, our work was done. Before heading back to the main vehicle shuttle area, we walked north to the lookout. This is looking at Hall Ranch and Indian Lookout Mountain. Our vantage point is just north of where the existing bench is right now.


There's also a good view of Red Hill to the East/Northeast. Woohoo, don't forget about Cemex down there!

The rest of these shots are of us walking back on the new trail to get to the shuttle area. I tell you, I'm pretty excited about this trail. I will hope and pray and lobby to get the Lyons connector to look more like this. For some reason, though, I doubt that will happen. We'll fight the good fight for it, though.





Yep, pretty good stuff, huh? I can't wait to ride it. They say they are on track with probably one more work day, then a Spring opening. I will be there. Anyone care to join me for a shot of Wild Turkey? Plan on it.


After the trail work at Heil Ranch, we drove a short bit up the canyon to the Left Hand OHV area. It's not for everyone, but I like it. There were hunters, jeepers, motos, and even some redneck assholes shooting hand held canons into the hillside. But the riding was sure fun, and once we got up to the 5 points intersection, it was all a memory. The singletrack approach to the area is a good one.
Debaser climbs the ledge singletrack for a bit. The road is already way down there.

There are a few sections, this on in particular, in which the only option is to walk.
But the view is a good one.
And the singletrack descent is absolutely top notch. Want steep, rocky, small drops, and rock fields? Got 'em. Stay tuned to the blog. We'll be night riding here soon enough, as soon as things higher up get snowed in. LHC OHV is rideable almost year round due to its steep south facing slopes.