Great News for Mountain Bike Access!

Well, first off, City of Boulder has approved (as in, it's a done deal) the Eldorado Trail Study Area. This is the area south of the road going to Eldo Springs and west of Hwy93. Pretty much, with the exception of the climbing trails, all of the existing trails get open to bikes. Also, City of Boulder will be cutting more multi use singletrack for all of us to enjoy! Check the map on Debasers September blog post. It all got approved.

Now, on to what is perhaps the best news I've heard in a long, long time. Anyone familiar with HP's Hermit Park just off 36 outside of Estes? Well, HP announced towards the end of summer that they were ready to sell this parcel of land. HP has owned and maintained for eons as an employee benefit. HP employees from all over the world could come to Hermit Park to camp, stay in a cabin, and generally enjoy the Colorado mountains. Since it is such a pristine chunk of land, several local land agencies, including Estes Park and Larimer County, expressed interest in the fact that they would not like to see it developed. Well, good news. Larimer County just announced that Hermit Park will be their newest Open Space acquisition. The Ft Collins paper, The Coloradoan, has the whole scoop here.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. The best part about Hermit Park is that it abutts Roosevelt National Forest. Roll thru the jeep road in Hermit Park and, voila, you are right in the middle of Homestead Meadows! Click on the map on this page. See where it says Private Property in the upper left corner of the map? Yep, I'm pretty darned excited about it. It'll probably be a bit before we're riding there, but it's a step in the right direction!

Good night ride tonight, too. Those of you reading that don't include Melis, ChrisL, and myself probably didn't miss too much, though. It was 1.5 hours at Boulder Valley Ranch in howling gusty winds. Soft dirt with a 50mph headwind does not necessarily equal let the good times roll. They did, though, but barely!