National Trails Day at Heil a Huge Success!

Saturday, 6/7 was National Trails Day. We had a huge project going in our backyard - the Picture Rock Trail that will connect Lyons with Heil Valley Ranch. Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance partnered with Boulder County Open Space to make sure that we could get as much done as possible. The last week here saw a flurry of activity as corridors were aligned and flags were set and reset to yield the trail with the most flow possible. When Saturday AM rolled around, over 220 volunteers showed up to work. The Boulder County Horsemen's Association kicked in breakfast burritos and donuts, and REI handed out tech t's to all volunteers. We were on our way.

I was in the last crew to go up the hill, so our crew was working closest to Lyons. And I mean close. We started right at the edge of the Olson Property. This view is looking to the south right as you get on the trail.


After working several hours, I got into the brown bag lunch that was provided. Yum. PB&J, carrots, and an apple. That's about as good of trail food as I've had in a long time.

Since I was lunch breaking, and our section was 95% complete I started hiking to the south. The trail meanders thru open meadows and up onto the hillside before sneaking into the trees.

There will be some fast open sections

and a few fun curvy sections with natural chokes built in.

After the work day was over, it was party time. The trail crews finished all of their work earlier than expected so that left the lunch crew scrambling to get things together for folks. The post work feedathon was very graciously provided by our good friends at Oskar Blues. Here is the man himself throwing down on the grill. It's hard to keep up when you've got 225 hungry volunteers but Dale is always smiling.

Chris too. Here, he displays that he really is THE man when it comes to throwing the party.


The line to eat seemed never ending. At least the Dales Pale Ale was flowing like water. I believe that 3-4 kegs were consumed.

And here is why Chris is the man. The finely tuned art of Beer Can Chicken.

Mark seemed happy as he staggered out of the bus.

And perhaps happiest of all was MtbMike, the president of Boulder Mountainbike Alliance.

Why was he so happy? Because we got 8400 linear feet of trail built, that's why! Where we ended up yesterday, you could see the other section of completed trail across the valley. We're left with only 1200' left to build. The time frame on trail completion got bumped back up to late August/Early Sept. There are still several structures that need to be built - retaining walls and such, but we'll be riding this trail before the snow falls!

I think that calls for celebration, don't you?