[ First-time users please see prior post ]

You may have noticed that the trails have developed some lingering muddy spots over the past month and that they have been closed for a number of days after the last heavy rain. Here’s what’s going on.

New Trails and Their First Winter

As new trails moves through their first winter, it’s normal to have drainage issues that need to be addressed. Even though the trails were well designed and constructed and compacted with a machine, the trail will harden even more with a year or two of use. Also, we will rock armor some of the worst problem areas.

December Rainfall

The weather has not helped us this past month. Columbus averages 4″ of rain in December. As of this post, the weather station closest to Standing Boy has recorded 8″, or double what we normally get in December.

Long-Term Goal

Long term, the goal is to have a trail system that is ready to use 24 hours after rain absent extenuating circumstances such as multiple days of rain, multiple inches of rain, freeze/thaw or very cold conditions, etc. Hopefully, knowing the goal we are working towards will help you be patient with longer closures this first winter.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Go straight through the middle of the puddles and muddy areas. We can fix the puddle or muddy area much more easily than the widened trail.
Continue to comply with trail closures, even when they seem unreasonably long. As best we can tell, compliance with trail closures has been excellent, which is awesome and very, very appreciated.
Starting in early- to mid-January, be on the lookout for opportunities to volunteer at trail work days.

Reminder of Why We Close the Trails

The trails will be closed when portions of the trails are wet enough that we’ll leave footprints or tire ruts – in other words, indentations in the trail surface. The reason is that the footprint or rut will collect water, which will make that portion of trail will stay wet and soft longer, which will cause more footprints and ruts and ultimately a berm on the outside of the trail, which will lead to a big puddle in the trail, which will lead to people avoiding the puddle, which will widen the trail, which will just create a bigger puddle and ultimately a huge soft spot that lingers and lingers after the rest of the trail is dry and firm.

The Trails will be closed when a normal level of usage would damage the trails.

PLEASE REMEMBER that using the trails when they are closed is an incredibly selfish act that is disrespectful to all the effort and resources that have gone into constructing the trails as well as the time and energy of the volunteers who will have to fix the problems that are created.

THANKS FOR DOING YOUR PART TO HELP KEEP OUR TRAILS AWESOME!