Tag Archives: 8-Mile

Trail Conditions Update 5/19

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Latest trail conditions update May 19:trail2

Knebal / Bottle Prairie – 75% clear of trees and tread dry – Hope to clear this week.

8-Mile – Good shape but there’s one big section of blowdown on streamside trail 20+ trees – hope to  clear this week.

High Prairie / 450 – Not ready. Snow on trails and tread too muddy for riding. 4410 road is also still closed due to snow. Please stick to lower trails.

15-Mile – Not ready. Needs clearing work. Hold use until after Memorial Day weekend, thanks.

Surveyor’s Ridge – Clear an ready to ride

Dog River – Clear and ready to ride

 

Trail Work Schedule

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Sweet new trail signs!

Sweet new trail signs!

The dirt is top notch in the Gorge right now and the riding season for Mount Hood’s 44 Trails area is fast approaching. As of May 8, there is still some lingering snow and plenty of downed timber on the upper trails accessible from Forest Road 44. Typically, the bulk of the system will be cleared and ready to enjoy come Memorial Day Weekend.

In the meantime, we’ve set a schedule for summer trail work parties to keep our mission of maintenance and expansion moving forward. Please mark these dates in your calendars and join us when you can. We strive to work for 4-5 hours in the morning and then enjoy an afternoon trail session, so you don’t have to give up a day of riding! More details about each event will be provided as the date nears and as we evaluate trail needs:

June 14 – Celebrate National Trails Day with a 44Trails work party – (Nat. Trails Day is actually June 7, but our event will be on June 14)

July 26 -Mid summer work day to armor and maintain high-traffic areas

October 4 – TBA Special Event – riding related event to thank everyone for all their support

October 18 – Final trail day before winter transforms the forest floor

Although random acts of kindness in helping to clear the trails is appreciated, all significant clearing and trail work needs to be organized through the USFS to maintain trail standards. The process on 44 Trails is different from that in Post Canyon or Sandy Ridge, and we need your help adhering to this policy. We have a great relationship with the Mt. Hood and Barlow Ranger Districts, and we aim to keep it that way. If you have time and energy to help with trail work, please reach out to us. We have ongoing opportunities to help clear and maintain the trails outside of our scheduled events. Give us a shout and we can connect you with the details.

Super Connector Success

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Wow, what a crew that turned out on Saturday to support the 44 Trails Association! We had a beautiful day in the hills on our third work party of the summer for continued work on the new Super Connector Trail linking Knebal Springs and High Prairie with the classic Surveyor’s Ridge and Dog River mountain bike trails. Forty volunteers dedicated five hours each on Saturday to add another 200 volunteer labor hours to the Super Connector Project!

In addition to nearing completion of the Super Connector trail, we successfully installed a new cedar trailhead sign board (built by Hale Construction of Hood River) that meets USFS spec. The new sign is located near the 1720 and 17 roads junction (near the parking zone on the 17 road).

All told, the 44 Trails Association has rallied over 600 hours of volunteer labor this summer, completed 3.5 miles of new trail and built and installed a new trailhead sign board. The project would have cost $40,000-$70,000 had it been put out to bid using the standard 10-20K per mile cost normally incurred building trails.

Here are some impressive specs on the work and results of the summer’s efforts:

Total volunteer labor hours for three work parties, layout and design:
120 people x 5 hrs each = 600 man hrs! That’s $9,000 worth of labor!

Tangible Results: Three volunteer work parties successfully constructed 3.5 miles of trail, built and installed new trail head board, installed armoring rock work and moved 20 yards of reject armoring material to help maintain tread integrity for multi-use traffic – horse, hiker and biker!

Local business contributions:
Hale Construction materials and labor for trailhead board = $1500
New York City Sub Shop provide 60 lunches at a cost of $7/each = $420
Dog River Coffee provided morning coffee for all three events = $300
Dakine, Dirty Fingers Bikes, and Sellwood Cycle provided raffle items = $1500+. Dirty Fingers Bikes, Sellwood Cycle and Mt Hood Ski Bowl paid employees to be on site to provide assistance.

Total Volunteer contribution labor hours, materials, supplies = $15,000+. Way to go everyone who has kicked in time and resources!

The trail is not quite 100% complete, but Ranger Thornton has some time slated this fall for the required finishing touches including working with local Eagle Scouts on the trail September 22.

44 Trails Area is Open for Riding!

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Updated fire closure map

Updated fire closure map

The 44 Trails zone on the Mount Hood National Forest is open for riding!

Thanks to favorable weather conditions and the efforts of wildland fire crews, the 44 zone is accessible again.

The 17 road remains closed, but 8-Mile, Knebal Springs and the rest of the 44 Trails are open for riding. Ranger Thornton was up in the area on Thursday and said there is moisture in the dirt and the trails are in great shape.

Here is the latest closure info: