Keyesville Classic Trail 1. Officially designate the newest sections of Keyesville Classic Trail and unify the return trail of the Keyesville Classic singletrack, by creating a contouring connector through the older Pearl Harbor Memorial area. This would allow a continuous singletrack route from Kern Canyon Trail, and allow mountain bikers to avoid Pearl Harbor Drive. The support for this trail from other mountain biking groups throughout Southern California is huge. KRMBA, CORBA, and SSFTA have all offered to help with design, construction, and maintenance associated with this singletrack. Attached is a general route suggestion. 2. Keeping the singletrack character of the trails should be an important goal. Narrow singletrack trails are the highest priority for mountain bikers. Proper signage and barricades, such as boulders, could help keep ATV’s and 4-wheelers off of 2-wheeled singletrack trails. A continuous return trail with few intersections (if any), as described above, should help this issue as well. This would create a primary and high-quality biking loop in Keyesvillle. One-Way Non-Motorized Downhill and/or Flow Mountain Bike Trail in Keyesville The BLM in other areas of the western states have enacted very successful plans that include both multi-use trails and user-specific purpose-built trails, such as one-way mountain bike trails. One excellent example that we would want to emulate are the changes made on BLM land at Hartman Rocks in Gunnison, Colorado, which includes several multi-use and purpose-built trails that have replaced the ‘free-for-all’ OHV use. Now users of all types are able to use the land in a sustainable conflict-free manner. We propose a one-way downhill trail in Keyesville, similar in character to trails in Hartman Rocks BLM Recreation Area and new BLM trails in Croy Canyon near Ketchum, Idaho. The trail should be designed as a sustainable and "purpose-built" trail for intermediate through expert mountain bike riders. It should incorporate the natural terrain features for both “flow” and technical skills. A one-way trail makes it safer and a mountain bike-only designation would enhance the user experience with mountain bike specific trail features. This trail would most likely be the most popular trail in Keyesville and could be used as an alternative Keyesville Classic Downhill Course and part of the Enduro/Super D Race Course. (Enduro is an endurance downhill race, which has become one of the most popular races in biking). Attached below is an image of a possible trail area in two sections. The lower section of the proposed trail follows existing trails and avoids the motorized dirt roads. The top section of the proposed trail starts one ridge over from Tombstone Ridge and is entirely off of private property. If approved, this trail could be entirely built and maintained by volunteers. A purpose-built bike-only trail in Keyesville would be met with incredible enthusiasm from the mountain bike community across Southern California and would provide a highly desired type of recreational opportunity that has been lacking in the area. Protect the multi-use trails between Keyesville and Hwy 155 Several of the trails that connect Dutch Flat and BLM Land to the Just Outstanding Trail on USFS land, are highly utilized by mountain bikers. Many bikers (and motorcyclists) ride from the popular trail to Wagy Ridge Trail which leads to BLM Land and out to Sawmill Road via 2 different trails. From Sawmill Road, bikers take the connecting singletrack trails to climb up to the Borderline singletrack (many bikers call this Wall Street) to access Dutch Flat Trail/Snake Pit Trail. This has become a very popular route (an Epic Ride!) for local and visiting mountain bikers. We hope the BLM keeps all of these trails open and available for mountain bike and motorcycle use. Thanks to you and the BLM for involving the public and for your consideration of our ideas! |
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