2020 End of year Summary

Happy holidays from MTG! We hope this final update for 2020 finds you well. Here at MTG, despite the pandemic and the unusual trail work circumstances it forced upon us, it turned out to be a very successful year. 

As you probably know, this year we switched from our usual monthly group workday format to an individual adopt-a-trail program focusing on the Mancos Spur Trail. While we missed the camaraderie of our get-togethers, the trail adoption program turned out to be a huge success. All together, our volunteers put in 342 hours of trail work and covered over 20 miles of trail. Some  segments saw as much as 50 hours of work! And almost every mile of the Spur saw at least 4 hours of trail work. This is pretty amazing, and if you've been out on the Chicken Creek, West Mancos, or Sharkstooth trails this year you've probably seen some of the work our volunteers did.

The other big project Mancos Trails Group has been involved in this year is developing the new Mancos Town Trail System. If you've walked through town and noticed the tracks of a giant blue moose, a huge yellow mountain lion or a big red fox, you've seen the trail! This trail system will connect the three town parks. Eventually, there will be additional trail markers as well four "trailhead" kiosks, one at each park and one right downtown. These kiosks will contain maps and information about the Town Trail System as well as highlight research and work done by students at the Mancos School. In fact, the fourth graders have been painting the tracks (they also researched animals and chose the three we used), and the welding class is constructing the kiosks. This project is a collaboration between MTG, the Town of Mancos, Mancos School RE-6, and the San Juan Mountains Association. Funding comes from the Town, SJMA, the Ballantine Family Fund and the Onward! Foundation. You can read more about the project here:
Mancos students paint animal tracks to connect parks


Mancos Schools, Trails Group and Town Partner on Trails Project


Mancos Trails Group has also been busy behind the scenes, working with a number of partners on projects addressing recreation, education, trails, and the health of our local forest. In total this year, MTG volunteers put in over a thousand hours of volunteer work!

Looking towards next year, we are planning on returning to our monthly group work days but will also keep the trail adoption program going. That way, if you can't make it to one of our group sessions, you'll still be able to give back to our local trails. This year we plan on offering some trail maintenance training sessions to our trail adopters. And we are hoping to be able to hold some fun events and fundraisers as well.

Finally, we'd like to thank you, our supporters and volunteers. Mancos Trails Group is a 100% volunteer-run organization and we couldn't do what we do without you.

 To celebrate, let's all get outside and enjoy our beautiful winter wonderland. And if you've read this far, consider supporting MTG this year by buying some cool MTG-logo gifts at our new online shop! 

Looking forward to a fantastic 2021!