The 2nd Annual Mancos Valley River Film Festival is this weekend and Mancos Trails is one of the beneficiaries of this fundraising event. Come on out on tomorrow and Saturday nights to support Mancos Trails! This event is sponsored by Alpacka Rafts and Mancos Valley Resources. From their Facebook event page:
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Friday, June 29th at 6pm is a FREE Local’s Night at Outlier Cellars 
Saurday, June 30th at 6pm is the Main Film Night at Mancos Opera House

The Event:

Mancos Valley Resources, in partnership with Founding Sponsor Alpacka Raft, Class V Sponsor Specialized Bicycles and Class IV Sponsor Osprey Packs, is holding the 2nd Annual Mancos Valley River Film Festival June 29-30, 2018. One hundred percent of the proceeds of this fest will support local nonprofits in Montezuma County, Colo. Last year’s event raised $9600 to benefit the 100 Excelsior Plant fire victims who lost their jobs when the Mancos-based plant burned down May 2017. This year, funds will be split between MVR and the Mancos Trails Group, an organization that seeks to enhance the hiking, biking, and river trails in Mancos. 

The Presentations:

This year’s Friday night schedule includes a multi-media show by Ashley Carruth on “Bikepacking Through the Bears Ears National Monument.” On Saturday night, a variety of short films will be featured on urban bikerafting in Portland, 2 fly fishing films featuring Wyoming and Alaska, mountain biking in British Columbia, packrafting in India, and more. Also, Mancos Trails Group will do a presentation on their local projects, and American Rivers' Sinjin Eberle will talk about the 5000 Miles of Wild Campaign, an effort to preserve 5000 river miles and gather 5000 river stories. Conservation films will include “Blue Heart: The Fight to Save Europe’s Last Wild Rivers,” along with a short film about Dolores River conservation efforts.

Other generous sponsors include Revelate Designs, Durango Cyclery, The Wells Group Real Estate Brokerage, First Southwest Bank, KSUT, Adventure Pro, The Gulch, Bedrock Bags and Packs, Guy Drew Vineyards, Mancos Brewing Company, Absolute Bakery & Cafe, Outdoor Research, Patagonia, Painted Turtle Studio & Gallery, Kleen Kanteen, The Journal, Aqua-Bound, Werner Paddles, Julbo Eyewear, SolGear, P & D Grocery/Mancos Pizza, Zuma Natural Foods, 

Check out all the details and watch trailers of the films here
View the film lineup here

Want to get involved? Join fellow trail lovers on Tuesday June 26 at 7pm for our next business meeting.

As of Thursday, June 21 at 3pm the San Juan National Forest has reopened! That means that we can again recreate on many area trails. However there are a few things to keep in mind. 
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• The area around the Burro and 416 Fires remains closed. See map below for closure area.
• Stage 2 Fire Restrictions are still in effect! This means that you'll have to be extra-careful about what you do when you are out there in our bone-dry forest. Some of the activities that are restricted during Stage 2 include open flames and fires including charcoal grills and liquid-fuel stoves and lanterns, smoking, operating chainsaws, ATVs and generators without a spark-arresting device, discharging a firearm, and operating motor vehicles off of established and maintained roads and trails. See here for all the details. 

Thank you to all of our responsible forest users for keeping our forest safe!

Due to the 416 Fire and the Burro Fire currently burning in the La Plata Mountains, many trails and recreation areas have been closed in the Mancos area. These include the entire San Juan National Forest, many state-managed Colorado Parks and Wildlife areas, BLM land around Durango, and Durango City and La Plata County managed open space.

It may seem like there's not much left to do outdoors in the Mancos area, but here's a partial list of open areas (thanks to the Durango Herald for putting together this list):

In Durango
All hard-surface trails including:
Animas River Trail
Florida Road Trail
Goeglein Road Trail
Jenkins Ranch Road Trail.
Other open amenities in the city of Durango:
Animas River and all city river access points.
Lions Den
All irrigated city parks
Greater La Plata County
Pastorius State Wildlife Area
Vallecito Reservoir
Cortez
Phil’s World trail system
Mesa Verde National Park
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
McPhee Recreation Area Complex boat ramp and marina, and boating on the lake is permitted.
Mancos and Dolores
South and east areas of Mancos State Park are open. The park offers camping, fishing and non-motorized boating.
County Road 31 from Dolores to Norwood.
Aztec and Farmington
Alien Run trails
Glade Run Recreation Area
Piñon Mesa
Silverton
Molas Lake is open to recreation and camping.
Alpine Loop, Ophir Pass
US Basin
Most land to the east of Silverton is open because it is managed by the BLM, which has not enacted a closure.
Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County
Reservoir Hill Park is open. Piedra Road (County Road 600) is open to the Sportsman Campground.
Navajo State Park
Echo Canyon State Wildlife Area
Telluride
Trails around the town of Telluride are open. Telluride Ski Resort has a bike park that will open in late June. Most land around Telluride is managed by the Uncompahgre National Forest and remains open.