If you're heading out to Chicken Creek to check out the new trails, here's a map you can download (and print if you like!) to help you find your way. It's a bit different from the one at the trailhead because it shows the final trail locations. It also points out gate and creek crossings, and the detour along Roads 559 & 559K to connect the two (not-yet-connected) sections of the Lost Chicken Trail (marked in red). There's more details and trail descriptions on our Trails page - go check it out. Finally, we hope to have the tracks available on our Trailforks maps soon!
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Finally, the new trails at Chicken Creek are almost finished! We'll post an update soon, with good maps and detailed info, but in the meantime there is a new trailhead map at the Chicken Creek Trailhead with both the Blue Jay and Lost Chicken trails on it. There are a few spots that will still need some finish work, but for now, go out and enjoy them!
Keep in mind, the new trails are very soft! Until they get packed in, PLEASE AVOID THE NEW TRAILS WHEN THEY ARE WET! Remember, "If you leave a track, go back!" It took a LOT of work to put in these trails (many of you know exactly how much work!) and literally thousands of hours of hard, manual labor went into them. Let's all try to keep them in good shape! TOO MUCH SNOW FOR THE WHOLE THING.
TOO MUCH SNOW FOR HALF. NOW IT'S A 1/3 SPURATHON! Earn your Spur on Saturday Oct 23! Maybe it was a bit optimistic to expect to hike the WHOLE Mancos Spur Trail so late in the season. Due to snowpack, we have shortened our Spurathon to a 1/3 Spurathon. This makes for a shorter hike and a more reasonable start time! We'll be hiking one way from the Upper Chicken Creek Trailhead to the end of the Mancos Spur Trail! This will be a mostly downhill hike. Starting at the Upper Chicken Creek TH parking lot (across from Transfer Campground) at 9am, we'll go about 7 miles on the Mancos Spur Trail to its endpoint at Mancos State Park. Bikes welcome if you prefer to ride! For logistics, shuttle and parking info, be sure to check out our Facebook event for the Spurathon or email kategrass@gmail.com. And here is info on the Chicken Creek Trail portion of the Mancos Spur. MTG volunteers came out to Transfer Campground a couple of weeks ago to celebrate a great season. Much fun was had and our volunteers got to go home with some amazing thank you gifts, thanks to our generous sponsors including Osprey Packs, P&D Grocery, Absolute Bakery, Mancos Brewery, Fahrenheit Coffee, Fenceline Cidery, Run & Hike, Fat Belly Organics, Desert Life Outdoors, Zuma Natural Foods, and the Columbine Bar & Grill.
We honored our top volunteers of the year with some amazing Osprey packs, and everyone who attended received a great thank you gift. Here are our award winners: Volunteers of the Year: RJ and Teri McKay. RJ and Teri helped MTG in so many ways this summer: they adopted a segment of the Mancos Spur, came out to just about every workday, helped out by managing our tool cache, assisted the Mancos School 4th Graders with the Town Trail project every Monday and Wednesday all spring, and Teri produced some amazing products to sell for MTG. Thanks, you two! Ambassadors of the Year: Roger Williams and Kate Grass. This was a tough category, as several volunteers were in the running for having recruited the most new volunteers. Thanks, Roger and Kate for bringing in a bunch of great new people to MTG! Adopter of the Year: Susan Stein. Susan adopted TWO segments of the Mancos Spur Trail and visited her segments more frequently than anyone else. In addition, she enrolled in the free Trail Maintenance training MTG provided back in May and brought several new volunteers with her on her trail maintenance visits to the Spur. Thank you for your amazing dedication to the Mancos Spur Trail, Susan! Family of the Year: We had a few families who came out to volunteer with us this summer, but the Miller family took the cake! Not only did they put in a lot of work themselves, they even brought family friends with them. Not to mention an amazing bacon wrapped jalepeno appetizer that they grilled up at the Transfer cookout. Great job, Millers! Winners in other categories: Rookie of the Year: Sherri Hobson Most Consistent Volunteer (2 winners!): Larry Chapman and Jason Simpson GIS Volunteer of the Year: Heather Ireland Thank you to ALL of our volunteers! We look forward to seeing many of you Saturday 10/16 at the Aqueduct or Saturday 10/23 for the Spurathon! Earn your Spur on Saturday Oct 23!
We'll be hiking one way from the Colorado Trail to the end of the Mancos Spur Trail! Starting at the Kennebec Pass parking lot, we'll go about 1 mile on the Colorado Trail then hike the FULL LENGTH of the Mancos Spur Trail to its endpoint at Mancos State Park for a total of about 24 miles! If you're not up for the full distance, you can drop in at Sharkstooth Trailhead or Transfer. Bikes welcome if you prefer to ride! For logistics & updates, be sure to check out our Facebook event for the Spurathon or email kategrass@gmail.com MTG is hosting another trail work day to build on the progress we've made on the new trail system at the Aqueduct area west of town. We've already put in about 2 miles of trail. On Saturday we'll be constructing a trail that will connect the North and South access points. The weather forecast looks good, what better way to enjoy a beautiful fall day than building new trails with a bunch of great people?
For more information on the new trails at the Aqueduct, check out this post on our website or this great article in the Cortez Journal. Attention All 2021 MTG Volunteers!
Did you volunteer for MTG in 2021? Did you adopt a segment of the Mancos Spur? Show up for one of our work days to help construct new trails in Mancos? Help us out in some other way? Well, now's the time for us to say THANK YOU! We will be holding a fun volunteer appreciation get-together on Saturday, September 18 at Transfer Campground. We have the group site reserved and will have fun, food, and prizes. Bring your camping gear and spend the night! Note: due to our non-profit sponsorship, we are unable to provide alcohol so BYOB. Here's the rough schedule of events: 3pm - Shindig begins! Meet at Transfer Campground group site (10 miles up Road 42 from the intersection with Hwy. 184) 5pm - Food! We will have a cookout - burgers and all the fixin's. Feel free to bring something to share if you'd like. BYOB. 6pm - Volunteer Thank Yous! To show our appreciation for the great work you've done this year, we have some great prizes from Osprey and some of other sponsors. 7pm-> ? - Hang out around the campfire! We'll have s'mores. Bring your camp chair and camping gear if you'd like to spend the night. Sunday morning - Bring your own breakfast stuff, and plan for a fun day in the mountains! Space is limited so please RSVP soon to mancostrailsgroup@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing everyone in a couple of weeks! Next Trail Work Day: Saturday 9/11 at the Aqueduct
MTG is hosting another trail work day to build on the progress we've made on the new trail system at the Aqueduct area west of town. On previous workdays, we've put in about 1.5 miles of trail, let's add more! (for more info on the new trails at the Aqueduct, check out this post from May)
Brings friends and family! Many hands make for light work and a good time! And if you can’t donate time, please consider making a donation at MancosTrails.org. Do you have experience with web design? We at MTG have maxed out our (minimal) web design abilities. If you would be willing to help us we'd love that. Specifically, we are looking for a volunteer to help us add a webstore which may require us to switch platforms. Please email us at mancostrailsgroup@gmail.com if you'd like to help!
We'd like to give a HUGE thank you to the Southwest Conservation Corps, Conservation Legacy and the Dolores Ranger District, who provided three youth conservation crews to help Mancos Trails Group over the past two weeks. All together, these amazing young people put in a week of work on the new Aqueduct trails and three weeks worth on the new Chicken Creek trails. The Aqueduct now has nearly 2 miles of trails complete (in two separate loops!) and the Lost Chicken Trail over at Chicken Creek is mostly brushed out. Thanks, SCC! |
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