Monday, May 17, 2010

Logging Resumes Along Segment of Ojibwe - 1.5 Miles Closed Weekdays

Begun last fall, logging has resumed along the Ojibwe Trail from C29 at the west crossing of Timber Trail Road to C28 at the southern most crossing of the Birkie Trail. It is not certain how long this job will take, but for safety reasons it will be necessary to close this portion of the trail during the week. Riders may use the trail on the weekend. It will be possible to bypass this segment by utilizing Timber Trail Road and the Birkie Trail.

Because work will be continuing in this area for at least several weeks, we will not be doing anything to repair or clean up the trail until logging work concludes. You may encounter ruts and incidental debris on or close to the trail.

Please observe all closure notices and do not ride on this segment of trail during the week until it is reopened. Thanks for your cooperation.

To reiterate, this segment only of the Ojibwe Trail is closed Monday through Friday until further notice. The trail will be open on weekends, but this section of the trail may not be in top condition.

Friday, May 14, 2010

CAMBA Trail Building Season Sees Early Start and Ambitious Agenda

Namakagon
CAMBA’s trail building got off to an early start on April 19 as John Leighton, Dave Wiltrout, Ken Brummel, and Stan Walczak started work on a short segment of singletrack in the Namakagon Cluster from N10 to N11 off Rock Lake Road.

Technically speaking, the trail work season for Leighton & Co. started the third week of March following the very early departure of this past winter’s snow.

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Other work thus far has included building short segments of singletrack to remove the trail from two-track woods roads on the out going Namakagon Trail from the Namakagon Trailhead.

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A short section of single track was opened on April 29. The trail features some interesting rock work and the most difficult sections have ride-around options. Riders have the option of riding the double track or the more difficult single track. This trail was built by volunteers Dave Wiltrout, Gary Meloy, and Stan Walczak, and CAMBA’s trail crew: Chris Ransom, Colin Davis, Kleighton Kuth and Nickolas Kunath.

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Work continued into the second week of May with the completion of three out of six short sections between the Town Hall and N1. Each section has some technical trail challenges with ride-around options at the more difficult points. Riders also have the option to by-pass and continue to ride the double track.

CAMBA Spring Work Day
CAMBA Spring Work Day was held on Saturday, April 29. A small but productive crew completed around 400 feet on the one remaining segment of the Makwa Trail where it has temporarily being running on the Birkie trail. This section had previously been cleared and pin flagged and the gang built a cool piece of new trail. This section won't be opened until the trail progresses further up the Birkie, as there is no outlet. Project leader Steve Morales is anxious to get the Makwa off the steep hill on the Birkie as soon as possible. CAMBA’s trail crew moved to this project in early May and will work on it to its completion.

In addition, Morales and compadre’ Darren Winchester will be spending time working on the Sugarbush Trail flagging and brushing a section to create a Makwa to Sugarbush Loop.

OO to Ojibwe
Finally, two lengthy sections of the new singletrack from OO north to the Bayfield County line have been flagged. Working from the south, Stan Walczak and John Leighton flagged 5.3 miles from the OO Trailhead to Boedecker Rd. at S6. Ron Bergin has set a flag line from the southernmost point on the Ojibwe Trail south over Firetower Hill to a point east of S17, about 4.3 miles. This leaves a gap of about 2 miles or so that will be flagged this fall or next spring. This piece of trail traverses some of the most dramatic terrain in the CAMBA trail system and will result in a trail of considerable challenge due to the significant amount of climbing required to traverse the area. We hope to start on a portion of this trail later in the summer, but do not anticipate finishing it until summer 2011.