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Hood River Area Trail Stewards Update: Work Parties, trail grants, fall fundraising

By White Lotus Sports on October 11, 2023 • ( 0 )

Hello Trail Lovers,

Here’s number four of our eight week seasonal newsletter.

Work Parties
Put your Carhartts on, and come get dirty! (Or visit our webpage and push the donate button).

44 Trails: If you love to ride up there, now is the chance to show some love. Join the 44 Trails Association for fall work parties on October 15 and November 4. Visit the website for details.

Post Canyon:
The HRC Forestry Dept. needs your help expediting the Lower Trail-140 / Blue Car Downhill rebuild. Come show your support for reopening one of the most vital & iconic trails in Post Canyon. Community support is one of the most important factors in any trail systems operation. Contributing to work party’s is one of the best ways to help shape the future. The details are:
Dates: Saturday, October 14th & 28th
Time: 9am start to 2pm
Worksite: Lower 140 / Blue Car Downhill rebuild
Meeting site: Family Man Staging Area
Please bring: Water, snacks, proper footwear, gloves, trail-building attire & a good attitude.
We need all the help we can get, so spread the word, and if you can only show up for an hour or two, that’s okay. We will meet at Family Man and form teams to head out to different sections. The Forestry Dept. has an abundance of tools to provide, but feel free to bring along your favorite Mcleod, rake, and/or brushing equipment. Contact Thomas Moloney, HRC Recreation Program Manager with questions at Thomas.moloney@hoodrivercounty.gov.

HRATS Post Canyon work parties: Two more are scheduled before the snow flies:
Dates: Sunday, October 22nd and November 12th.
Time: 9:00am to 1:00pm
Meeting site: Family Man Staging Area
Please bring: Water, snacks, proper footwear, gloves, trail-building attire & a good attitude.
We will be working on a wide range of projects

Money, money, money!
We’re working toward our Fall Fundraising goal of $15,000, please consider donating to keep going with our new trail projects (more is always better) To donate, visit our webpage.

Whoopdee Extension: 7-plus miles of new trail on the east side of the valley. There’s a mile already finished with our trail builders out there working dirty, carving luscious turns to bring you the continuation of our post-COVID builds of Buzzcut, Nocturnal, Nascar Joe, and RoJack. The addition includes signature Whoopdee flow through forests, glades, and meadows. With your help, the target is to connect the entire new loop by spring. If you are interested in helping or perhaps adopting one of these new sections of the Whoopdee trail to curate like your backyard, please email joebenedetti@gmail.com.

New Post Trails: TWO new descending trails are in the works. (Trail #1—north of Uptrack—will be a difficult, intermediate, technical route. Trail #2—from the top of UpTrack located in the old 8-Track zone—will be a playful, pumpy, flowy way down for beginners to skilled riders. These trail builders could use a little help. Contact mvonflotow@gmail.com for the uphill and spaethx5@gmail.com for the downhill.

Continuing the Family Man Redesign:
• Middle School jump line near Fifth Grade with a high roll-in ramp
• School of Rock rock garden at the end of First Grade
• A warm-up trail just south of Family Man (Funded by HRC’s grant)
• An adaptive accessible trail in the Middle of Family Man (Funded by HRC’s grant)
• Big upgrades to the eastside line
• New trail signage

• New progressive drop zone
• Pumptrack cleanup

Recreational Trails Program Grant:
Hood River Counties Recreation Program Manager Thomas Moloney and HRATS have worked together to acquire a Recreational Trails Program grant of $147,300. The grant kick-off starts this October. Here are a few nuggets related to the recently awarded grant:
This is the first large grant awarded to Hood River County Forestry Department to support non-motorized trail building.
This fall, the county will begin by expanding the current Family Man Staging Area parking area, installing a new double vault toilet this spring, and expanding fencing. New signage will be installed through fall and into next spring.
HRC has contracted Jason Wells, renowned local trail builder, to put in “Easy Style” (permanent name coming soon).
HRATS is providing matching funds and volunteer hours to meet the required 25% match for the grant. This will include building the new Middle School, School of Rock, drop-in ramp, and Klee drops.

Thank you, HRATS Supporters:
Huge thanks to Air Jam 2023 and School of Send for collecting raffle prizes and those who stopped by the HRATS table to purchase tickets! $625 was added to our goal.

Another successful Shuttle Day is in the books, raising $7000! Thank you to all who came out to enjoy the fall dirt! This event wouldn’t have been possible without our excellent sponsors: Brave Endeavors, Cooper Spur Alpine Team, School of Send, PNW Rides, and Mountain View Cycles.

If you’re enjoying the trails and excited for all the new ones, please pitch in what you can toward our $15,000 goal to fund these fall projects. To donate, visit our webpage.

Board Member News
Welcome Campbell Morrisey as Fundraising Chair
Welcome Steve Vineyard as Trail Adopter Liaison
Welcome Marti Beck as our social media person
Welcome Erin Spaeth as our newsletter writer

Seeking HRATS Volunteer Coordinator: HRATS is looking for a friendly trail enthusiast to help us organize work parties and recruit volunteers to keep our trails in good shape. The Volunteer Coordinator will work with the Adopter Liaison to help with trail maintenance and trail building needs identified by our local trail adopters. The Volunteer Coordinator should enjoy working with people, be enthusiastic about mountain biking, and have strong communication skills. Prior trail-building experience is appreciated but not required. HRATS board member appointments are three-year terms. We hope to find someone interested in sticking around and helping for multiple build seasons.

Seeking HRATS FUNdraisers
We’re looking for a few passionate, energetic folks to join our fundraising committee. The committee works year-round but with an average commitment of a few hours a month and an effort peaking around our large spring fundraiser in April/May. No prior fundraising experience is required. For more info, contact Fundraising Chair Campbell Morrissy

That’s all for this week.

Thanks for reading!