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Gunnison Trails links regions with new singletrack
When Gunnison Trails workers put down their tools this fall, they looked up at the Signal Peak hills and saw that the disjointed roads and singletracks had become something more.
“It feels like we can say that we have the beginnings of a trail system out there,” said Cosmo Langsfeld, who served as trail crew leader for a third consecutive summer.
That feeling is due in large part to the completion of Duane’s World, a 3.2-mile trail that connects the low Contour Trail to the high Signal Peak trails. The trail takes its name from avid trail user Duane Vandenbusche, Western Colorado University’s legendary history professor and a former track and cross country coach.
Duane’s World was one of many accomplishments by Gunnison Trails during the summer trailwork season. The organization also retooled its workforce in the face of COVID-19 restrictions, teamed up with Western to address noxious weeds and improved trails at Hartman Rocks.
Gunnison Trails this summer hosted its largest trail crew to date. A Western Colorado Conservation Corps crew had been slated to do trailwork early in the summer, but that was called off because of coronavirus precautions. Instead, Gunnison Trails used some of the conservation corps funds to expand its in-house trail crew.
“It started as a part-time fiveperson crew, and that became a solid eight-person crew that worked 40 hours per week, June to August,” said Tim Kugler, Gunnison Trails executive director.
Duane’s World was a top priority for the crew. Many sections were rock-free and relatively easy for the team to build through the sagebrush. But a series of gully crossings required a disproportionate amount of work. The preliminary name for the trail, “Three Canyons,” was a recognition of that topography. One stretch required three hours of work to progress 45 feet.
“Most people who sign up for the work kinda know that they are getting into with the manual, physical labor,” Kugler said. “They are usually all smiles.”
Trail users on Duane’s World were likely all smiles, too. With the completion of the trail, cyclists and pedestrians can stay on singletrack from the time they leave the trailhead at Western, till they reach descents of upper trails like Chicken Wing or Music Rocks and then as they ride or walk all the way back to campus.
“Before it felt like there were a bunch of trails over there. Some were connected, or you had to use roads,” Langsfeld said.
Gunnison Trails will take on an extension of the South Rim trail next summer, which will allow trail users to journey further into the Music Rocks area to the east of Signal Peak.
The new trails align with permission given for trail development by the Bureau of Land Management in its 2018 Signal Peak decision. The same decision established seasonal trail closures and made Gunnison Trails responsible for weeds management along trails.
To that end, Gunnison Trails partnered with Western’s Pat Magee, assistant professor of wildlife and conservation biology, and his students to boost native vegetation along trails near Mountaineer Bowl. Together they restored some user-created trails and planted native seeds.
At Hartman Rocks, Gunnison Trails assisted the Bureau of Land Management and the GOATS, the valley’s alliance of motorized trailriders, in building and improving singletrack.
Taken together, the summer of trailwork gives Gunnison residents more places to recreate and higher quality experiences. Signal Peak, in particular, helps trail users like Josh Eberly stay enthusiastic about the terrain Gunnison has to offer.
“I’ve run the contour trails in Signal and other valley runs for 20 years. But to go on Music Rocks and Duane’s World to see a little piece of the valley you haven’t seen gives you real excitement;’ Eberly said. “It helps keep the stoke up on running and exploring.”
(Sam Liebl can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or editor@gunnisontimes.com)
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December 11, 2020 at 02:10AM
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Signal Peak system grows up | Gunnison Times - Gunnison Country Times
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