Labor Day Weekend… Taylor Park!

Labor Day Weekend… For many, the last chance to get out for an entire weekend of riding or mountain exploration before winter starts to set it.  For Stay The Trail, it means an excellent opportunity to visit one of Colorado’s premier areas, Taylor Park.  This was my second year visiting this area for the holiday weekend, and after the great experience I had just spending one day there last year, I decided to spend the entire weekend this time, with some great positive response from enthusiasts.

I pulled in to the Taylor Trading Post on Friday Afternoon, after a uneventful drive from Denver.  It was obvious even on the drive down that the area would be busy, as I could see a half-dozen RV’s and pickups at the top of Cottonwood Pass with their owners hiking around and up to the upper lookouts.  A word of caution… Cottonwood Pass has many tight switchbacks, and the western side is unpaved.  Please be careful and look out for other traffic.  Two toy-haulers on some of those corners could create a not-so-fun situation.

Friday evening led to a few interested riders stopping by to ask about the program, but with the nice cool evening, many people were hanging around their camps.  Saturday was quite the day.  Staff and volunteers from the Forest Service, including the Forest Supervisor and Smokey The Bear, joined the Stay The Trail trailer and the information day began.  A couple hundred interested riders came by, either speaking with the USFS or me, or both.  We even got the chance to do some sound testing, with the Forest Supervisor lending a hand on the sound meter.  This type of cooperative effort provides a valuable experience for everyone, and it definitely paid off.  The big question of the day was what will be happening with the Gunnison Basin opportunities once the Motor Vehicle Use Map is released…  That MVUM should be out later this year, and once it is, you’ll be able to view it on our website at http://www.staythetrail.org/mvum

Sunday was a slower day, but still had many people swinging by to ask about the program and where they could go in the Taylor Park area.  The total numbers for the weekend included just under 200 riders directly contacted, and hundreds of stickers and brochures handed out to interested parties.  Sunday afternoon led to a decent amount of rain coming in, and in order to avoid the traffic returning to Denver, the education trailer was packed and hooked up, and I started the drive back over Cottonwood to Buena Vista and back to Denver.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one, as pulling into Buena Vista there were a half-dozen other toy haulers, many of whom were owned by people I had spoken with over the weekend.  The drive back was no different with a constant barage of thumbs-up and waves from families I had seen in Taylor as they passed me on the highway.

Thanks again to the Forest Service for this outreach opportunity, and the Taylor Park Trading Post for their hospitality!