This week Stay The Trail participated in 2 large 4×4 Events and assisted on multiple stewardship/volunteer projects

Mile Hi Jeep Clubs All – 4 – Fun Event, 7/27/2019 – 8/3/2019, Buena Vista, CO

Mile Hi Jeep Clubs All-4-Fun event has become a staple event for STT. Not only does it give us an opportunity to engage the attendees and general public we also organize and participate in numerous trail work/volunteer projects, attend land use meetings, join in on trail runs and more. STT gave a presentation the first night to all attendees during the opening ceremonies along with having our RC Challenge Course and mascot ROHVER, the STT education trailer and tent was setup. Networking with various clubs, groups, organizations, business and pubic helps bring awareness to the program and helps us grow.

Rocky Mountain Overland Rally (RMOR), 8/1/2019 – 8/4/2019, Gunnison, CO

The overland community has been consistently growing in popularity. Enthusiasts equip their vehicles with all the necessary equipment to survive in the outdoors for extended amounts of time. Some equipment included roof top tents, kitchens, solar panels, food storage, etc. and they need vehicles equipped that can operate on mountain/desert and other road and trail systems.

STT was invited to help educate the Overlanding community of the importance of responsible trail use along with bringing awareness to some of the fragile ecosystems in CO such as alpine tundra. In general, this community seems to be on the more responsible side of motorized recreation and understand the importance of staying on the trail. The event hosted hourly training courses and seminars related to Overlanding such as winch recovery, camp cooking, off-road driving etc.

Pomeroy Lake Trail Debris Clearing Project, 7/30/2019, Buena Vista, CO

Nature of Project: The nature of this project was to block off an area at the end of the trail that users were creating to drive into a sensitive alpine area.

Project Description and Details: Stay The Trail worked with local Forest Service, Mile High Jeep Club, CORE, Colorado Jeep Girls, Tread Lightly, and volunteers to construct fencing at the end of the Pomeroy Lake Trail that was starting to see damage due to users driving past the end of the road. This project was put together to bring local land use organizations together during the All 4 Fun Jeep event to help improve the trails in the area of this annual event.

Stay The Trail’s Role: Stay The Trail was able to offer assistance in this project to help clear corridor and discuss the best placement of fencing and discuss further actions in this area to help preserve and protect the resource.

Mineral Basin Kids Project, 8/1/2019, Buena Vista, CO

Nature of Project: The nature of this project was to work with the children attending the All 4 Fun event to help grow the understanding of land stewardship through a trail clean up and maintenance run.

Project Description and Details: Stay The Trail worked with local Forest Service, Mile High Jeep Club, CORE, Colorado Jeep Girls, Tread Lightly, and volunteers to help clean up a popular dispersed camping area and overlook in the Mineral Basin area. There was also a culvert that had blown out near the top of the trail and we were able to discuss this with the youth and help to repair the damages caused through erosion.

Stay The Trail’s Role: Stay The Trail was able to work with these youth to discuss the importance of land stewardship and why it is important to take care of the trails and surrounding areas.

Hartman Rocks Trail Head Outreach, 8/4/2019, Gunnison, CO

Hartman Rocks is a great recreation area designed for multiple user groups, mountain bikes, horseback, motorized, hiking and rock climbing. Located close to town it’s a popular area. STT stopped by Hartman on the way back from an event in the area. Right away I noticed there were new kiosks at both the lower parking area and the upper and overall the area is in great shape.

Champion Mill Debris Clearing Project, 8/4/2019, Leadville, CO

Nature of Project: The nature of this project was to clear avalanche debris that had come over the road during the previous winter.

Project Description and Details: Stay The Trail worked with CORE to clear avalanche debris on the Champion Mill Trail that was causing users to go off trail to avoid the slide debris. There was a short section of road that had been created to bypass this issue and volunteers worked to slash in the area for restoration while Forest Service certified sawyers worked to remove the fallen timber from the legal road section. After the debris was cut into manageable sections it was removed from the road, however, there was one debris piece that needed to be winched out of the trail due to its large size.

Stay The Trail’s Role: Stay The Trail was asked to assist in saw work.