October 16 Work Day

Posted on October 8, 2022 by 44trails

October 16 – Bottle Prairie Work Day
Our final work party of the season! We’re headed to Bottle Prairie trail 455. It’s in need of brushing. If we get some significant rain between now and October 16, we’ll prob add some tread work in, too. But for now, we’ll plan on opening up sight lines and brushing overgrown sections.

As usual, we’ll have lunches for everyone thanks to NY City Subs in Hood River

WHEN:
Sunday, October 16, 2022 – 9 AM

WHERE:
Little John SnoPark Hwy 35

WHAT:
Varied Trail work on Bottle Prairie – lopping, brushing, clearing, and if the weather allows, possibly some tread work.
REQUIRED: Long Pants, Work Boots, Gloves, Day Pack, Water, Bike Helmet
Bring Hand Tools: Loppers, hand saws, metal rakes, hedge trimmers

Bring your bike! Depending on turnout, we can send groups in on bike to spread out the work zone, and there should be plenty of time to ride after the work is done.

Mid Summer Trail Work Day

Posted on July 16, 2014 by 44trails

Summer is here – in case you hadn’t noticed – and it’s time for our second trail work day of the season.

Saturday, July 26 is the day.

Continued Super Connector tuning is the plan.

Where: 9am Little John Snopark, Hwy 35
What: Trail maintenance, Super Connector
When: Saturday, July 26, 9am-2pm

HELMETS required! Bring shovels, McLeods, metal rakes, wheelbarrows, gloves, water, long pants, work shoes.

We’ll meet at the Little John SnoPark on Hwy 35 at 9am for coffee and registration. We’ll shuttle up to the work site and get started. There are a variety of projects including continued trail armoring with reject and corner alignment. We’ll break into two or three smaller crews on the trail.

Lunch provided by Hood River’s New York City Sub Shop.

Reach out via e-mail with any questions – 44trails (at) 44trails.org

Trail Work Results

Posted on June 25, 2014 by 44trails

Thank you to everyone who supported our June 14 trail work day! The USFS supplied 10+ yards of reject (gravel) and the 44 Trails crew worked to armor weak spots on the new Super Connector trail linking Knebal Springs to Surveyor’s Ridge. New York City Subs provided lunch and Dog River Coffee set us up with our morning fix!

We made made good progress moving the reject material and saw loads of riders using the trail. It’s great to see the word is getting out and people are riding the new connection. Next work day is July 26!

Here’s a few photos from the day.

June 14 Trail Work Day

Posted on June 5, 2014 by 44trails

June is here, the 44 trails are in fine form and it’s time for our first organized work party of the season.

Saturday, June 14 is the day.

Where: 9am Little John Snowpark Hwy 35
What: Trail maintenance, Super Connector
When: Saturday, June 14, 9am-2pm

HELMETS required! bring shovels, rakes, 5-gal buckets, wheelbarrows, gloves, lunch, water, long pants, work shoes, dress for the weather!

We’ll meet at the Little John SnoPark on Hwy 35 at 9am for coffee and registration. We’ll shuttle up to the work site and get started. There are a a variety of projects including trail armoring with reject and corner alignment. We’ll break into two or three smaller crews on the trail.

Reach out via e-mail with any questions – 44trails (at) 44trails.org

Trail Work Schedule

Posted on May 8, 2014 by 44trails

Sweet new trail signs!

The dirt is top notch in the Gorge right now and the riding season for Mount Hood’s 44 Trails area is fast approaching. As of May 8, there is still some lingering snow and plenty of downed timber on the upper trails accessible from Forest Road 44. Typically, the bulk of the system will be cleared and ready to enjoy come Memorial Day Weekend.

In the meantime, we’ve set a schedule for summer trail work parties to keep our mission of maintenance and expansion moving forward. Please mark these dates in your calendars and join us when you can. We strive to work for 4-5 hours in the morning and then enjoy an afternoon trail session, so you don’t have to give up a day of riding! More details about each event will be provided as the date nears and as we evaluate trail needs:

June 14 – Celebrate National Trails Day with a 44Trails work party – (Nat. Trails Day is actually June 7, but our event will be on June 14)

July 26 -Mid summer work day to armor and maintain high-traffic areas

October 4 – TBA Special Event – riding related event to thank everyone for all their support

October 18 – Final trail day before winter transforms the forest floor

Although random acts of kindness in helping to clear the trails is appreciated, all significant clearing and trail work needs to be organized through the USFS to maintain trail standards. The process on 44 Trails is different from that in Post Canyon or Sandy Ridge, and we need your help adhering to this policy. We have a great relationship with the Mt. Hood and Barlow Ranger Districts, and we aim to keep it that way. If you have time and energy to help with trail work, please reach out to us. We have ongoing opportunities to help clear and maintain the trails outside of our scheduled events. Give us a shout and we can connect you with the details.

Super Connector Success

Posted on September 17, 2013 by 44trails

Wow, what a crew that turned out on Saturday to support the 44 Trails Association! We had a beautiful day in the hills on our third work party of the summer for continued work on the new Super Connector Trail linking Knebal Springs and High Prairie with the classic Surveyor’s Ridge and Dog River mountain bike trails. Forty volunteers dedicated five hours each on Saturday to add another 200 volunteer labor hours to the Super Connector Project!

In addition to nearing completion of the Super Connector trail, we successfully installed a new cedar trailhead sign board (built by Hale Construction of Hood River) that meets USFS spec. The new sign is located near the 1720 and 17 roads junction (near the parking zone on the 17 road).

All told, the 44 Trails Association has rallied over 600 hours of volunteer labor this summer, completed 3.5 miles of new trail and built and installed a new trailhead sign board. The project would have cost $40,000-$70,000 had it been put out to bid using the standard 10-20K per mile cost normally incurred building trails.

Here are some impressive specs on the work and results of the summer’s efforts:

Total volunteer labor hours for three work parties, layout and design:
120 people x 5 hrs each = 600 man hrs! That’s $9,000 worth of labor!

Tangible Results: Three volunteer work parties successfully constructed 3.5 miles of trail, built and installed new trail head board, installed armoring rock work and moved 20 yards of reject armoring material to help maintain tread integrity for multi-use traffic – horse, hiker and biker!

Local business contributions:
Hale Construction materials and labor for trailhead board = $1500
New York City Sub Shop provide 60 lunches at a cost of $7/each = $420
Dog River Coffee provided morning coffee for all three events = $300
Dakine, Dirty Fingers Bikes, and Sellwood Cycle provided raffle items = $1500+. Dirty Fingers Bikes, Sellwood Cycle and Mt Hood Ski Bowl paid employees to be on site to provide assistance.

Total Volunteer contribution labor hours, materials, supplies = $15,000+. Way to go everyone who has kicked in time and resources!

The trail is not quite 100% complete, but Ranger Thornton has some time slated this fall for the required finishing touches including working with local Eagle Scouts on the trail September 22.

Super Connector Work Day Sept 14

Posted on September 8, 2013 by 44trails

Knebal Springs Mt Hood Hood National Forest

The 44 Trails zone was spared any fire damage from the recent Government Flats wildfire, and the riding is as good as it gets right now. Recent rains have knocked back the dust for a primo riding experience.

If it’s not on your calendar already, Saturday September 14th is our next, and hopefully final, Super Connector trail work day. Here’s the beta:

Where: Meet 9am Little John SnoPark on Highway 35

What: Final tread development to link Knebal and Surveyors -bring hand tools if you’ve got ’em – shovels, rakes, McLeods

Required: Helmets and long pants (bike helmets are a-ok), don’t forget gloves and clothing to keep you happy rain or shine – bring water too.

Time: We expect to work til 12 or 1, so you can still enjoy a good ride post work day

New York City Subs is kicking in lunch food, Dog River Coffee is kicking in morning coffee. There’ll also a be a sweet little swag raffle to help say thanks for your work!

44 Trails Super Connector

Posted on August 6, 2013 by 44trails

Thanks to everyone who rallied for the work day on July 14 and thanks to Dog River Coffee, and Dirty Fingers Bike Shop for their support! Trail construction continues, rock work was laid and more tread built.

Mark your calendars, the next round of trail work is scheduled for September 14 to be followed by a fundraising event at Double Mountain Brewing. More details to follow.

Super Connector Trail Work Day #3 – July 14

Posted on July 9, 2013 by 44trails

It’s time to put tools to dirt again on the Super Connector trail. Sunday July 14, 2013 is the date for the next trail work day. We’ll be building tread on the trail. Meet up at 9am at the Little John SnoPark off Highway 35. There will be fresh coffee courtesy of Dog River waiting for you at the parking lot.