Ely, NV: Trails to Nevada's Nectar

The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew leaders visit Ely, Nevada

Ely is new to group volunteer trail work days, however this bunch knew how to make it successful. After a long afternoon of hard work, they all celebrated with a fun-filled BBQ by at the Cave Lake picnic area.
The girls took up the rear of the fire-line style trail construction. They used their McClouds to broadcast the soils downhill and ensure the trail tread had a 5% outslope.
Kalem put his heart and muscle into every swing of that Polaski. After designing the layout of this trail, it was fun for him to see it come to life.
Final touches to the switchback were to compact the topsoil and create an insloped drainage on the uphill side of the turn.

Nat and Rachael Lopes continued their springtime tour of Northern Nevada by visiting the town of Ely, Nevada. At 6,520-feet above sea level, the population of 4,000 have millions of acres to enjoy. However, the mountain bikers still need fun trails that lead to the nectar of this land. IMBA assisted in this effort by leading a sustainable trailbuilding school to local volunteers and Forest Service employees.

Nevada open space is widely used by four wheeled OHV'ers who create wide trails that are often very steep. The local mountain bike volunteers that attended IMBA's school are committed to creating new trail opportunities specific to the needs of mountain bikers. The goal of the field project was to finalize the layout and begin construction on a trail that connects Cave Lake to an existing trail a couple miles away. The weekend drew 20 volunteers, a huge success for this small town. The group collectively built approximately 700-feet of new trail, not to mention a switchback. Close to 100 volunteer hours were logged.

To read more about Ely, Nevada visit www.nevadaweb.com/cnt/pe/ely/. For Forest Service information in the Ely area visit www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/.