Extreme rock course: U.S. Forest Service

Courtesy Brian Rasmussen/U.S. Forest Service
The new trail, which will loop off of Fireman Hill trail, will replace the popular Carnage Canyon. The new course is designed for modified off-road vehicles and off-road motorcycles.
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u.s. Forest Service, vehicle clubs building crawl course in Left Hand Canyon
By Jason Gonzales
Longmont Times-Call
OULDER - The u.s.
Forest Service and sev­
eral off-road vehicle
clubs are building a new ex­
treme rock crawling course in
Left Hand Canyon, and it
should be scratched out and
( ready for off-road enthusiasts
-; by spring.
- "This will be a small rockcrawling route designed for
guys who have the capability
to do something (at an) ex­
treme level," said Adam
Mehlberg, secretary of the
off-road vehicle club Trail
Ridge Runners.
The new RC-B trail, which
will loop off of Fireman Hill
trail, will replace the popular
Carnage Canyon. The Forest
Service's Boulder Ranger
District permanently closed
that trail in September, leav­
ing Left Hand Canyon without
an extreme rock crawl route,
said Cat Luna, recreation
planner with the Boulder
Ranger District.
Off-road vehicles had de­
stroyed the vegetation along
the Carnage Canyon trail,
eroding the hillsides and fill­
ing the the tributary that runs
along the trail with sediment,
she said.
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Four-wheel drive club members and the U.S. Forest Service install post and cable barriers on Nov. 1 at the new extreme four-wheel drive rock
challenge route near Fireman Hill trail. Th~ LIS. Forest Sprvice hmw.5 to h;jv~ th~ "rlrpn1p .",.1, ,.h~II,.__ ~ _"._<:_,-'--<1.. .. _.,-­
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Ranger District.
Off-road vehicles had de­
stroyed the vegetation along
the Carnage Canyon trail,
eroding the hillsides and fill­
ing the the tributary that runs
along the trail with sediment,
she said.
The new course is designed
for modified off-road vehicles
and off-road motorcycles, Lu­
na said.
The trail will have three
loops, all of them connected to
the Fireman Hill trail. The
largest of the loops will be
built first, said Brian Ras­
mussen, recreation planner
for the Boulder Ranger Dis­
trict, who has overseen the
project.
"The large loop will be the
most difficult of all,» he said.
"Our priority has been the
large loop.»
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Four-wheel drive club members and the U,S, Forest Service install post and cable barriers on Nov, 1 at the new extreme four-wheel drive rock
challenge route near Fireman Hill trail. The U.S. Forest Service hopes to have the extreme rock challenge route finished by spring.
The ranger district hired a
backhoe contractor to scratch
out the large loop's 3-quarter­
mile path. The four-wheel­
drive clubs helped install
post-and-cable barriers so
off-highway vehicles cannot
veer off the path, Rasmussen
said.
The off-road clubs also will
help with place winch hooks
along the trail and create
signs to warn drivers that RC­
B is an extreme trail, Ras­
mussen said.
"We want drivers to scout
the route first and let (others)
know that this is a one-way di­
rectional route," he said.
To make it as challenging
and sustainable as possible,
the course will not have any
bypasses or multiple routes,
Mehlberg said,
"It will be a hard core
route," he said,
Carnage Canyon, on the
other had, had extreme obsta­
cles, but also had easier by­
pass routes around most of
them, The Lefthand Canyon
off-road area itself is a net­
work of trails ranging in diffi­
culty and challenges.
All of the features on the
new trail are designed to keep
off-road vehicles from dam­
aging the surrounding area,
Rasmussen said.
"The damage that has been
done in (Carnage Canyon)
from vehicles going off-route
and being irresponsible is
devastating," he said. "If peo­
ple follow the rules, the trail
should be sustainable,"
Everyone involved with the
project is excited to see the
route become an example of
how to have fun with a vehicle
without destroying the envi­
ronment, Luna said.
"We are really hoping (the
new route) will provide a bet­
ter experience than Car­
nage, " she said, "and do it in
sustainable way,"
Jason Gonzales can be reached at 303­
684-5253 or tcreporter2@times-eall.com,
"This will be asmall rock-crawling route designed for guys w
have the capability to do something (at an) extreme level."
- Adam Mehlberg, secretary of the off-road vehicle club Trail Ridge Runners