Halloween/Heritage Study Complete/Saturday Ride

Heritage Study Completed: So we have had some significant developments on the Heritage Study front for the Buena Vista trails. Logan Simpson has received the USFS comments on the draft heritage study, incorporated those into a final report, and submitted it to the Forest Service. This enables USFS to move forward with the process of granting a categorical exemption (CE) for the trail project. The CE process for trails does not mean we have final approval. There are still steps that need to be taken to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but they are not intensive. We will be working with the USFS to hopefully come up with a timeline to get to the point of a Decision Memo that will be the final approval for the proposed trail project on the east side of U.S. 60. So progress continues. It is just behind the scenes.

Look! The first splashes of fall color in the Buena!

Halloween Night Ride: As you all know, the young at heart like to have a little fun on Halloween. We plan on doing a Halloween night ride on Saturday, October 28 starting at 6:30 p.m. This will be a kid friendly five to six mile ride that will start from the Wagon Wheel trailhead in Lakeside. So mark your calendar! The point of the ride is just to act like fools out in the woods at night and try to scare ourselves a little in honor of the holiday. Further details will follow closer to the event.

You will see decorations start going up on the trails we will be using starting this weekend. The trails to be used for the night ride include Below the B'Backs, Uncle Tom's, and Roughneck. If you want to contribute to the Halloween atmosphere on those trails by adding some decorations yourself please feel free to do so. But if you plan to take anything out, please make sure that you get out to pick up your decorations soon after October 31st. We need everything out of the forest before any significant snow falls and don't want decorations turning into trail trash. Last year we had a winter storm just a few days after Halloween.

Saturday Ride: The main event this weekend is the Tour of the White Mountains on Saturday. Plus, the ACA bike race is going on in Snowflake-Taylor this weekend out in the Snowflake Secret Trails as well. But if you aren't participating or volunteering in the races, we'll still be doing a Saturday morning ride in the Buena. Meet at the Buena Vista trailhead off of U.S. 60 south of Show Low at 8:00 a.m. Twelve to fifteen mile ride is planned. Intermediate MTB skills are recommended. We should be back at the trailhead around 10:00 a.m. The leaves on the oaks are just starting to change out in the Buena, but that and the fall chill in the air leaves no mistake that our regular riding season will be coming to a close soon. Make the most of what you have left!