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What We Do
With the U.S. Forest Service, we help maintain a set of
biking & hiking trails in the Desoto National Forest.
How You Can Help
We can always use your help keeping the trails open. As you can
imagine, in our climate the brush tends to grow into the trails
and block them in short order. Here are things you can do to help
keep the Bethel Bicycle Trails open:
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Show up and help on trail days. These are usually held on
the first Sunday of each month in cooler weather
(September - March), and we meet at 8 a.m. at the trailhead.
The work usually consists of cutting
brush, repairing bridges, or fixing muddy spots, and the
sessions are about two hours long. Occasionally we'll
have a campout and night ride the preceding evening.
Details of any upcoming trail sessions are posted at
our
LetsRide! message board.
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Let the U.S. Forest Service know what you've done. Every hour
of trail volunteer work adds to a "trail account" that goes
to pay for bushhogging, signs, and bridge materials. That's
how the new bathroom got built.
Here's how to log your trail hours
with the USFS. If it's a regular maintenance day, we'll have
the forms with us, but if you're working at other times,
please take a moment to log the hours.
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Help others who help keep the trails open. Lend a hand to
anyone who may be out there working -- or at least
a friendly word with them ("Thanks" is a good one to use).
And don't forget to
join IMBA.
Desoto Trail Status
Our September trail day held on the 14th got the Briar Patch about
80% cleaned up. The next scheduled day is in October, but the actual
date is still to be decided. There have been
substantial changes to the bike trails over the summer. Take a look
at this over in the Map Room
Maintenance Tips
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One word: Gloves.
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Cutting "face slappers" is 80% of our load. These are the
branches that hang into the trail and catch eyes, ears, etc.
A cane cutter or
machete makes short work of them. The GCBC has several to
loan, but having one of your own is a Good Thing. Try not
to "overwork" the trail when cutting -- just cut what's
going to scratch riders, and move on. If you can look back
and see where you were 15 minutes ago, you're probabaly
overworking.
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The GCBC uses several power tools on our big maintenance days:
bushwhackers, chainsaws, and bush hogs. For the most part
if it's not a muscle-powered tool, the USFS requires some user
safety certification. When in doubt, check with our
Trail Chairman.
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Please, please log your work hours
with the USFS.
Then tell us where you've
worked an what you've done, so we can keep up on what to do
next.
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Don't burn out. If "trail work" turns into "real work," it's
time to quit and go ride. Most folks are having a good social
machete-swingin' time for about two hours, for maybe
two to six sessions a year. After that, it's drudgery.
Time to quit and go ride!
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