The full story:

As background, Scott Dollus and the South Platte Ranger District of the US Forest Service have been great friends to the mountain biking community. This friendship is a result of the outstanding shared-use trail system the Forest Service has created in Buffalo Creek with the help of volunteer labor provided by mountain bike groups such as IMBA, COMBA, Team Evergreen and the Front Range Mountain Bike Patrol. The FRMBP, led by Keith Clarke and Stu Miller, and local mountain bike author Tom "Barn" Barnhart deserve special praise for the success of this partnership, having developed and maintained the relationship with the South Platte Ranger District for 12 years and having donated 4,668 hours of volunteer labor in the process.

One product of this community partnership is the desire and willingness on the part of the Forest Service to expand the total mileage of trail in Buffalo Creek, including building black diamond level trails to round out the already outstanding trails in Buffalo Creek. There are plenty of trails in the Front Range which are technical due to poor construction, decades of erosion, and rough natural terrain, but sustainable public purpose-built gravity trails are missing from the Front Range.

In Buffalo creek the Forest Service has given us a granite boulder strewn ridgeline to purpose-build expert trails. It is unfortunately not shuttleable terrain, but the climb is manageable and the terrain technical, making it a good black diamond trail candidate. What is a "black diamond" trail? When I think "black diamond", I think of the opportunites and lines that open up on trails like Amasa Back and Rock Stacker in Moab, UT when riding a stouter trail bike with 5 or 6 inches of travel. The trail can be ridden on a short-travel cross county mountain bike -- even a rigid bike -- but aboard a bike from the evolving class of good pedaling long-travel bikes, the trail becomes a whole different beast.

Our new trail in Buffalo Creek will cater to this type of riding with drops, steep granite rollers, and wall rides all built in a sustainable manner and blending with the character of the unique local geography. The top of the ridge offers some of the best views in the Buffalo Creek area. From those views the trail's descent follows long expanses of granite slickrock giving sweet line options weaving around, over and between boulders from the size of cars to small homes. Alternate lines will offer routes around the bigger moves keeping the trail accessible to a wide audience of experienced mountain bikers. If you have ever looked up at the granite domes and boulder fields along the ridges in Buffalo Creek and wondered what it would be like to ride a line up high -- this is our opportunity to build that line.

In the Fall 2008, a group of local riders led by Keith and Stu flagged a trail corridor climbing to the top of the ridge and descending back into the valley. The trail corridor received the approval of the Forest Service and in 2009 we began construction. Volunteers contributed over 1,000 hours of work last year and while we accomplished a lot, there still is much work to be done.  We have ten trail building days scheduled for this year, two of which will be full weekends -- back-to-the-basics camping weekends held at the Miller Gulch Trailhead with easy access to vehicles and facilities. We welcome volunteers on all days and we encourage everyone to spend the weekends and join us around the campfire. You bring food, water and a tent, and we will bring the beer.

This is an incredible opportunity to build a new advanced trail on public land, but the project will not succeed without your help. Please join us a volunteer or volunteer crew leader by RSVP'ing to our trail building weekend at:

        http://www.comba.org/content/buffalo-creek-trail-building-day-volunteer-registration

Jason Bertolacci
Colorado Mountain Bike Association
jason@comba.org
303-956-9099