Lamoille Canyon Road update

Well, since Google Analytics tells me that there are still a lot of folks coming to this blog for information on Ruby Mountain trails, I guess I should pass along updates as I have them on topics other than the Secret-Lamoille Trail.

I had a chance to ride my bike up the Lamoille Canyon Road today - a friend of mine likens my riding a 35-lb mountain bike on that road to pushing a barn door uphill for eleven miles, but I digress - anyway, the road is still open to the top and all trailheads accessed via the road are still reachable by car. The snow melted out significantly during my trip to Iowa, and the trails are open and in good shape.

So far they've replaced a lot of the culverts that went under the road, have installed some new ones, and have done some drainage improvements. They're also in the process of replacing the guard rails. The road is still driveable... on a bike, it's a little sketchy on the downhill... lots of gravel and a few places where the pavement has been cut out all the way across for culvert installation. They've also done some work cleaning out the shoulders, so the previous 2" or so dropoffs are bigger. I'm not sure I'd take a road bike up there... will stick with my cross bike when it's running again. YMMV.

They're using a pilot car system, so if you're in a car plan on some delays during work hours. They've been letting me through on my bike, which is nice.

One of the crew guys told me that they planned on starting chip sealing the road in another week or two, starting from the turnaround and heading downhill, and that they are planning on digging up and repaving the road from Lamoille Highway through the Narrows. Completion date as of now is scheduled to be November. They are not planning on widening the road, which is good news IMHO.

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I was interested to see that they've replaced the no hiking sign (hiker with a red circle and slash) at the S-L trailhead with a couple of signs that say "Trail under construction - please do not use. Unsafe." That's funny as hell considering that half of the system trails in this forest are nothing more than blazes and rock cairns. It's more dangerous riding my bike down that piece-o-crap pothole-riddled road. Give them credit for trying, at any rate.