Thursday, October 21, 2010

Time to talk recreation!

Sometimes - ok, for me a lot of times - the decision-making done by our public lands agencies is utterly mind-boggling. Why, for example, do they continue to allow public lands to be locked up by private landowners? Why are they not fighting for land-use ordinance changes that would mandate public lands access whenever new subdivisions go in? Or... why are they allowing themselves to be held hostage by a few loudmouthed crackpots rather than making decisions that genuinely serve the public? Just as a couple of examples. I could come up with dozens... hundreds... thousands of questions.

I'll bet you have a few questions, too, and here's your chance to ask them.

The Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group is hosting a public question and answer session with representatives from the Forest Service, BLM, and wildlife agencies, November 4th at the Elko Convention Center. Doors open and refreshments will be served at 6:30PM, with a facilitated Q&A session starting at 7PM.

Show up. Bring your questions and comments, and be heard.

If you need info, call NNSG president Larry Hyslop 385-8870.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Quick road and snow update

Good news - they're largely finished with the Lamoille Canyon Road project! There are still a couple of odds and ends they're finishing, but the semi trucks rushing up and down the road are mostly gone and peace has returned to the canyon, by and large. There's still some striping to do and I understand that they're going to put some more emulsion over the chip-seal part to try and tighten up some of the loose material on top. They'll be doing traffic control for another ten days or so... after that, they'll have a small crew up there if needed to take care of punch list stuff, but that's it.

For my money, the chip seal stuff is still too loose for a road bike... hopefully it'll be better after they spray the emulsion over it. The bottom part, from Lamoille Highway up to the Scout Camp, is good to go. They've largely finished the shoulder work, so between the safe shoulders, the smooth pavement and the lack of potholes it should be enjoyable on road bikes and mountain bikes both.

Also - snow has started flying and there's currently snow on the trails at the Lamoille Canyon trailheads. That will likely come and go a time or two before winter sets in, but if you're headed up there be prepared.

If you want to go for a hike and keep your feet dry you can head up the Secret-Lamoille Trail construction project - you can hike in about 3.25 miles before you hit the end of the line that the firefighters cut this spring. It's a lot lower altitude and so won't be seeing snow for a while yet. You can also hike for a while on the Right Fork and Thomas Canyon trails before you hit snow, but once you get up to the tops of the benches you can count on mud, at the very least.