Headed up Green by way of Bear Canyon. I have seen the evidence of the potential reroute before today, but today there it was. At the upper end of the climb, just below the fallen tree, the reroute had happened. You can see where the next reroute is going to take place in the first pic.
This was a trail the other day. Those guys just make it disappear.
The reroute brings you out to West Green, near the house out there actually. The new trail is pretty sweet, low grade, well buffed. 
Of course the four way junction is no more as that is where the old trail came in. It is now blocked off.
So the new segment is about a half mile. From the reroute it is pretty much a mile spot on to the top of Green. Makes the run up Green longer, but not hugely so. That said, I am pretty sure these FKT runs on the old route are totally … well, on a different route. I think the run will be slower now.
Some vids. As you can tell, I am a bit mixed in how I feel about these new trails. Part of me likes them, getting new views, and typically they are very friendly to a non technical trail kind of guy like me. Still … I miss the places where the trail went. And I sort of wonder why they have to do the reroute in the first place.
Interesting. They have totally crushed my memory of the Boulder Basic, where I hung in behind Krissy Moehl and some dude on that trail for all of 3 minutes until I took a nature break. Dammit. Then I stopped for water at Bear Creek (filtered) and brownie passed me. Dammit again.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think the open space folks (Boulder and Jefferson County for that matter) have nothing to do other than look for tiny rain channels off some trail before they declare it being "eroded" and embark on a big project.
I'm a reasonably observant guy, and I honestly have no idea why they do most of the things they do. I guess I should assume they have their reasons.
But I suppose it will be fun to see something new.
I noticed that the other day, but did not have time to explore. I think they have a certain budget they need to use and just need things to do.
ReplyDeleteMixed feelings on the new trails, I like new terrain and it is fun to run faster on a buffed trail, but certainly prefer the steep and technical, it is way more fun in my mind.
The new trails they put in are almost like wheelchair ramps.
"wheel chair ramps." Yeah, I was thinking the same exact thing and I was wondering if that was part of the goal. In other words, I was wondering if they were trying to meet an ADA requirement. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteI get that they are trying to pull the trail away from the drainages. I think they are also going with less steep trails because that would potentially mean less erosion. But then I wonder if you take a quarter mile trail and get rid of it in lieu of a 3/4 mile trail if that is just creating MORE impact.