Blankets Status: Still Closed
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 2:04PM As you know, the terrain at Blankets has a lot of sun/shade areas. The shady coves are still frozen today. They will become a mess if the trail is opened. We are still stuck in this cycle of heavy cold rains and cold temps. When the sun does get out to dry it, nightly temps fall below freezing. It's a no win situation.
Please respect the closed gate. There are only a handful of volunteers and we are trying to work on a new 2 mile Expert trail across the creek as well as a nice extended downhill on Dragon's trail (inspired by Dupont's Ridgeline trail) and we can't do that when folks are jumping the gate rutting out the existing trail. Our time will have to get diverted there to fix it. Please help out and pass the message to call the hotline/check website before showing up and stay off!
Thanks for your support,
Jay Wilkes
Reader Comments (15)
Hey Jay any plans to work on the dragons tail anytime soon. Is there anybody working on during the week if so let me know and i will help thanks Ben.
Thanks for all of hard work y'all do. I am from out of town, but really enjoy coming to Blankets to ride. I hope people will respect the closing and not ruin all the hard work that has been done. I look forward to the Ridgeline-inspired trail.
I think its time to get er' opened up. C'mon..... can't be that bad. lets ride
Just wanted to say thanks for all that you guys do at Blankets to make it one of the best places to ride around town.
I hope everyone can wait it out and not cross the gates, can't wait tell the improvements on the trail and the parking lot are done!!
Thanks again for all the hard work!!
@ Chad: Hey let's not and say we did.
Let's opener up!!!! Summer's comin'
Agree with Chad - I'd rather have trails to ride than perfect trails closed for months.
That's easy for folks to say when they aren't the ones breaking their backs to fix them.
The donation box has a sign on it: riding is a privilege - not a right. I'd rather keep them closed now so I don't have to help fix them later.
Pine Log WMA is always open.
I love the trails, but won't be caught on them until they open. I respect the work that has been done to make them as fun as they are and the people that volunteer their time and hard work to make Blankets Creek my favorite place to go Kudos to all the people that work so hard, I want to get out there this year and help you guys. I'm crossing my fingers for warm weather soon. That groundhog better not see his shadow this year :)
I'd like to volunteer some of my time to help fix/maintain the trails. could you guys give a schedule so I can show up?
Agreed. Lots of people put in LOTS of time to take care of the trails. Same people who say "come on can't be that bad" are the same people that never help out with trail work. Respect the people who volunteer their time so you have a place to ride and stay off the trails. There are plenty of places that are never closed if you really want to ride. Ride them, but beware, the reason they aren't closed is because no one maintains them so they look like Blankets could look if we didn't have dedicated volunteers.
Otherwise, get a road bike! :)
Having done some trail running over the weekend at various other trails in the area I'd have to say, Yes it IS that bad. Don't forget it wasn't that long ago that half the entire trail system was UNDER water.
We are not allowed to have a dissenting opinion on this site?
If you will agree that there is a point when the trails are closed too much...... then I will admit that I don't know where that point is..... but compared to other quality sites in the area we are much more conservative as to when we decide to open the trails. You are entirely correct that I haven't been to a trail building event; but I am a multi-year Sorba/IMBA Fat Tire member, I donate generously to the box; I buy from local bike shops; ran the Dirty Duathalons; and I pay taxes to the government who leases the land. I will concede that not helping on work days lessons the value of my opinion on this matter. So be it..... But do me a favor and count my 1/2 vote for a less conservative approach to trail closings (perhaps a partial opening for just 1 or 2 loops on some days)...... or not.... whatever....
Do know that I appreciate the work of all of the volunteers... seriously.
That's a good idea, by the way, to get a road bike. Little afraid of getting hit by a car; but I'll look into it.
Hey Chad...no worries...we are jonesing to ride as much as you. The problem with Blankets is numbers. If we open in iffy situations, the hundreds of riders in one hours will wreck the trail. We can't afford that. If this was a sleepy town in nowhere, who cares. Unfortunately, this is one of the top riden trail system in the Southeast. We have to err on the conservative side....The trails are stiill a mess. Big Creek is the same at www.rambo-mtb.org as well as www.gainesvillesorba.oreg. Both are closed at this time due to freeze/thaw.
I spent 90 minutes riding in a circle at red top mtn. I had to get my ipod to keep from ramming into a tree due to boredom. Like everybody - I want BC open but I understand why not. The guys making the call to keep it closed ride too. It sucks for everybody - except the deer.