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| A mountain bike is photographed at the keyhole feature of the Palisade Plunge Trail—Phase 1, where a crew member is doing rock work. |
The crew continues to connect the two lower sections of trail together near milepost (MP) 27.3. With the help of three generators running for 35 hours, they completed 258 feet of new trail. Nearly every foot required construction of retaining walls and the removal of bedrock. They also totaled 38 feet of wall, around five feet tall, to accommodate the switchback under the keyhole rock feature.
The crew is about 400 feet away from connecting to the lower trail segment, leaving the finished trail at about MP 27.28. Once the crew finishes up in this area, two to three employees will begin tackling the construction of Otto’s Wall at Shirttail Point.
The other five to six employees will head up to the Blowout and complete the remaining section.
About 15.97 miles of total finished trail has been completed, leaving about 1.20 miles to go before the completion of Phase 1, which is anticipated by the end of September.
About 15.97 miles of total finished trail has been completed, leaving about 1.20 miles to go before the completion of Phase 1, which is anticipated by the end of September.
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| Members of the Western Colorado Conservation Corps hand-finish a portion of the Palisade Plunge Trail. |
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| Pictured here, is a small watershed crossing on a section of Phase 2 of the Palisade Plunge Trail. |
Phase 2 — Week 6:
The Phase 2 crew, with the help of the Western Colorado Conservation Corps (WCCC), has roughed-in 6,065 feet of new trail and finished 5,910 of that total. Phase 2 now sits near MP 5.5. The WCCC crew plans to assist with Phase 2 for two more weeks.
The Forest Service visited the crew and was pleased with the progress and how the trail is turning out. With the rate this crew has been constructing Phase 2, they are on track to reach MP 0.0 at U.S. Highway 65 by the end of September.
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| Progress continues on the Shirttail parking lot. |
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| Here is a view of the future trailhead leaving the Shirttail parking lot. |
Construction on the Shirttail parking lot continues as planned. The majority of the parking lot is now finished, and the restroom facility is still scheduled for completion in September.
To date, a total of about 5.79 miles of total finished trail is completed, leaving about 8.95 miles to go before the completion of Phase 2.