The Trees of Decision

We continue to push this trail.   Brett has been busting his @$$ on the loop above the lake, so Dustin and I went out to push the cliff trail east to eventually meet what he has been working on.   It was hot and humid and we were drenched, but we made good progress.   This trail is going to be nice and flowy.   And I am maintaining my standard ratio of 1:10 of my hours working to Brett's.  

Right behind Dustin's foot is the concrete top of a

5 foot wall, which is above the cliff.  

Go right?  Spit the two trees in the middle?

Or, swing wide left?  You'll have options. 

Video sampling of Kessler

Click on this link to go to Vimeo

Keep pushing on.

A little trail work took place yesterday before the rain hit, then Brett and Drew had to bail.   They were back out today and I joined them with a friend.  The bench cutting was a little tougher with the moist soil.  We are pushing this trail east pretty quickly.  It's going to be fun stuff.

A sense of the elevation with the Bond Bridge

in the background along with the east bottoms. 

Drew and Brett benching.   This is a roller coaster section.

Tree slalom.  Finally an area that wasn't full on bench cut. 

Making progress

I haven't updated this blog in a while.  Brett tends to publish a fair amount on Facebook and also the Cliff Drive official blog site.

Lots of progress has been made in the last 6 months.   A couple miles of corridor is cleared.   Now it is time to bench cut and clear trail tread.  We hope to open the trail in early June.   From the west gate of Cliff Drive you should be able to ride east, climb up on top of the cliff, then descend and do a loop above the lake and then ride back.   Hopefully that will be 3-4 mile ride by the time you get back to the west gate.

The trail is generating a lot of talk among the local neighbors.  They love the trail going in and the neighborhood associations will start organizing trash pick up days now that the will have access to previously very difficult terrain.

So, when you see the trash in these photos, imagine folks coming in and removing it.   Working with partners is the key to this project.

I had a chance to test the trail today on my bike after the work was done.  It is going to be fun stuff.   Climbing up to the cliff is going to challenge the best climbers.   Not single speed friendly, but I tried it on my SS anyway.

Finished bench cut.  

The view to the north from the trail.  

My work place in the distance.

This is some of the worst trash in this section.  

That bench cut above was hard, we found a buried, rolled up carpet that 

we had to cut through.   

Starting to come together

Wow!   We knocked out some trailbuiding today.  After having a general park cleanup and honeysuckle removal day last week with 70 volunteers, today was all about building the actual trail.

Last week REI coordinated a workday with ERTA, Kansas City Climbing Club and KC Wildlands.   It was an awesome day and prepped us for todays work.

Today we benchcut a long section of trail.  The soil cuts like butter.  There was also some rock work for technical features.

I think with one more great day of benchcutting and 2-3 workdays of armoring and rock work, we will have trail open to ride.   And it will be fast, flowy trail with the occasional technical option/challenge, including a drop or two for those of you who have a little free ride tendency.

After this section is complete this fall, the next section will quickly move up on top of the cliff that gives Cliff Drive it's name.

A huge thanks to:

Brett Shoffner
Clay Lozier
Buzz Taylor
Alan Bossert
Stephen Levenhagen
Ben Reed
Mark Hopkins
Ron Bodine
and Justin Bay.

We knocked out a ton of this today

Note the dead vines hanging on the tree in background.  

We have killed many vines that were choking out the great trees in Kessler. 

You will be amazed about some of the awesome trees in this park.

Thank you Americorps!

Some Americorp folks that work at Harvesters came out today and helped build a little trail and remove some trash and save some trees from nasty vines.   Great folks that do great work and volunteer on top of that!

Yes they did.

The first bit of benchcutting at Kessler!   Exciting.  Once the crappy vine is remove the soil cuts like warm butter.   

Corridor Clearing

Had a great day of corridor clearing.   Had 7 folks out working.   With a chainsaw and 2 reciprocating saws we were able to clear a lot of honeysuckle.   Here are some before and after type shots.  

As we move forward we see this mess of honeysuckle.

Then we fire up a couple of reciprocating saws.....

......and we look back and we see corridor with young trees able to get light!

We have a bit more corridor clearing to do, and then refine the flagging and we will be ready to build trail soon.  Stay tuned!