Trail Condition Report

As of February 21, 2017 

Remember if is it wet please do not ride or walk on the trails.  If you are leaving a foot print by walking please turn back and choose a different trail to go on.   

Granite Basin - 

Williamson Valley Trail head on 347 on the house side is still soft and death mud.  

Trail 332 from the Gate at top of Cayuse to the cattle guard by the road is still muddy and soft. 

The rest of Granite Basin is pretty good... lots of water in the creek crossings.

Thumb Butte -
All is good on the north side.  Some of firewater is still muddy.
The Emmanuel Pines area is good but LOTS of water in the creeks.
Thumb Butte from Sierra Preitta is good, no snow.
Trail 326 on Thumb Butte is supper muddy at the top.

305
Excellent condition just like everything else lot of water in the creeks.
Salida Gulch is great as well.

Sundog
From the Peavine up to the dealerships is in good condition.
Badger or P Mountain is still super soft with some snow in some of the corners. This is north facing and takes quite a while to dry out.

396 - Goldwater
A few soft spots lots of water but is in good condition

Wolverton - 9415
Great until you get to the quartz section and then gets really muddy to the split.  It's best to do an out an back to this point or just take Jack Pine Road up.

Aspen Creek
The north facing section right at the beginning is still very muddy and soft.

Pioneer Park
The southern sections are great... the legacy section is still soft and have some ruts in it.
Longview is still soft please be cautious if you are leaving tracks.

If you have been on a trail and it is not listed or it is listed in correctly please let us know.  
brooke@prescottmtb.com

Enjoy the trails but please make sure you are not causing any damage by being on them.  The sun will come out and everything will dry out please be patient. 

January 30, 2017 Minutes

PTSC MINUTES OF JANUARY 30, 2017 Meeting opened at 6:00PM, January 30, 2017 at NFS Office, Chino Valley.

Members in attendance: Sally Hensley-Granite Mt. Riders & Horsing Around, Carol Ross-Prescott Saddle Club, Bruce McKeeman-Prescott Outings Club, Gary Worob-Yavapai Trails Assoc., Cathy Schultz-Yavapai Trails Assoc. & Back Country Horsemen, Jason Williams-Prescott National Forest, Susan Johnson-Prescott National Forest, George Sheats, Yavapai Trails Assoc. & Open Space Alliance, Spike Hicks-Back Country Horsemen, Brooke Weitkunat-Prescott Mt. Bike Alliance, Karen Moseley- Horsing Around

1. Introductions
   
2. Trail Safety Ambassador Program: Jason has taken oversight of the program. Trail
   Ambassadors will be on same level as Adopt A Trail Volunteers. Karen M. will coordinate with
   Tony Papa, NFS, on training and the creation of a vest identifying the volunteers.
   
3. PTSC’s liability exposure in the event PTSC wished to participate in parades such as the
   Prescott Frontier Days was discussed. Yavapai Trails Association indicated PTSC would be covered under their umbrella policy. Participation & a parade banner will be discussed at the next meeting.
   
4. A draft of the revised PTSC trail safety brochure was reviewed and edited. The brochure will be revised as suggested and submitted for printing.
   
5. Bike events: PNF will inform PTSC by email on upcoming events. Brooke advised that the Prescott Gravity Trail Coalition is a sub group of PMBA. There will be a meeting between FS personnel & the Gravity Trail group on 2/14/2017.
   
6. YTA members discussed various grant proposals for safety ID's and signs on the Circle Trail.
   
7. Earth Day is April 22, 2017 and will be sponsored by the Open Space Alliance and YTA.
   
8. PTSC Chairperson: Sally agreed to keep the position for 2017. New chair to be nominated for
   2018.
   
9. Greater Prescott Trails Alliance: Jason has been authorized to prioritize
   70 miles of new trails and new trail heads and improvements. The 5 year plan is to start with a re-route of the Ranch Trail. Emmanual Pines will have equestrian trails to avoid those trails designed more for bicycles.
   

10.The goal for the future is for YTA or a similar parent organization (or umbrella) to encompass many organizations including PTSC.
11.Christina McCarthy or Sally will call for a check from Back Country Horsemen for the brochures as soon as publishing costs are finalized.
12.Next meeting will be March 27th at Prescott FS office.
Meeting adjourned 8:25PM.
Minutes submitted by Spike Hicks, Back Country Horsemen 

Upcoming Dates

March 28th - Greater Prescott Trails Planning meeting - Boys and Girls Club - Pleasant and Aubry in Prescott 6pm.    

April 20th - General Volunteer Orientations - if you want to volunteer with the Forest Service you need to go to one of these meetings to get certified.  All day long contact the Prescott Forest Service for details.

May 21st - Crew Leader Training.  With the Adopt a Trail program coming back on line if you want to actually go out and do work on your trail you adopt then you need to be a crew leader.  This is an all day class.  Contact Prescott Forest Service for details.

And, if you ever have an bad incident on the trail please report it to Jason Williams at Prescott Forest Service.  He and PTSC can not do anything about it unless it is reported.  Side note - He also likes to hear about good experiences too!   You can always use the Trail Experience form on this site.  The report goes to Jason immediately.

What's happening?

Exciting things are happening at PTSC! 

Our Trail Ambassador program is moving right a long.  We are in the final stages of clearing everything with the forest service.  Once we have it approved we will put out the community for volunteers and support.

Bells on Bikes campaign has gone very well and has been well received with the bikers, horsemen and hikers.  Remember if you hear a bell it is isn't to say get off the trail it is saying "Hi, I am letting you know I am here, so don't freak out".

We have had responses from all the user groups about dogs being off leash.  We all love our dogs but it can be dangerous to them being off leash.  Horses can spook and try to kick or stomp the dogs, bikers can run over them if they run out in front of them on the trail, and other hikers that are not dog friendly can kick them or hit them with their walking sticks.  Please be respectful and keep your dogs on leash or at least hook them up when you see someone on the trail.

The Whiskey Off Road Bike Race is coming again this year... April 29-May 1st.   This year the course changed a bit to include 396 - GoldWater trails.    So from now until the race you may see more than usual amount of bikers on 396 and on Wolverton (9415).   The weekend of April 1st is the unofficial pre-ride, it will be very busy out there, please plan accordingly.

Trail Condiditons

As of March 11th ....
Most trails are looking good.

Granite Basin is mostly dry...there are a couple of mushy spots on 345 and there is lots of water in the creeks.

396 - Is dry and good to go
9415 -Wolverton is good until you hit the Quartz then it is super mushy for about 200 feet after that it is good.
305 has some wet spots by the water crossings.
The Dells of course are good to go
Thumb Butte is good on the 318, 316, 317 side.  The switch backs on 392 is good but don't go up or down 326 just yet... it is super mushy at the top and the trail has already been "widened" by people trying to go around the mushy spots.
Aspen Creek 48 - the lower section is still mushy since it doesn't get much day light but when you get to the water bars the rest of the trail is in good shape.

If you have any other updates please feel free to post a comment below.

Trail Conditions

Please be respectful of the trails when they are muddy or snowy.  There have been many reports of "post holes" on trails.  If it is muddy please don't go out.    This goes for all users groups as well.   Tire tracks in the mud take a while to even out, too.  

Please report any trail conditions to this site.  All of the major user groups get a copy of the reports so they can put out to their memberships.  Lets all work together to keep our trails in great condition over the wet winter months.

UPDATE - 3/2/2015 -  ALL TRAILS ARE CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER - it will take until at least the weekend before they will be usable again and some may still be very mushy.  Please turn around if you encounter soft sections.

Filter Added to Trail 347

PTSC identified a section of trail that needed to have a filter put in place.  

At the top of 347 out of the Cayuse trail head a filter was put in place just before the blind right hand curve.  This will slow bikers speed when going into the corner thus making the corner more safe.   The filter did not take any of the 'fun' out of the trail it added some, while forcing the biker to slow their speed when coming into the corner.

There are several other areas on 347 that have been identified for a filter. PTSC will work on those once we get feed back on how this first one went.

Please go ride, hike or bike that trail and let us know what you think.  You can give us feed back on the "My Outdoor Experience" tab on the this website.

Jason trying out the filter