We ended the 2018 build year finishing Iron Giants Trail
The Iron Giants Trail is the latest edition to the Southview Trail system in Cedar City’s Iron Hills Trails program. Iron Giants is rated as a beginner downhill trail, but it is a fast-flowing, fun trail for all riders. It was machine built by Trail Solutions and finished by DMBTA members. It has been cleaned, hand-raked, and with all the winter snow and moisture it will be hardened up and ready for spring 2019!
If you’re like me, your favorite trail around here is the last one. I love the diversity here. Sometimes I want to go fast and flowing, and sometimes slow and techy. Based on BLM electronic counters the top five favorite trails are:
These numbers are amazing and would be hard to believe except they are based on actual electronic counts. When you do that math Bearclaw Poppy averaged 63 bikers a day for the year. Crazy.
We only have counts on BLM trails. I suspect the Desert Canyon trails would make the top five if we counted next year, and the South View trails in Cedar City are blowing up. We are fortunate to have so many great trails in our area, but it wasn’t luck. A lot of people including volunteers, the BLM, and National Forest Service people, have all worked very hard to make these trails happen.
Lately our trails have been getting quite a bit of publicity, which has been focused mainly on the mesas. This is a brief history of the JEM trail specifically and the Hurricane/Virgin area more broadly.
In the early 90s, when mountain biking was still young, there were few riders and even fewer trails on the East side of Washington County. The riding was mainly fire roads, though there were a few renegades who were dreaming and building trails on Gooseberry, Dalton Wash (where Guacamole currently is), Rockville Bench, and on the land that ultimately became the site of the JEM. It seemed crazy at the time to be building trails; crazier now that it was thought they would never gain much traction. JEM is a combination of initials of the original designer and a couple of the people who were convinced to work hard building it. Though only three initials were used, there were quite a few participants. It was originally designed and built as a downhill singletrack with a climb up fire roads for access. It was planned that eventually more singletrack would be built for the climb, making a complete singletrack loop. The climb part was not completed, but a bit of it was built by one of the renegade trail dreamers, and it is still in use today. There are still many who dream of completion of the uphill singletrack, perhaps someday those dreams will come to fruition. Toward the end of the 90s, the trail was finally adopted as a legally sanctioned trail. At that time, parts of it were moved, rebuilt, and rehabbed for various reasons. So many people have contributed to this trail over the years, making it one of the best cross-country trails in the county.
In more modern history, due to collaborative efforts of DMBTA, BLM, local bike shops, and numerous volunteers, JEM has become the ‘anchor’ for an extensive trail system that includes Hurricane Rim, Goulds, Gould Rim, Cryptobionic, Dead Ringer, Goosebumps, and More Cowbell. The system is now referred to as the Hurricane Cliffs recreation system.
So what is the Economic value of mountain biking in Washington County?
This is an important question and one that is usually difficult to answer. Fortunately, in 2016 the BLM collected recreational use data with electronic trail counters. We now have good numbers at least on BLM trails.
There are a number of formulas for estimating how much mountain bikers spend. Washington County estimated $175 day per visitor. The BLM estimated spending by local riders averages around $35 per person per day. Spending on things things like bike shop purchases, bike maintenance, food, and gas. It’s broken down by use type.
COMMERCIAL USE: (Guided mountain biking)
Total Number of Mountain Bike Guiding Permits: 25
Total Number of Clients (annually): 1,368
Average Number of Clients per permit: 54.75
COMPETITIVE EVENTS: (Mountain Bike Races)
Total Number Competitors = 2,560
Gross Income reported: $937,500
Other activities to consider are things like The Red Bull Rampage, Snake Hollow Bike Park, gravel grinding etc. that are not on BLM-managed lands, and so not included in these estimates.
REGULAR OLD RIDING WITH YOUR BUDDY
Total visitors counted on BLM Mountain Bike Trails in 2016 = 149,142. This number is definitely low because it only counts users on established singletrack trails. Nor does it include use on non-BLM trails like Boy Scout, Lake Shore, Kentucky Lucky, etc.
So, if you were to add all those numbers together…..you get 183,070 individual mountain bike visits every year. WOW.
The grand total for the local economy is between 16 and 21 MILLION DOLLARS every year. Whew…
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS DMBTA?
Glad you asked. In simple terms our mission is to “Build, Maintain, and Ride”, but of course it’s more complicated. We are a 501(C)(3) nonprofit with a president, a treasurer, and a Board of Directors that represent three sub-chapters in southwestern Utah. The sub-chapters are Washington County, Cedar City, and Kanab. We have many dedicated members and businesses that support us by donating and volunteering. Let me say “Thank You” to all of them right now, but if you’re reading this, YOU are the key to Dixie Mountain Bike Trails Association success. DMBTA is a vehicle to help all mountain bikers create and maintain the kinds of trails they want to ride. We partner with local and national governments, other non-profits, landowners, individuals businesses, and literally anyone that’s willing to advance mountain biking, trail construction or maintenance.
Building the modern flowing bike trails that most people now want is very expensive. It costs between $5000 to $10,000 dollars per mile to design and construct XC trails, and downhill flow trails are much more expensive. In the past it’s not been our goal to raise enough money to fund new trails. Most of our membership dues and donations simply paid for things like insurance, trail tools, events, and supplies. We’ve had success building new trails all over southwestern Utah by forming partnerships. However, trail funding for federal agencies is disappearing. Partnerships will always be important, but we now need more money to match grants from The State of Utah.
We want to do more, but we need your help. Mountain biking is growing in our area, and we can’t keep up without more help. We have many vacancies that could be filled by motivated people.
Ways you can help:
If you have questions you can contact me at Kevin@dmbta.org.
Your Board:
Kevin Christopherson – President
Toni Bain – Treasurer
Marc Mortensen – Washington County Representative
Aden Sahagun – Cedar City Representative
Jan Gilespie – Kanab Representative
Key Volunteers:
Ben Warburton, Jay Bartlet, Carl Sigg – Trail Maintenance Coordinators
Lukas Brinkerhoff – Newsletter and Web Page Editor
Teena Christopherson – Merchandise Sales
Farewell to a true a mountain bike leader.
We will miss you Christina
Kane County’s most dedicated cycling advocate, former Kanab Cycling Club President, Christina Hansen, has moved to California to start a new chapter in her life. Christina, a veterinarian for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, will continue to maintain a relationship with her employer by coming back to work in Kanab one week per month and occasionally traveling to far off destinations for special assignments. She is currently assisting with a Spayathon in Puerto Rico.
In late 2013, Christina held a meeting in Kanab to determine if there was enough local support to put together a group interested in promoting trails in the area. The input received showed that there was great interest in both paved and mountain bike trails. Christina then contacted IMBA for organizational help. By January of 2014, the newly formed Kanab Bike Trails Committee hosted a public meeting to discuss the possibilities of designing and building a series of paved and mountain bike trails. Christina was instrumental in bringing DMBTA and Kanab Cycling Club together.
Throughout the following years, Christina facilitated meetings between City, County, State and Federal officials and the local cycling community. She pushed to create and maintain trails throughout Kanab and surrounding areas. She connected riders through Facebook, email and meetings and coordinated group outings and fundraisers. Now, Kanab now has a few local trails with more in the works. There is a strong group riders who would have never connected without her vision and determination.
We’re grateful for all the work Christina has put into our community, and look forward to riding with her during her monthly trips to Kanab. We promise to continue pushing for an amazing trail system in Kane County.
It’s been an amazing couple of years for Mountain Biking in Southwestern Utah. There are so many people that helped make it happen it’s hard to know where to begin, but I’ll start with all of you. Everyone out there that joined, contributed, or volunteered deserves a great big pat on the back. THANK YOU. DMBTA exists to support dedicated people like you that want to get involved and make our great trails even better. I must also thank our DMBTA Board. It is amazing how many hours and how much hard work these dedicated people donate to make this happen. I should also thank Saint George City and Washington County for making Snake Hollow Bike Park a reality, the BLM, NFS, Red Bull, the local bike shops, and the owners and employees of Desert Canyons.
Most of the work that the DMBTA Board does is behind the scenes and it’s kind of boring. Things like, insurance maintaining our 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, organization, bookkeeping, and coordinating with local governments and landowners, are not fun but essential to get things done. I’ve listed some of the fun stuff below.
A good news, bad news update on BLM trail projects. First the bad news. Washington DC cut the funding our local BLM office was planning to use to match money from Utah for the West Mountain DH Trail. It is canceled. Ugh.
Now the Good news.
1) We will ask for an extension for the funding from Utah and hopefully find a way to match it next year.
2) There were several projects in the BLM pipeline that will go forward this year.
– Hurricane Cliff network: new restroom and parking on Sheep Bridge Road at the intersection of JEM and Crypto
– JEM trailhead: New restroom and parking/fencing upgrades
– Wire Mesa: new restroom and fenced trailhead parking
– Bearclaw Poppy: Navajo drive trailhead with flush toilets and running water. It is a cooperative project with Saint George City
– New dry camping sites along Sheep Bridge road in The Hurricane Cliffs Trail Network (pictured below)
DOWNHILL FLOW TRAIL COMING TO SAINT GEORGE AREA.
With a little help from DMBTA, the BLM St. George Field Office was recently awarded a trail construction grant through the Utah Recreational Trails Program. They will get $60,000 from the State grant and will match it with another $60,000 with money collected from commercial guide permits, and fees from competitive events. These events pay for our new trails. We (DMBTA) also agreed to contribute a significant amount of volunteer time.
The trail will be a machine built one-way downhill flow trail on West Mountain Peak, and will be 8-10 miles long. West Mountain Peak is just south of the Shivwits Reservation on the west side of Highway 91 (Utah Hill). The trail will begin about 1.5 miles below the communications towers at the summit.
I’ve had a few questions about why this site was selected, and the answer is simple. This is the only suitable place on BLM land in Washington County that has the elevation and downhill distance for a trail like this.
If you haven’t joined us yet, do it now. Be part of everything that is happening for mountain biking here. We need your help.
