Written by Juntu Oberg
In a time before a pandemic, we had a mountain bike shuttle festival in July 2019 at Sandy Ridge. This sold-out event was capped at 300 attendees. It was the largest fundraiser we had that year, with all the proceeds earmarked for the trail system. NWTA works in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to care for the trails at Sandy Ridge.
Once COVID-19 restrictions began to ease, our Local Stewardship Team led by all-star volunteer Brent Sullivan got to planning on what improvements could be made with these funds. Brent called on Jason Wells from Sasquatch Trails to help execute the vision to bring ‘flow” back to the trail Quid Pro Flow. Jason was part of the IMBA Trail Solutions team that initially built the line over eight years ago in partnership with NWTA and the BLM.
With the trail closed for two weeks due to heavy machine work, a small group of dedicated NWTA volunteers assisted in creating the much-improved section of the trail. The jump section received an entire rebuild with small & big lines that now have features with options. There are no mandatory drops or jumps, which allows riders of different skill levels to enjoy. These sections are as tricky as a rider dictates. As always, please remember to ride with care & understand your limits. There was also room in the budget for the group to build up the berms at the bottom of Communication Breakdown.
We thank the volunteers who worked alongside Sasquatch Trails. A talented machine builder gets the trail to 80% complete, and the remaining 20% is difficult due to the intense amount of hand finish work.
Many thanks go to our Sandy Ridge team, LST lead Brent Sullivan, for his vision, planning, execution & stewardship management of one of the most popular trail systems in the region. Team members Shane Gould, Mike Lill, Lee Lemmon & Rick Gale, have also contributed countless hours to these trails for our enjoyment. Thank you also goes to NWTA’s friend & partner Jason Wells of Sasquatch Trails. We look forward to working together again in the future.
NWTA is a nonprofit run by volunteers. Funding for improvements like this comes from membership revenue & direct donations. If you are not a member, please join us at nw-trail.org/join or donate at nw-trail.org/donate. If choosing between the two, please become a member; this allows us to advocate for more mountain bike trails.
To find out more about the Sandy Ridge Trail system, you can visit our website at sandy-ridge Want to get involved? Email [email protected]