Over the last year, most of the property on the north side of Rocky Point road was logged, affecting all of the original forested trails there (except RP United and Andyland). NWTA has been planning for the eventual clearcut of this area for a while, and has already started to rebuild the area. The trails that will replace the originals will maintain some of the “pedally” characteristics of the original ones, but make major improvements in terms of flow and connectivity. The aim is to take the things people liked about the old trails, while minimizing the feeling of riding uphill both ways in a maze.
To execute quickly in the limited window in which we have to rebuild between harvest and replanting, NWTA sought bids and is contracting with Douglas Johnson to machine build 4-5 miles of new trails all this winter. Douglas has worked with us before at Rocky Point to build the clearcut section of the Highline, the Great Escape, and Butterknife. He has also been active in the Hood River area for many years helping build Eldorado and some of the wooden features at Post Canyon.
As with other recently rebuilt areas at Rocky Point, paying a contractor to machine build this project is the only way we are able to get miles of trail back in this area in the limited time frame allotted to us by the harvest and planting schedule. If it wasn’t for our dues paying members and generous sponsors, we would only be able to rebuild a fraction of the clear cut land, and would end up with a drastically scaled back and disjointed network on the north side.
Your support as a NWTA member, along with that of all members and sponsors, has provided the funding needed to quickly respond to trail building opportunities at Rocky Point. Keeping your membership current so we can ensure maintained and enhanced trail access in the future is a huge part of our success
While we work to rebuild the north side, please be patient and respect the ongoing work by not riding any of the new partially built trails until they have been officially announced as open. The trails should be open by June 2023.
Thank you to all of our members and sponsors who make this project possible!