Weekly Wednesday Night Ride @ Swope

Starting next week, the 21st, we will have a weekly night ride @ Swope with the kicker being that we will be able to park up top.

Here's how it's going to work initially:

Gate entrance will open at 6:30 and close at 6:45. If you come after 6:45...tough luck.

You can ride as long as you'd like as long as you want as long as that means you're done by 8:50p.

The exit gate wil be locked at 9pm.

We've been able to work out this deal to allow us to do this ride, don't ruin it for everyone else. If we have problems we will simply no longer do this ride.

Workday this Saturday, Nov 17th

Wudchuk Run (Homestead) Trail Work Day
Saturday, November 17th
Noon-3pm (note the time...we are working in the afternoon to accommodate the hunters)

This Saturday will be a good chance to see what we have in store for the next phase of Wudchuk Run.  We can use workers of all levels of expertise.  We will have some intense rock and benchcut work as well a corridor work for the new folks.

We will have a 10 minute hike to get to/from our work zone, so plan to bring all the food & drink you will need for the duration.  We'll also need to all hike in/out together.  So be on time, please.

Meeting Place:
Hogan/swimming pool at Camp Lake of the Woods on top of the hill. From the main Swope trailhead, drive up Oakwood Drive, take a left at the "Y" and continue on about 300 yards. See map on the right hand side of the page for directions to the Swope Park trails.  We will then drive to our hike in point.

Tools:
The usual trail tools...Rakes, Shovels, McLeods, Pulaskis, Rogue Hoes, Weedeaters, Blowers, Handsaws, Chainsaws, etc. If you don't have tools, come anyway...we should have plenty.

Recommended Clothing:
Long pants
Boots/Shoes with protection
Work Gloves
Safety Glasses
Bug Spray

Trail Tasting Afterwards:
If the trails are rideable and/or hikeable, we'll do a trail tasting after the workday.

Wudchuk Run (Phase 5) work started on Sunday

If you were at the workday on Saturday you got a map preview of our next phase of  Swope.  We hope to build approx 2 miles this winter...this will bring Wudchuk Run to the Marci's Playground area.  These two miles will be an even mix of rocky/technical trail and smooth/flowy trail.

The following winter we will add another 1-2 miles which will complete Wudchuk Run.  That will give us the Rancho D-Lux loop, Wudchuk Run loop, and the Kid's Loop (former known as the Short-Track loop)

We've been scouting the new phase extensively over the last 2 months and couldn't wait to get rolling, so four of us worked on corridor on Sunday.  This new area of Wudchuk Run will be referred to as "The Homestead".  You'll need to put on your climbing legs for this section.

We plan to have a workday for this area on the 17th in the afternoon...(Yes, afternoon due to managed deer hunt).  Stay tuned for further details.

Below are a couple teaser pics.  The pictures were taken in a little playground area which will have several intermediate and hard lines running thru it. 

Rancho D-Lux FINISHED...Thank You!!!

What an incredible turn out today!  35 people showed up to play in the dirt, and we were able to finish everything that we thought would take the next 2 weeks to finish up.  We even had time to add in a neat little off-shoot feature that turned out supa-sweet.

Couple Notes:
With the dirt as dry as it is, the tread surface will be loose and sketchy until we get  a decent rain...don't cuss us yet.

We'll have a couple small fine-tuning details to finish up over the next week as we get the opportunity to spend some time on the trail and see what needs attention.  We already have a couple turns we want to work on & a log we forgot about.

The trail formerly known as the short-track is now a dedicated, self-contained kid's loop.

A huge thank you to ERTA and Spiderfest for the new Rogue Hoes.  The new version is perfection on a stick.

We will be posting a new map shortly.

Swope Notes

Just a quick heads up on a couple fronts...

-We will be making a lot of changes around the red cabin area over the next 2 weeks.  It will be confusing until we are all finished.  Please bear with us and be patient.  It will make sense when we are all finished...It's all part of the bigger plan.  We started making changes today with the goal of being done by November 11th.  Don't forget the work day this Saturday.

-A request from us:  I hate to ruin anyone's fun, but if we are in the middle of working and are running power equipment either turn around or get off your bike & walk around us giving us a wide berth.  Today, I was running a brushcutter with a metal blade and 2 Strava Kings came within just a foot or two of my blade...hopefully it scared them...because I know it did me.  Common sense, Folks.

-The annual managed deer hunt starts Nov 5 and runs through Jan 15 @ Swope Park CLW area .  Please be respectful of all park users.

Reminder about this weekend.  We'll be finishing and opening new trail on Saturday.  We need a lot of bodies for this day...experience is not necessary.

Thanks to ERTA and Spiderfest, we'll be breaking in some brand new Rogue Hoes (tools). 

Also, we'll give everyone a sneak peak at our plan for the next 2 years.

SAVE THE DATE: Trailwork Day @ Swope, November 3rd

TRAILBUILDING...It's getting to be that time of the year again and your belly will be full of Halloween candy. This could be a great way to burn off that nervous sugar energy.

We will be finishing up the Rancho-d-lux loop on November 3rd. This will be the final phase of Rancho which will clean up several intersections, eliminate some legacy trail, and make a kid's specific loop. We are very excited about how this will make the upper area of Camp Lake of the Woods flow for all users.

Once this section is complete we will be spending the remainder of the winter on working on the Wudchuk Run loop connecting the Eight Pin across the back of the Camp Lake of the Woods Property to the Red Cabin area. This will probably be a 2yr project and add 4-6 miles to the Camp Lake of the Woods area.
 
Time:
8am-11am. 

Meeting Place:
Hogan/swimming pool at Camp Lake of the Woods on top of the hill. From the main Swope trailhead, drive up Oakwood Drive, take a left at the "Y" and continue on about 300 yards. See map on the right hand side of the age for directions to the Swope Park trails.

Tools:
The usual trail tools...Rakes, Shovels, McLeods, Pulaskis, Rogue Hoes, Handsaws, Chainsaws, etc. If you don't have tools, come anyway...we should have plenty.

Recommended Clothing:
Long pants
Boots/Shoes with protection
Work Gloves
Safety Glasses
Bug Spray

Trail Tasting Afterwards:
If the trails are rideable and/or hikeable, we'll do a trail tasting of the new stuff. Workdays are the only time you'll get a chance to check out the new trail before it's open, so come work then get your ride on!

NOTICE: Managed Archery Deer Hunt Nov 7-Dec 31st

"Designated areas in Swope Park, including the Camp Lake of the Woods area, will be open for a managed archery deer hunt November 7th through December 31st.  This managed hunt, like others conducted on KC Parks property since 2006, is conducted to promote ecological diversity on the lands entrusted to KC Parks, and to control an ever-expanding deer herd. 

Rather than close this area to the public, as most other municipalities do during managed hunts, Kansas City Parks and Recreation has elected to continue public access to managed hunt areas.  We feel certain that the many different groups that use this area can operate in a mutually respectful manner."

Swope Trails. PH4 opens this Saturday. 9am.

Join us this Saturday, June 4th for National Trails Day.

Earthriders Trails Association [ERTA] in partnership with Kansas City Parks And Recreation are thrilled to announce the opening of the latest addition to the ever growing Swope Trails system. Your local trail hermits and over 125 volunteers have been working hard the past 6 months to bring you another fun filled addition to Camp Lake of the Woods.

This Saturday morning for National Trails Day, at 9am sharp, we will be opening the new 1.75 mile section up to the masses. The trail is the extension of the ever popular Rancho D-Lux loop. Highlights of this intermediate to beginner trail, include Marci’s Playground, Faceplant and Nate’s Woooops.

Extra Special thanks to Nathan Ross and the Youth Volunteers Corps for helping make this happen.

DETAILS:

When:
Saturday, June 4th 9am: Ribbon Cutting.

Meeting Place:
Swope Park. Camp Lake of the Woods.

We will be meeting at the Hogan at Camp Lake of the Woods which is just up the hill on Oakwood Drive from the main Swope trailhead, drive up Oakwood Drive, take a left at the "Y" and continue on about 100 yards. See the map on the right hand side of www.swopetrails.com for more detailed directions.

All day: Get out and enjoy the new trail the in jewel that is Swope Park.

It's That Time of Year + New Trail Hermit + Fundraiser News

The weather is turning nice, the ground is thawing, and we're cranking out some sweet trail work.  Been doing some trail hardening projects and fixing some draining issues on phase 3.  Today the old fence on phase 4 is coming out. 

Look for some trail building announcements soon.

We've updated our volunteer hrs for the Swope Project.  Thanks to various groups and individual volunteers we've now logged 3920 hrs building trail at Swope.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who has ever lifted a tool on these trails!

We've recently added Travis Stephens to the list of Trail Hermits.  His history runs deep in the KC cycling community and has spent time volunteering at nearly every park in KC.  Travis is one of those guys who builds trail simply because he loves riding good trail.  He has spent the last 3 yrs quietly building sweet singletrack gnar while others are posting pics of their dinner plate on Facebook. He is a big reason you see some of the crazy rock work we do at Swope.  He's brought our rock techniques to a new level.  Thanks, Travis!

Also, thanks to a fundraiser by Specialized Bicycles and BikeSource the people of KC generously donated over $4000 for the trail building efforts at Swope.  We plan to spend a good chunk of this money to improve drying times for the trails.  The trails dry pretty darn quick, but we know it can be better...we have a plan.