Trailwork Day, February 14th

Yes, it's on Valentine's Day...but it's a made up holiday anyway.

Wudchuk Run Trail Work Day

This winter we plan to finish the Camp Lake of the Woods area of Swope Park. We have approximately 2 miles of Wudchuk bliss to go.

9a-noon
In the area we'll be working the corridor has already been cleared, so we will be doing benchcut and rock work. If you haven't done this type of work before, come anyway. It will be a great opportunity to learn.

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, McLeods, Rock bars, Pulaskis, Rogue Hoes, Handsaws, etc. If you don't have tools, come anyway...we should have plenty.

Recommended Items:
Long pants
Boots/Shoes with protection
Work Gloves
Safety Glasses
Bug Spray
Food and beverages

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

December 13 Work Day Postponed

Due to the ongoing managed hunt  at the camp and the predicted fantastic weather we are going to postpone the Swope work day for this upcoming weekend and ride our bikes instead.  We will post a reschedule date in the near future.

Upcoming Trail Work Days, November 15 and December 13

Wudchuk Run Trail Work Day

This winter we plan to finish the Camp Lake of the Woods area of Swope Park.  We have approximately 2 miles of Wudchuk bliss to go.

9a-noon
In the area we'll be working the corridor has already been cleared, so we will be doing benchcut and rock work. If you haven't done this type of work before, come anyway. It will be a great opportunity to learn.

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, McLeods, Rock bars, Pulaskis, Rogue Hoes, Handsaws, etc. If you don't have tools, come anyway...we should have plenty.

Recommended Items:
Long pants
Boots/Shoes with protection
Work Gloves
Safety Glasses
Bug Spray
Food and beverages

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

BikeSource donates another $5000 to Swope trails.

Last week Swope Trails received $5,000 for building and maintaining trail from BikeSource.  This makes over $20,000 since 2008 with another $15,000 pledged over the next three years.

Since 1995, BikeSource has raised and donated over $75,000 for mountain biking trails in the Kansas City area.  Additionally, owners and employees donate over 2000 volunteer hours annually.

http://bikesourcekc.com/

Controlled Burn at Swope Trails, April 1st

No it's not an April Fool's Day joke.  The trails will be closed until at least 4pm today due to a controlled burn.  Enjoy one of the other fine trails systems in town today.

Christmas presented by Lowes

Thanks to Lowes and legwork by Linda Lehrbaum from Bridging the Gap and KC Wildlands, Swope Trails received $5k in tools and supplies to be used for our expansion along Blue River Road.  THANK YOU! 

The work we are doing is very equipment/supply intensive.  We spent almost $6000 in building and maintenace at Swope this last year.  For example, when building phase 5 this summer the core group of builders were going through pro-grade gloves every 3 weeks of working everyday.  Fuel costs totaled almost $1000.  This donation is huge for trails in KC.

Our core group of 3 builders each volunteered over 600hrs building this year.  Maybe now for 2014 we'll get off our butts and get somtehing done.

 Here's to building more sweet singletrack in 2014!

Merry Christmas, Dirt Lovers!

This is getting old...

No ride tonight due to wet trails.

Wednesday Night ride cancelled for November 6th.

No ride tonight due to the wet trails. 

Weekly Wednesday Night @ Swope Trails

Starting next Wednesday night, the 6th, 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:

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 will be open until 9pm, so you can leave whenever you are done with your ride.  At 9pm we will lock the exit gate.

Of course, the ride is weather permitting.

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.

SwopeTrails: Ph5 is Open for Business...Enjoy.

--Spread The Dirt--
August 31, 2013
Kansas City, MO
www.swopetrails.com

Earthriders Trails Association [ERTA] in partnership with Heartland Outside is thrilled to announce that the Wudchuk Run Extension is officially Open for Business.  47 weeks ago the Swope Trails Crew began the planning process for Phase 5 and after 2,952 volunteer man hours, the dirt is primed and ready for the taking.

Phase 5 is a 3.5 mile renovation and expansion of the Phase 2 portion of Swope trails.  This section incorporates 8 -pin Alley, Jawbreaker and many new features sure to bring smiles for miles  Several portions of the existing trail have been closed or modified.

Check out link to the right for updated maps and future plans.

A couple items of note:
- With the dirt as dry as it is, the tread surface will be loose and sketchy until we get  a decent rain.
- The expansion incorporates new features, reroutes and technical drops.  Please pay heed to all Caution/Do Not Enter signs.
- Sweet Luv [swopestyle] is a dedicated One Way, Downhill Only Trail.  Do Not attempt to ride/hike/run uphill.
- We are in the process of a complete signage upgrade throughout the trail systems.
- Multiple updated maps are placed at key intersections for your use in getting reacquainted with the new section.

A huge thank you goes out the following people.  Your help was a key to making this Phase a reality:
BikeSource
ERTA
KC Bobcat
Specialized
Kansas City Parks and Recreation
And to TC Odegard at Emerge Sign and Graphics for the finishing touches.

It’s time to get outside. Earn your Dirt.

With luv-
The Swope Trails Crew

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About Swope Trails
Swope Trails is 100% volunteer designed, built and maintained

Swope Trails is a 50+ mile planned network of single-track mountain biking and hiking facilities in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri.  Designed, constructed and managed by volunteers in partnership with Kansas City Parks and Recreation, Jackson County Parks And Recreation,  Earth Riders Trails Association [ERTA] and Heartland Outside.   Swope Trails will provide a premier single-track mountain biking and hiking facility in the core of the city; attracting local, regional, and national visitors.  Constructed in phases by volunteers, 10.0 miles have been built since 2007.  When complete, Swope Trails will be one of the largest Urban Singletrack trail systems in the United States.

Swope Trails are located in the heart of Swope Park, Kansas City’s largest urban park at 1,805 acres, and showcase the limestone bluffs connecting to trails along the Blue River, Lakeside Nature Center, Rocky Point Glades and Camp Lake of the Woods.  Great strides are being made, with help from the Missouri Department of Conservation, to ensure trail alignments preserve, protect and restore the natural habitat of the glades.