fomp.org

By Jon Nordby

Despite the abundance of trails we enjoy and maintain in the Monument Preserve, only USFS Trail 715 is officially recognized on official Pike National Forest maps. The official trailhead is just a few hundred yards inside the gate at Schilling and Lindbergh , where TR 715 begins a meandering path that heads generally West towards Mount Herman before heading South out of the 1000 acres that comprise the Preserve. It’s journey continues South, staying below Mt Herman Road, before climbing steeply West up the North Beaver creek drainage under the power lines. Finally crossing Mt Herman Road (MHR), the trail heads back toward Palmer Lake through Limbaugh Canyon, looping around the Front of Mount Herman back to preserve.

Trail 715 is rugged, and purposely unimproved to retain that feel. Equestrians are common on the ride “Around the Mountain”, and are largely responsible for the early route.  Runners and hikers have always been frequent users, and mountain bikers are now enjoying the challenge. This is a challenging trail, with many rock and root obstacles known to pull a shoe off a horse and scrape up hocks, turn an ankle on a distance runner, and rip a derailleur off a mountain bike while flipping the rider over the bars. The challenge is the purpose of this trail, but as waist-deep erosion ruts formed over the years, it became clear we had to step in.

FOMP has worked on 715 extensively to prevent deterioration of the trail while preserving the “unimproved” and remote experience this trail provides. We strive to leave natural obstacles in the trail bed, plan reroutes that are maintainable while still challenging, and trim oak back in a way to where trail-use won’t widen the bed.  I think we’ve mostly met that goal, for there are 1000′s of hours invested in that trail over the past decade from volunteers comprised of school groups, church groups, USFS personnel and firefighters, corporate employees, and local businesses.

One group in particular, Troop 17 of the Boy Scouts of America, has made an enormous impact on this trail over the past 10 years, implementing 9 Eagle Scout projects extending from the trail head, over into the Limbaugh section of trail.

Upcoming newsletters will provide a brief history on various Eagle Scout projects devoted to maintaining this special trail.

CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER!
We will probably try and re-schedule this next Tuesday – stay tuned.

FOMP would like to let you know that we will be hosting an unscheduled Trail Work session Tuesday night May 24!

Tuesday May 24 at 6:00 PM – Trail work!

Sometimes we get the bug to really get rolling and that is the case this year. So, tomorrow evening we will be holding an unscheduled Trail Work session.

Since it is unscheduled we will also change our meeting place. We will be working on the upper portion of the trail that descends from Mt. Herman Rd. to Monument Rock / the pond. Please park at or near Mt. Herman Rd. and Red Rocks Dr (map:  http://bit.ly/mvaP43) and walk up to the trail entrance off of Mt. herman Rd.  then down onto the trail and join us. Please grab tools from the green Toyota Tundra that will be parked at the top of the trail and come on down and meet us – since this is an impromptu session we won’t be waiting around for the group. We will be just down the trail about 20 yards to the North from the road.

Thanks and we hope to see you out there soon!
FOMP

FOMP would like to remind you that we will be hosting a Trail Work session Tuesday night May 10!

Tuesday May 10 at 6:00 PM – Trail work!

FOMP is pleased to be holding our first volunteer trail work and tree trimming work session for the 2011 season! It has been a long dry winter and we have lots of work ahead of us this summer so please join us!

Thanks and we hope to see you out there soon!
FOMP

April 13 – Tuesday 7:00PM – Tomorrow!

Quarterly Board of Directors Meeting. This will be FOMP’s first quarterly BOD meeting after our recent elections and our change to a quarterly format. BOD Meetings are held in the Fire Center Classroom. For those of you unfamiliar with the classroom building make your first left into the Fire Center after Mt. Herman Rd. turns to dirt, follow the road all the way into the administrative area and the classroom building is the first building on your right.

Our agenda will at a minimum include the following:

• Summer 2010 events planning
• Tree Planting Post Mortem
• Push by USFS for Systemizing Trails
• Memorial Grove Day
• Potluck Dinner
• Seedling Release Plans
• Trail Maintenance Plans
• Motor Vehicle Travel Plan for Pike (FOMP Response).

Thanks and we hope to see you there!
FOMP

FOMP would like to remind you of several upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.

April 10 – This Saturday – Our second Eagle Scout project will be this Saturday. Zach Anderson will lead this, which includes planting 200 seedlings and releasing as many existing seedlings as time allows. Estimated project time is from 9:00 AM to 3:00PM.

If you would like to participate, please meet us at 9:00 at the Red Rocks Ranch parking lot (intersection of Red Rocks
and Mount Herman Roads).  We plan to shuttle folks just over a mile up the Mt Herman Road, from where we will hike east
into the project area. This spot on the Mt Herman Road will be marked with orange cones, in case you join in late.
Please see attached maps at the end of the message for location details.

Bring gloves and water, and lunch if needed.  Tools will be supplied.

If you want to join in but arrive late, please contact Jon Nordby (640-1347) or Diane Strohm (232-7724), and we’ll
provide directions as to our specific whereabouts.

April 13 – Tuesday 7:00PM – Quarterly Board of Directors Meeting. This will be FOMP’s first quarterly BOD meeting after our recent elections and our change to a quarterly format. BOD Meetings are held in the Fire Center Classroom. For those of you unfamiliar with the classroom building make your first left into the Fire Center after Mt. Herman Rd. turns to dirt, follow the road all the way into the administrative area and the classroom building is the first building on your right.
Our agenda will at a minimum include the following:

* Summer 2010 events planning
* Open Agenda for members

May 6 – Thursday 5:30PM – Hot Shots and Helitic Crew Dinner – every year FOMP hosts a pot luck dinner for the Hot Shot and Helitac crew based in the Preserve. We will have dinner ready for the crews at 5:30 that day. We are asking for donations of prepared food such as the following:

* Casseroles, crock pot dishes,etc.. for the main course.
* Salads, breads,fruit and desserts to accompany the meal.

The FOMP coordinator for the event is Diane Bandle and she can be reached at dmbandle@hotmail.com. Please let Diane know what you might be able to provide or bring to the work center that day between five and five thirty. If you can not attend but would like to cook some food please let Diane know and she can accomodaye a drop off at her house prior to the event.

Thanks and we hope to see you out there soon!

Parking Area and Dropoff Point