Author Archives: chris

October 2017 Board of Directors Meeting

FOMP is pleased to announce our October 2017 Board Meeting

Meeting Time:
Wednesday, October 11 at 7:00PM

Location: 
This meeting will be held in the Monument Preserve / Fire Center Classroom. For those of you unfamiliar with the classroom building make the first left into the Fire Center after Mt. Herman Rd. turns to dirt, follow the road (slowly please!) all the way into the administrative area and the classroom building is the first building on your right.

Remember meetings are open to all members and the public, we want to hear from you! You do not need to be a FOMP member to attend, but we sure would appreciate you becoming a member!

Agenda:
  • Tool Shed/Trailer (again)
  • Trail etiquette/right of way discussion (again)
  • Sponsorship and funding
    • Time Watkins gift/donation recap and discussion
  • Membership drive review
  • Membership: Recruiting and retaining volunteers
  • Communications: Newsletters and advance notifications
  • Naming trails and maps and mapping apps
  • Sandy road discussion
  • Summer sessions review and recap
    • Tim Watkins Memorial Trail day recap
  • Homeless camp
  • Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates partnership discussion
  • Other
As a reminder, you can always see a schedule of FOMP’s planned activities on our website calendar page and you can also add our iOS or Google calendar feeds to your mobile calendar, never miss an event again!

https://fomp.org/eventcalendar/

Thanks and we hope to see you there!
FOMP

Tim Watkins Memorial Trail Building Day [updated 10/4/2017]

[EDIT: the correct date is Saturday 10/7/2017  Thanks!]

[EDIT: 10/3/2017  Moved gathering spot and tools request. Please see below.]

On Saturday 10/7/2017 from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM FOMP will hold a trail building day to honor Tim Watkins, our areas most prolific trail builder. We encourage you to join us for all or part of the day. When we are finished we will hold a moment of silence and rename the trail for Tim.

If we complete our project ahead of schedule, we will end early.

We are asking that you please sign up on either our Facebook page or on our Signup GFFenius page, but not on both! We’re trying to get a decent idea of turnout to make sure that we have enough tools and experienced crew leaders on hand.

[Note, location change!] FOMP will meet at the trailhead parking lot at the corner of Mt. Herman Rd. and Red Rocks Ranch Rd. on Saturday 10/7/2017 at  9:00 AM (Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/2HGyAyeABrT2).

FOMP has partnered with Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates for this event and both organizations will be bringing critical trail building tools. We request that volunteers please bring the following tools if available: Cutter/Pick Mattock, Shovel, Loppers, Rock/Pry bars (5/6 ft), and small handheld outdoor saws.

Volunteers should wear appropriate clothing for the weather and for performing outdoor landscaping type of work. Volunteers should bring leather gloves, a personal water and snack supply, eye protection, sunscreen, and bug repellent. We meet rain or shine unless there is lightning active in the area.

Please let us know you are coming on our signupgenius page: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/5080F4AACA622A0FD0-timwatkins

– OR –

Like FOMP and sign up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fomp.org

and remember to check back for details right here!

Thanks, we hope to see you all out there!

It is with tremendous sadness and heavy hearts that FOMP will bid farewell to Tim Watkins, a friend, as well as founding, beloved, and instrumental member of our organization and community.

Tim selflessly gave us all countless backbreaking hours building and maintaining area trails and smile after smile. As a result, we all enjoy many miles of the best biking, hiking, and equestrian trails anywhere in the world. We all owe Tim and his family our eternal thanks.

Details for Tim’s memorial service are outlined below. In the event that you can not see the image, it’s this Saturday, 9/23/2017 from 12:00-2:00 PM at the Palmer Lake Town Hall. The family has requested that you ‘dress like Tim’ #beliketim. Cyclists will be gathering (all skills and styles welcome) at 11:00 AM at the corner of Mt. Herman Rd. and Red Rocks Ranch Dr. and taking a casually paced ride over to the service.

FOMP will hold a trail building/maintenance day in Tim’s honor on October 7, 2017 (a Saturday). We will be renaming the section of trail we work on for Tim. We will announce the necessary details through our mailing list, website, and FaceBook page early next week. Please plan on joining us!

Timmay! From all of us, Rest and Ride in Peace. May all of the rides be long, downhill, and buff singletrack!

FOMP

 

May 2017 Trail Night!

Final Reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday, May 17th will be the first trail work night of the season!

FOMP needs you for this trail work session!


New for 2017 we will have 2 start times!
Wednesday, May 17 at 5:00 PM / 6:00 PM

New details below! (we fixed a few spelling mistakes too!)

FOMP is pleased to be holding our first monthly volunteer trail work session for 2017!

We are going to try a dual start time format for this season. One group will meet early at 5:00 PM and the other at 6:00 PM. If you are late for either one you are encouraged to join us out on the trail.  Keep reading for the details!

For our first work session, we will be working to complete a re-route in an area affectionately called “4 Corners” or “Watertank Corner” by many. You can see it on Google Maps here: https://goo.gl/maps/GJ9gRtG938y and you can also the erosion on the existing trail in the picture below. We’ve been contemplating the best way to route around this section for a couple of seasons and started the project with a National Honor Society volunteer day in late March. We’d like to get it finished and to do that we need your help!

If you join us late please proceed to the gate at the corner of Schilling and Lindbergh, grab tools out of Chris’ bright blue Toyota Tacoma and walk in approximately 400 yards to the first trail on your right and follow that up to “4 Corners” where we will be working. The 5:00PM group will be led by Chris Tirpak and the 6:00PM group will be led by our new FOMP President, Bill Normile! Meet at the usual parking lot spot at the main trailhead at the corner of Mt. Herman Rd. and Nursery R. Google Maps: http://bit.ly/FOMPMeetingSpot)

If you are joining us late, here is an overview map of where we will be – follow the orange track (well, you can skip that crazy start just walk straight down the service road towards Memorial Grove and after about 400 yards take the first right (orange) or second right (green) to arrive at the work site.

FOMP "4 Corners" project site

FOMP “4 Corners” project site

The rest of the info you need: FOMP and USFS provide all necessary tools. Volunteers should wear appropriate clothing for performing outdoor landscaping type of work. Volunteers should bring leather gloves, a personal water supply, eye protection, sunscreen, and bug repellent. We meet rain or shine unless there is lightning active in the area. In the event that you are joining us late you can call Chris Tirpak (719.439.8865) to get any last minute information or if you are having trouble finding us.

We make every effort to accommodate volunteer preferences and abilities at each event. Generally, we perform activities such as water bar building or renovation, trail renovation, maintenance, and trimming, etc. So, pretty much everything from trimming back scrub oak or digging lots of dirt to moving boulders. We assign duties based on interest and capabilities. Kids are welcome to join their parents; however, we do ask that you evaluate whether this is an appropriate activity for your child or not.

Thanks, and we hope to see you out there!

FOMP

 

4 orners rutted mess!

4 corners rutted mess!

Culturally Modified Trees (CMT)

At the April 2017 FOMP annual meeting a very special presentation by Author/Artist/Consultant John Anderson will be given. John will be giving a presentation on trees along the Front Range that were culturally modified (bent, tied, peeled, etc.) by members of the Ute tribe. These special trees provide a glimpse into the Ute culture.

Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Info: CMT Talk by John Anderson (requires Adobe PDF reader)

 

Annual Meeting and More

April 2017 Board of Directors Meeting

FOMP is pleased to announce our April 2017 Board meeting and Annual Elections

Meeting Time:
Wednesday, April 12 at 7:00PM

Location:
This meeting, as with most meetings in the past BOD Meetings will be held in the Fire Center Classroom. For those of you unfamiliar with the classroom building make the first left into the Fire Center after Mt. Herman Rd. turns to dirt, follow the road (slowly please!) all the way into the administrative area and the classroom building is the first building on your right.

Remember meetings are open to all members and the public, we want to hear from you!

Agenda:

  • Board election – if you want to be involved this is a great time
  • 2017 Newsletter – writing assignments
  • 2017 membership
  • Summer season 2017 planning
  • Finance update
  • Open forum for any discussion
  • And a very special presentation by Author/Artist/Consultant John Anderson. John will be giving a presentation on trees along the Front Range that were culturally modified (bent, tied, peeled, etc.) by members of the Ute tribe. These special trees provide a glimpse into the Ute culture. More information will be available on the FOMP website.

As a reminder, you can always see a schedule of FOMP’s planned activities on our website calendar page and you can also add our iOS or Google calendar feeds to your mobile calendar, never miss an event again!

Thanks and we hope to see you there!
FOMP