Left Hand Canyon

[Chris]

Saw this on Rising Sun and thought I'd share since I know a bunch of you like LHC

Thursday Jan 23rd.
Just came from the Boulder Ranger District meeting.
First meeting since August 2013, due to the floods. Cat and her crew were busy with other flood stuff, so no meetings took place until now.

20 people representing several clubs were present ( I'm a Trail Ridge Runner soon to be a Rising Sun member )

I'm only passing this along due most all trails will open in 2014 in the BRD area., some will need some work before opening, BUT the Left Hand Canyon area will NOT open in 2014, and probably will not open in 2015.

2014 is the planning and assessment for Left hand
No plans to get any repairs completed.

We argued that we have the man power with in the clubs to get this project going sooner. Cat can only do so much with the powers above her in Fort Collins.

I was also at the Colorado Association of Four Wheel Drive Club meeting In Buena Vista on the 25th of January if anyone has questions.

[dscowell]

This is interesting I knew that area would be really messed up due to the floods and is probably close to a different trail now! But I would think it would get done a little sooner due to it being such a popular trail or from what I see is that it is a popular trail.

[Haku]

If you are surprised, you don't know some of the history of LHC.

Many clubs and individuals have gone out of their way to show sterwardship of that area with cleanups and maintenance, but the BRD threw that hard work in their faces and closed the most popular section of that trail system about 4 years ago. There was an outpouring of support from the offroad community to keep it open and it did nothing.

Most of the people involved with that pretty much stopped caring after that, so its deteriorated heavily since then.

My guess is the flooding is their excuse to finally close it for good, especially with this response from them. I can't say I'm that sad about it. The last time I went up there were just a bunch of inexperienced yahoo's tearing the place up. The shooting area is filthy and lots of irresponsible gun use going on. Lots of evidence of off trail driving and people trashing the place. We only made it to the bottom of Big Momma hill and turned around and did a different trail instead.

[Jackie]

thanks for keeping us posted, Chris. I'm anxious to see what the conditions for Johnny Park, Pierson Park, Pole Hill, MSV T33A, etc. I haven't been up that way since the flood (not even a drive up to Lions or Estes for a day). No idea how the canyon repairs went or what the towns look like now. I'll find out soon enough I guess. I'm sure all the trail ratings will be skewed a bit due to damage. We were in Grand Lake when they were evacuating everyone out of RMNP.

[The StRanger]

Its a sad day when we loose a trail. I never had a chance to run it !!
Iv heard that most of the damage was from CU students and punk high school kids.
Tried to make a clean up run some time ago but missed it. They pulled out two dumpsters.
Within a month it was just as bad !!
Very sad indeed !!

[JFjeld]

I pretty much agree with everything Haku said. LHC was the first trail I ever ran since moving to CO, and was my 'go to' trail since it was about 30 minutes from my house. But its apparent that the trail is heavily abused and just a place for punks to tear stuff up, and for losers to abuse the land. I've, too, felt that the 'Powers That Be' would use the flood as an excuse to keep it closed. Thankfully there are an abundance of other trails, but this news does sadden me.

[Max]

I wish I knew about that meeting. I agree that if they asked for volunteers to get it reopened sooner they'd get them. I really like that trail, it's so close, has lots of fun stuff, and is a good length.

[The StRanger]

I too, felt that the 'Powers That Be' would use the flood as an excuse to keep it closed. Thankfully there are an abundance of other trails, but this news does sadden me.
But what trail will the Punks take aim on ??
There like bugs. They will feed on the weak till it dies then pick the bones.
When there's nothing left (LHC) they will go to another till they do the same thing !!

[Mr6dwg]

Once the road finally opened, I drove up there and checked out the canyon, in general. There are some pretty messed up spots in the creek and the road. The canyon has really been changed. As you drive past the turn off to Left Hand Canyon, there is a deep washed out ditch in the middle of the gate area. And the area where the water meets the road has completely changed the area. I will try to get up there in the next few days and take some pictures.

[Haku]

haha....maybe it washed all the planted grass out of Lower Carnage and they can open it again :P

That all sounds like something a few hours of work with a backhoe can fix. Most of the rest of the trail is higher up on the side of the hill so its not going to be as effected. I guess I could see some sections like big momma and others having some pretty big erosion on them though.

I agree about the "what will be the new sacrificial area" comments for sure. The irresponsible yahoo's who ruined the Boulder Carnage route for us will just go find another spot, not to mention another spot for the shooting range BS that went on up there pretty often. My guess is Bunce School will get even more torn up then it already has in the coming years.

[Rick]

yep!

[Coonburger]

yeah kind of sucks i was really hoping to see the added difficulty that the rains gave the trail. I mean fix the spots that are absolute safety hazard and the hard spots leave alone. but they have their excuse and its gone wonder what the next trail is that is going to get trashed.

[Mr6dwg]

I have been busy and hadn't gotten up Lefthand canyon until a few days ago. I put up a couple of pictures.

[Coonburger]

sucks its probably closed permanently wonder which trial up that way is going to get trashed now