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On July 9, Evergreen East, Spokane Parks and Recreation, and Out There Monthly coordinated the second annual Spokatopia Outdoor Festival located at Camp Sekani city park in Spokane.  This event gave people the opportunity to try a hand at several outdoor activities—mountain biking, paddleboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, and canoeing.  With over 40 vendors Spokatopia also included local bike shops with bike demos from Specialized, Pivot, Yeti, Trek, Norco, Santa Cruz, and Ellsworth. 

A sample letter is available at the bottom of this blog post to guide your comments. The Draft Colville Forest Plan has been released and public comments are due by July 5th, 2016.  This is the final step in a multi-year Plan Revision effort, and the final plan will govern this amazing 1.1 million-acre National Forest for the next 15 years or more.   Basically, a Forest Plan is a strategic plan that guides land and recreation management and access, defines what may or may not be allowed in sections of the forest, and determines how each section should be maintained.  In late May, Will Stone (President of Evergreen East) and I completed a tour of the Colville Forest.  We met with local representatives and rode several trails to help inform Evergreen’s comments to the Forest Plan.  The pictures in this blog are from our trip.    Why does this matter to you?  Because the plan affects mountain bike access to some of the best high alpine backcountry mountain bike trails in Washington State! In the current preferred alternative (alternative P), approximately 80 miles of multi-use trail is included in areas recommended as wilderness  If this is adopted, the Forest Service could decide to immediately CLOSE these trails to mountain biking. Once the proposed wilderness areas are designated as Wilderness by Congress, mountain bikers are legally restricted from ever riding there again.   We need your help to voice strong support for continued mountain bike access! 

  Part of a system boasting over 110 miles of unique sub-alpine single track—and itself stretching nearly 40 miles from the Colville Reservation nearly to Canada —the Kettle Crest offers riding unlike anything else in Washington, peeking out from the northeast corner of our state to claim this month’s Trail Highlight title.

If you’ve ridden King County’s Duthie Hill MTB Park, your tires have rolled on countless hours of volunteer labor.  With over 100,000 visitors each year, Duthie requires constant upkeep and attention—and that’s why community involvement is such an integral part of our maintenance plan.  But it’s not just volunteers—bike businesses are a huge part of the community that keeps Duthie running—and we’d like to recognize three all stars: Sweetlines, Fluidride, and Progression Cycle. Many groups join in the effort to make Duthie as fun as it is, but we consistently see these three pop up. Whether it’s unsolicited donations, constant trailwork, or mechanical support, these folks truly deserve our thanks for helping make Duthie great.