Sedona: The Perfect Storm
I’ll be perfectly honest; Sedona, in terms of recreation, is not as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Despite being known for world class trails, the user groups have had some bad history. Unfortunately, mountain biking has been at the core of many issues. With the past hanging heavy, several key groups came together for an event that was ten years in the making. In the end we dubbed it ‘the perfect storm’.
We arrived at the local coffee shop last Thursday morning just in time to sit down and catch the latest mountain bike related headline in the local newspaper. To our dismay it read “Rogue riders damage forest’s ecosystem”. It became very apparent that our visit to Sedona was well timed.
That afternoon we began our important multi-day journey by discussing the importance of mountain biking to the local community and economy. Sedona is a major tourist destination in Arizona, second only to the Grand Canyon. It’s not the ‘if you build it, they will come’ type of place. They are already here and many of them are mountain bikers. By the end of the day we had the Forest Service, the Verde Valley Cycling Coalition, Friends of the Forest, and others sitting around the table having meaningful conversation.
Building upon the Thursday discussion was easy once each group came to the table and got on the same page. On Friday we began the next task of setting up the Saturday field session: an advanced mountain bike specific trail. Designing this type of route is a welcome rarity for a Trail Care Crew and we were thrilled to have the opportunity. It would be a great way to showcase what type of experiences mountain bikers seek out and how their goals can be accomplished with regard to other users and the environment.
Saturday started with a standing room only crowd for the Trailbuilding School. Having that kind of presence really motives and inspires the work we do. Not only did we have a strong local presence, we also had long-time advocates and supporters from around the state.
After lunch we gathered at the access point for the Mystic Trail, ready to tackle a challenging project. With names like ‘G-Outs’ and ‘The Diving Board’ you can start to picture the type of trail we were building. And to achieve the goal of a route with gravity-fed technical features, it was imperative that we made it sustainable. Luckily we had over 40 volunteers and they were all psyched to learn the finer points of building rock armored trails. Working in four different areas, we moved and placed massive amounts of red sandstone. I don’t know if it was the abundance of testosterone or the dry desert air, but an amazing transformation occurred, all in a matter of hours.
As the sun set we packed up our tools and walked out together, no longer separated by our chosen outdoor activity. Listening to the chatter around me I noticed that it didn’t focus on the users. Instead, it centered around the Mystic Trail and the excitement of finishing the new alternative line.
I’m always amazed at the power of trails. They have the ability to create new and often unlikely alliances.
More pictures from the weekend: http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=sedona&w=61656055%40N00