IVHS students help roll out new bike trail
From our weekly issue dated November 5, 2008
The IVHS mountain bike class and advisers who worked on the new Page Mountain bike trail. (Rear, from left) Ricky Keith, Clint Robertson; (middle row) Jacob Pretner, Mitch Van Tassel, Cliff Jantz, Kenny White, Curtis Elmer, Chris Culver; (front row) Jim Heern, Cedar Cosner, Mason Roberts, Ben Kendall, Jeff Coots, Wayne McHugh and Brian Foutch. (Photo by Roger Brandt)
Finishing touches on a new mountain bike trail at Page Mountain have been completed by a group of students from Illinois Valley High School, completing a vision that emerged some five years ago.
The trail is approximately 7/10th of a mile long and connects two U.S. Forest Service gravel roads, making it possible for bike riders to do a complete loop around the mountain.
Page Mountain is 19 miles from Cave Junction on the Jefferson State Scenic Byway to Happy Camp, Calif. The site has a large, paved parking lot and restrooms that were installed for visitors who travel from Oregon and California to use the Page Mountain Sno-Park during the winter.
The park is largely due to Cave Junction resident Walt Farmer, who spearheaded efforts some years ago.
The original idea of creating a mountain bike trail at the mountain was supported by the Forest Service because of the potential for extending the use of the snow park facilities into the summer months. Trail proponents believe that the cool temperatures at the mountain’s high elevation, and the shade of the forest, will make Page Mountain an attractive place to ride during summer heat.
Jim Heern, of Cave Junction, led the campaign to involve IVHS students in this Forest Service project.
“Page Mountain is the kind of place that would make a great mountain biking resource,” said Heern, noting the spectacular view from the top of the mountain that overlooks the Siskiyou Wilderness, Red Buttes Wilderness and Mount Shasta. He also commented on the fall colors in this area, which include bright reds from vine maple, wild rose, and huckleberry, pinks from dogwood, and luminescent yellow from big-leaf maple.
“This is the kind of place that people would travel a long distance to enjoy,” said Heern. He believes that the attractiveness of Page Mountain to mountain bike riders could be used to increase tourism spending in Josephine County. Wayne McHugh, the shop teacher and coordinator for the IVHS mountain bike class, agreed with Heern, a retired IVHS teacher.
“In Hawaii,” said McHugh, “tourists were spending $250 each to go on the day-long Maui Bike Tour, which included rental of a bicycle, a tour route and lunch.” He also noted that there are two outfits in Ashland offering shuttle service to take bike riders to the top of Mount Ashland where they can follow mountain bike trails back to town. He thinks that Page Mountain could offer the same opportunity for a start-up business that might generate income for valley restaurants, wineries or catering services.
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Clint Roberts, one of the Illinois Valley students on the work crew, was interested in the riding opportunities Page Mountain would offer fellow high school students and others in the community.
“This trail is awesome,” he said, as we stood talking at a section of trail with a sweeping view of Illinois Valley. “I can’t wait to ride it.”
Roberts said that he and some of his friends ride in the Page Mountain area about every other weekend during the summer. He is one of several people hoping to obtain permission from the Forest Service to build additional connecting trails to link the many roads around Page Mountain.
Mike Griffin and George Brierty from the Forest Service brought tools and provided safety orientation before beginning work. Karen Brooks, Jim Heern and Roger Brandt provided additional adult supervision. McHugh arranged to bring approximately a dozen students from the IVHS mountain biking class to work on the project.
Brierty designed the trail and used an Environmental Impact Statement for a thinning project in the area to obtain approval for building the trail. A Forest Service wildlife specialist reviewed the area for possible disturbance the trail might have on spotted owls and other “sensitive wildlife.”
(From left) Wayne McHugh, Chris Culver, Kenny White, Cliff Jantz, Mitch Van Tassel, and Mason Roberts work on Page Mountain bike trail. (Photo by Roger Brandt)
The high school crew finalized work on the trail, but Brierty wants to install a short bridge over a small seep to reduce the risk of spreading Port Orford root rot. He also wants to install special gates at both ends of the trail before opening it to mountain bike traffic. He hopes to obtain volunteer assistance from the community.
Griffin noted that much work already was accomplished on the trail before the IVHS group came up last week. Most of the labor for trail construction was financed by a grant from Cave Junction-based Illinois Valley Community Development Organization. The money was used to employ a crew through the Job Council, with additional work on the trail by Community Justice crews from Grants Pass.
Brierty and Griffin also discussed the possibility of creating another mountain bike route by modifying an existing cross-country ski trail. This would be a short trail to connect two Forest Service roads and offer bike riders another loop route around Page Mountain.
Brierty, Heern and McHugh discussed organizing an agreement with the Forest Service for community members to maintain the trail in the future. Heern thought that trail users would do most of the clearing, just as equestrian groups clear trails so that they can use them.
However, he thinks that there should be a group of people who periodically monitor and make sure this trail is in good repair. Heern feels that it would not be difficult to find people to do this work. McHugh suggested that the IVHS mountain bike class might like to be involved in an annual maintenance effort.
After the crew finished work, prizes were distributed to the students through an informal drawing of names. Prizes included a helmet, inner tube inflator, riding gear, energy packets and other items. Prizes were provided by Spin Cycle in Grants Pass.
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