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Last fall Park Manager Kevin Swenson informed us one of the neighbors of Blue Mound State Park had asked for a survey of the shared property line. The survey revealed the fence line between the properties had been strung on the neighbor's land, and that some of the Holy Schist bike trail was built outside the park boundary.

We have the land owner's permission to use the existing trail through July. By then we need to have a reroute built to keep the trail open. We have proposed a reroute and have official approval from Mr. Swenson to begin construction.

There is approximately 600 yards of new trail to build. Please come out on Saturday June 7th at 8AM to help us. We will meet at the main parking lot for the bike trail head (by the swimming pool, not at the park garage as in previous years). June 7th is National Trails Day. If you were looking for a way to contribute, please join us. Entrance to the park is free and no trail pass is required (if the trails are open) for the entire weekend.

What exactly is at stake is a part of Holy Schist was built outside the boundary of Blue Mound State Park*. The land owner, understandably wants the trail to not be on his property. Not everyone loves us without reservation.

There is no easy shortcut to connect around the part of the trail we are obliged to vacate. If we don't deal with the problem this summer, the park manager will have no alternative but to close Holy Schist until we finish the reroute. To the best of my knowledge the other trails would remain open. Bike access to Over-Lode, Beginner-Chert Dip-Serpentine Climb, and Pokerville will not be affected regardless of how well or how poorly we meet our obligations in this matter.

A rough guess is we will need to build about 600 yards of new trail. It's a lot of work for Gary to do by himself (someone has to supervise), so please come out and help.

Walt

* The area in question lies between Joe's Nose and the bottom of Kipp's Climb.