in Cross Plains (Moderator: Cliffy)

Good News!  The Village Board approved a mixed-use mountain biking and hiking trail in the Cedar Hill and Cedar Glen Conservancies on 3/27/17.  Conditions of approval include Village control and oversight of the trail, a signed MOU with CORP, a yearly evaluation of the trail, and no events on the trail.  A draft MOU is currently being reviewed by CORP and the Village attorney.  We are aiming to have the draft MOU approved at the 5/15/17 Parks and Recreation Committee meeting and then signed by a CORP officer.  We surveyed conservancy corner points and set the initial uphill access trail corridor this weekend (Thanks BStoffey and Ron).  Once the MOU is signed we are OK to start clearing and constructing the trail as sections get approved by the Village.  We tentatively plan to start volunteer trail building in June 2017.          \

Good News #2!  CORP established a starting budget for the Cross Plains trails which will allow construction begin ASAP.  Be sure that you and your friends join IMBA/CORP so that more of your donations will go directly back to trail building in the area!  Additional trail expansion projects in the area include Pleasant View and CamRock.

Thanks to Landowski Trailworx who has been providing initial planning effort and who will be providing a quote for professional trail construction soon. 

Stay tuned for more information and reply to the volunteering topic if you would like to get involved. 

To keep everyone in the loop, our mountain biking memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Village of Cross Plains made it past the Parks and Rec Committee on 5/15, but was tabled at the 5/22 Village Board Meeting due to some last minute added legal language.  Because of this, we get to try the MOU process over again in June!   The Parks and Rec Committee is schedule for 6/19 and Village Board is scheduled for 6/26.  Assuming we are approved on this go around, we anticipate trail construction to start in July.  Keep an eye out opportunities to get involved.

Also, we will plan to begin fundraising once the executed MOU is in place.  Start getting the word out to employers and other industry professionals that a donation would be a great way to give back to the community  . We also plan to set up donation incentives (t-shirts, swag, etc.) for individuals to donate.  Note that Capital Off Road Pathfinders is a Wisconsin 501(c)3 charitable non-profit, meaning that donations are write offs.  We plan to route donations directly through CORP and a separate fund will be tracked for our project.  Again, thank you to CORP for already donating a substantial amount to the project!

The initial indication of cost for the uphill access is somewhere between $7000-$9000.  We are working on a firm estimate for this work and will also be plotting out the west loop of the trail system in the next two weeks.  We will likely save the permanent construction of the uphill access to the professionals and build the upper (flatter) west loop with volunteers.  The full project cost for east and west loops will likely be pushing $40K assuming that we professionally build some of the trail, bridges, retaining walls, and trail heads.

No volunteer work will be going on this weekend.  I know the Battle of CamRock still needs volunteers so get involved if you can!

Cross Plains had it's first trail day this weekend and had a great turnout!  Thanks to the 11 volunteers that showed up and thanks to REI for supplying food, beverages, and swag!  We cleared over half way up the access trail and are looking to keep the momentum going.  We plan to start a reoccurring trail day on Monday's after work (5:30ish) starting next week 7/31.  Keep an eye out for more details.

(edited: July 31, not August)

Photos of the Cross Plains trail day 7/22/17

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5z7hF70bfkBRVFDZno5WVBHRzA?usp=sharing

Great turnout, and a great start to the next CORP trail system! Looks like it was a bit shweddy 

It's OFFICIAL.  The Cross Plains Village Board voted unanimously to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Capital Off Road Pathfinders at last night's meeting (7/24/17).  We are good to start breaking ground!   Now the fun starts!  Check out the Volunteering section of this forum to see how you can get involved.

http://www.madcitydirt.com/index.php?topic=3729.0

 

The Cross Plains trails continue to make great progress!  Thanks to everyone who has been showing up to our Monday 5:30pm trail work days.  Volunteer crews have been busy clearing and constructing the challenging uphill access trail off of Market Street.  We are happy to report that we are almost 75% of the way up the hill!  Once we reach the top, we should be able to kick it into high gear!

We can always use more support, so please feel free to participate in a trail work day or donate to the cause.  We are working towards lining up a professional builder for the Spring and are working on securing funding.  To donate please go to PayPal here http://www.madcitydirt.com/index.php?action=getinvolved or send a check to CORP, PO BOX 44572, MADISON WI 53704, and note that your contribution is toward the 2017 Cross Plains Project

Here are some photos and maps of our progress.  See you soon!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzVyiJTmJujGd0NJc2JUTjFoblE
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5z7hF70bfkBalJ3bFpuY3VWTHM?usp=sharing

TRAILS ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  PLEASE DO NOT RIDE.

Landowski Trailworx is rolling!  The re-worked uphill access trail is looking sweet!  We will have a great entryway to the new trail system, which should be an amazing uphill/downhill experience.  Volunteer work will be concentrating on the West loop  and the goal is to have a rideable loop in 2018.  Keep an eye out on the events page for upcoming trail days..... and be sure to donate to Cross Plains Wisconsin trail project on win.imba.com/digin .  Proceeds will go directly to the Cross Plains trail project and IMBA will match your donations!

I took a walk on Thanksgiving morning and then this morning as well!!  The progress looks awesome!  The work a professional can do is amazing. 

Well worth donating towards.  Looking forward to continued progress!

Volunteers kicking butt in 5 degree weather!  Love it!

We have about 1.4 miles flagged and are about 1/4 complete.  Watch the events page for volunteer opportunities over the winter months!

Hello
Planning on clearing the corridor this Saturday 2/17 at 2pm.  Meet at Hwy KP and Bourbon road.

One or two more strong efforts may complete the clearing of 1.5 miles of corridor. Volunteers have been working through the winter to try and complete this first section.  Come on out with a loppers or saw if you have them and check out this awesome trail. Tools will be available if you do not have them.

1.5 miles of trail corridor cleared of briars, buckthorn and crap!  Getting ready to move some dirt and build out this trail!  Check out the Volunteering forum and the madcitydirt.com calendar for volunteering opportunities.

We did some sawing, leaf blowing and flagging last night.  We plan to work the next 2 Saturdays 9-noon.  Come and join us.

Making headway!  The access trail is rideable from top to bottom, minus a couple clunky spots.  Chad should be back this spring to build the trailhead retaining wall and a remaining switchback.  Now that our volunteer construction crews are on top of the hill we are making quick work of the previously cleared corridor.  Check out the Volunteering forum section to get involved.