A bad weekend to scout 61

[Phaseolus]

Next weekend August 9, there will be a major motorcycle race on the Uncompahgre Plateau. It will be mostly on the 61 side ( as I understood talking with riders putting up signage) and on pretty much all the singletrack trails open to motorcycles and some of the atv trails. So if you are planning on scouting Aug 9 be aware that the Basin Trails, Snowshoe Trail, Ute Trail, Massey Branch, Mailbox Branch, Long Canyon, Beaver Pond Trail, Campbell Point and Lower Bench Trails are all part of the event. probably more to the south too. (someone who knows more about it should fill us in) . We ran into a bunch of people putting up signage who said there will be hundreds of riders. They were even cutting logs out and moving boulders so that there would be "room to pass". Good grief I thought, that many riders that you would need room to pass on remote trails?

This ought to scare the critters out of these areas for a period of time and make them tougher hiking. Long Canyon and Beaver dam were so cupped out from the riders it made my ankles sore.

Update: It's limited to 500 riders... http://www.bookcliffrattlersmc.com/#!race-info/cee5