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Letter: Let’s build more trails

Hats off to the board of directors of the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association — the local chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association — for conceiving, planning and championing for greatly improved mountain-bike trails within the Roaring Fork Valley. If you’re not already a member, please consider supporting its efforts by visiting http://www.rfmba.org. Thanks also to the county and city open space and trails boards and staff for allocating resources and getting new trails built and for securing necessary cooperation from the U.S. Forest Service. The Skyline, Cozyline, Deadline and other area trails have transformed upvalley mountain biking.

While I am impressed with the quality of trail building and quality riding experiences that the Sky Mountain Park trails represent, the new Hummingbird Trail in the Hunter Creek Valley has further revealed what is possible and has elevated the ride standard to a new level of “wow!” The new Hummingbird Trail is truly extraordinary as it winds its way through Aspen forests and across scrub oak hillsides. The riding in both directions is a hoot, and the upvalley and downvalley views revealed by the switchbacks make one’s spirit soar. Given trail-planning and -building skills and extensive public lands surrounding Aspen, the opportunities for additional trails and recreational opportunities are vast.

At a reported cost of just over $40,000 for the Hummingbird Trail, we should be allocating far more of the $9.8 million and $9.3 million in Pitkin County and city of Aspen, respectively, open space and trails property and sales tax collections in 2014 to expanding and maintaining trails throughout our valley.



Mike Maple

Aspen