The 5th meeting was last Wed (5/5/4) and the final Master Plan was unveiled.

There were several changes from the draft plan (I've added some comments for
clarification):

- A new designated rock climbing area (per request at the draft plan
meeting) was added on the East side of Red Rock Canyon to compliment the
ones on the East.

- The Northern-most portion of the contemplative trail (hiking only) was
moved to the West of the fins (this was also a popular request at the draft
plan meeting, but the public asked for the entire contemplative trail to be
moved to the West, enabling the existing singletrack from Bevers to High Dr.
to remain multiuse).

- The hiking only portion of the singletrack from Bevers to High Dr. was
extended further to the South (This went against all of the public comments
at the draft plan meeting requesting that this trail remain multiuse).

- Added a hiking only intermediate trail in Red Rock Canyon (the existing
easy road will remain multiuse).

- The E-W trail link across Snyder Quarry is now designated a "dismount
zone" for bicyclists, differentiating it from the hiking only trails.
(Meaning that you cannot portage or walk you bicycle on these hiker only
trails. Something that came as quite a surprise to me at least, and I
imagine many others. Not everyone on City staff agrees with this, but my
understanding is that the thought behind this is that if someone walks their
bike on one of these trails, hikers will see the tracks, assume someone was
riding their bike, and start complaining.)

- Some additional E-W links were added to boost the ability to link trails
into loops.

- The trailhead at Bevers Pl. was removed - the existing trail will still be
accessible, but there will not be any signage on Bevers Pl.

- The advanced N-S trail on the highest ridge (near the E edge of property)
was extended to run the length of the ridge (enables an
intermediate/advanced loop running the length of the property.).

- Slight realignments of the geology (4.63mi) and history (3.72mi)
interpretive trails.


Other things to note (more liberally sprinkled with my thoughts!):

- It was mentioned by Terry Putnam that the Hwy 24 frontage property
(parcel E) may be developed to some extent, with the possibilities including
a public swimming pool, a botanical garden, a visitor center, and/or
relocation of the downtown US Forest Service bldg (they have expressed
interest in relocation). (Considering the public's input through many of
the meetings regarding the desire to minimize development of the property
(38 comments from the first meeting alone), this information was quite
surprising. The only thing that received positive comment at the final plan
meeting was the relocation of the Forest Service, which many thought should
be encouraged.)

- The split between the easy/intermediate/advanced trails was more balanced
in the final plan (4.65/9.42/3.07mi). (However, approximately half the
intermediate and advanced trails are currently dirt roads. It was stated
that the roads could be turned into technical singletrack and that the City
would rather spend time moving boulders in, etc. to do that than spend
time/money dealing with erosion problems if they stay roads. I hope that
can be done effectively, but still lament the fact that these trails will
still - at least for a long time - be missing immersion in the
landscape/vegetation. Maybe that can be addressed as well.)

- The hiking only designated portion of the Bevers-High Dr. singletrack was
extended further South (almost to the bottom of the climb to Bevers Pl.).
(This flew in the face of the majority public opinion expressed at the draft
plan meeting that this existing singletrack remain multiuse. There was
consensus on this point between those advocating a hiking only contemplative
trail and other user groups. As you may recall, I thought that the public
opinion was so strong on this point that the trail would definitely remain
multiuse in the final plan. Nope. Explanations for why this didn't change
weren't really offered. Another thing that will happen to this trail is
that the hiking only portions of this trail are designated as
easy/intermediate. This will most certainly mean, in the case of the easy
portion, that the narrow singletrack will be widened to a minimum width of
5' and all technical aspects will be removed - read graded, as these trails
were described as being wheelchair accessible. In addition, intermediate
trails were defined as typically having a minimum width of 3' with
waterbar-type technical features, so there's a chance the singletrack could
be widened on those sections as well. Also worthwhile to point out that the
Northern section of the trail is dropped completely off the master plan map.
I have a hard time imagining that it won't still be used as a social trail,
but such use would be considered illegal since the trail is not on the
master plan map.)

- The contemplative trail (which utilizes a most of the hiking only section
of the Bevers-High Dr singletrack) had a change of alignment on the N end,
moving W to the other side of some fins (This was another common theme from
almost everyone at the draft plan meeting, move the whole contemplative
trail to the W side of the fins. It definitely is more remote feeling and
has a more "immersed in nature" feel on that side. This is also the reason
why everyone agreed that the singletrack could remain multiuse - it wouldn't
be utilized by the contemplative trail anymore. Again, I'm not sure why the
change was not made. It was mentioned that there was no way to position the
trail on that side, but I know that isn't a problem for most if not all of
the distance - there are already social trails in place between the fins and
Sand Canyon to the W.)

- The hiking only trail added to RRC upped the hiking only total mileage to
1.26mi. This new trail is intermediate level and parallels the easy
multiuse dirt road. (Don Ellis - Red Rock Canyon Committee - commented at
the meeting that the uses should be reversed - the easy road should be hiker
only and the intermediate trail should be multiuse. I would say that is a
great idea, but I'm not sure if anything will change.)

- There are still very few loops that can be made without significant mixing
of different ability level trails. For example, trying to construct loops
of primarily advanced level trails requires use of quite a lot of easy and
intermediate trail. I'm not too worried about the intermediate/advanced
mixing, but I hope user conflict issues don't arise from easy/intermediate &
easy/advanced mixing.

- The short singletrack that runs down from the Easternmost ridge to the
cemetery/powerstation area was mentioned by several people as a good
neighborhood access that should be left on the master plan map.

I may be forgetting some things, but that's the gist of it. Overall a huge
gain in the presence of a freeriding area and it was nice to see better
balance of easy/intermediate/advanced trails. I'm disappointed that the
public's input was not adopted on the Bevers-High Dr
singletrack/contemplative trail and that half of the intermediate/advanced
trails are starting from dirt roads. I'm also disappointed/shocked about
the "no bikes at all" aspect of the hiking only trails and would like to see
the RRC hiker only trail designated as using the easy road, not the
intermediate trail. In most other areas, I think the plan is a pretty good
compromise between all the views/opinions/desires.

Although the master plan is considered final, they are reviewing comments on
it and revising it again before it is presented to the Parks & Rec Adv.
Board on June 17 (7:30am @ 1401 Recreation Way). So, you still have
opportunities to make your opinion known. You can send email to Chris
Lieber (clieber@...) now to give input prior to the revision and
you can attend the June 17th meeting to express your opinion to the City and
the Parks & Rec Board. However, the chances of changing things are growing
slimmer. The final master plan map is not on the City's website yet, but it
should be appearing shortly.

Thanks for your efforts on the master plan process - Now, please keep it
going by helping to build the trails! You will be able to sign up for
volunteer efforts in RRC on the City's website. Medicine Wheel has
committed to helping out/adopting the park, so let's support their effort
with some of our own.

Thanks again,

Jim Yount
(719) 540-1505
jyount@...

P.S. To offer your opinion on the possibility of Gold Camp Road reopening
to vehicular traffic, go to the following website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/projects/gold_camp/comments.shtml
Please note that there is a very vocal percentage of people that think the
road should be reopened. If you do not agree with this, please email your
opinion to the FS.