Tag Archives: Ash Canyon

Ash Canyon Trail Report

Posted on by
2

The Ash Canyon Trails are in fantastic condition right now! There is plenty of traction and no mud. There is high visibility on the Creek Trail, as the leaves have mostly fallen from the trees, and the grass has started to die back. With little sun reaching the bottom of the canyon though, it’s chilly down there, and the ground is frozen in parts.

Jesse and Cortney
Jesse and Cortney headed towards the Creek Trail

Don’t wait too long to enjoy the great trail conditions though! Looks like we got a “significant winter storm” headed towards us this weekend. You never know when your last ride on the Creek Trail for the season is going to be, so get out there.

Ash Canyon Night Ride
Ash Canyon Night Ride

There is also a night ride scheduled for Thursday, November 18th at 6:30 PM. Denis at the Bike Habitat wants to help get you out on the trails, and has a great selection of lights available. Call the Bike Habitat at 267-5053 if you’d like to reserve a demo light for tonight’s ride.

A map to the Foothill Road Trailhead off Winnie Lane can be found HERE.

Thursday Night Rides

Posted on by
6

The sun is going down early now, and night rides are back! Denis at the Bike Habitat has been hosting weekly rides in Ash Canyon. Night time mountain biking is an exciting and challenging way to experience the trails!

Ash Canyon Night Ride
Andrea riding the Four Day trail

This Thursday, 10/21, meet at 6:30 PM at the Foothill Road trailhead.  New to night riding? Call the Bike Habitat at 267-5053 if you’d like to reserve a demo light!


Trailhead

Sabotage! on the Ash Canyon Trails

Posted on by
17

Be Alert! Someone has sabotaged the trails in Ash Canyon by digging deep holes in the middle of the trail. The holes are located in high speed sections or in places where you wouldn’t see them until too late. Hitting one of these holes at speed would cause serious injury or even death! We weren’t able to repair them at lunch, but tried to block off the trail with downed brush. We’ll get trail crews up there ASAP to repair the damage. Until this issue is resolved, it is advisable to ride up any trail first at a slow speed before bombing back down it. The four holes we discovered were on the lower trails just west of the V&T bike path (Jackrabbit and Postal Route). No holes were found higher up, but this could change at any time. Trail map here: http://www.bikecarson.com/trails-and-rides/

Trail Sabotage
1st Hole on the Jackrabbit Trail (Depth indication provided by Robin)

Trail Sabotage
2nd Hole on the Jackrabbit Trail

Trail Sabotage
3rd Hole on the Jackrabbit Trail

Trail Sabotage
Beginning of the Postal Trail

Ash Canyon Picnic Table

Posted on by
6

Have you seen the new picnic table on the Ash Canyon Creek Trail? Even if you ride down the Creek Trail daily, there’s a good chance you haven’t. I only saw it because I had to stop to fix a mechanical problem at the picnic table trail entrance. Jeff P had told me about the table, but I could never find it.

Ash Canyon Picnic Table
Ash Canyon Picnic Table

The picnic table is located near the top of the Creek Trail. To get there from the upper (west) entrance, drop down into the canyon from the Ash Canyon dirt road. The trail descends west into the canyon, and then makes a switchback at the bottom. The Creek Trail heads east down the canyon now. Ride a short distance through the tall grass under the shade of the big trees. The brief trail to the picnic table takes off to the south right when you’re out of the tall grass and back into the sun. You can see the table from the Creek Trail, so it’s hard to miss if you’re looking in the right direction.

Ash Canyon Picnic Table
Dining a Mile High

The table sits in the shade just above Ash Canyon Creek, and makes a wonderful place to stop and rest. Bring along a meal, and enjoy mile-high dining at 5,482′ elevation.

Ash Canyon Trail Map for Google Earth

Posted on by
4

Jesse Richardson has created us a new Ash Canyon Trail Map! The 2-D image is great, but it’s even more fun to download the 3-D Google Earth version. Here’s his map and what he has to say about it. – Jeff

Ash Canyon Trail Map for Google Earth – by Jesse Richardson

Have you ever been sitting on a particular piece of single track in Ash Canyon and wondered where you were?  The last time you coordinated a meeting spot up on the mountain with a few friends for some laps around the canyon, did you stumble to find the words to describe the location?  Did you even know that these trails all had a bunch of wacky names?

Since the dawn of civilization man has struggled to take in his surroundings and hastily jot down the location of the nearest prospect to provide to his comrades.  Early seafaring adventurers developed complex tools and techniques to properly document strange new continents and great divides.  All of that toil is over with thanks to a great invention, the Geostationary Satellite.  Thanks to Google Earth and a simple bike-mounted GPS, what would have taken me weeks on an Etch-a-Sktech and days to draw out by hand can be achieved in just a few hours.

Ash Canyon Trail Map
Ash Canyon Trails

Ash Canyon Trail Map Download for Google Earth

I took months of GPS data and hand drew each trail based off of my saved routes.  When you open up the .kmz file in Google Earth move it from Temporary Places over to your My Places area to save it.  Then once you expand it you’ll notice it’s broken down by Singletrack, Fire Roads, Trail Access Points and Waypoints.  You can customize your view at any time by turning certain trail features on and off.  Download the file and become more familiar with your trails and plan more efficiently with this trail map.  Enjoy!