The Boulder County floods of September 2013 severely damaged the trails at the Cal-Wood Educational Center above Jamestown. In 2017 BMA obtained an anonymous grant to provide Cal-Wood with the tools and venue to offer mountain biking opportunities to participants in the Latino Family Camp Program and other Cal-wood programs.
Many program participants are from underserved communities and would not otherwise have the opportunity to try mountain biking. In addition to providing 20 mountain bikes with helmets and pads, and skills classes for both instructors and participants, the grant funded a redesign of the damaged Lower Haybunk trail by Scott Gordon of Contour Logic, and paid the costs of the necessary construction materials.
During 2017 and 2018, two BMA trail crew leaders worked with the staff and students at Cal-Wood and with various volunteer groups to construct a mountain bike friendly replacement for the trail. Nine project days by 174 volunteers contributed 625 hours to reroute more than 60% of the original trail and improve the remaining sections. The reroutes removed the trail from the stream drainage, built a significant new bridge to improve sustainability and reduce environmental effects, incorporated curves and contours with varied settings and views to enhance the user experience, and added alternate lines offering new technical biking options.
Cal-Wood is a non-profit organization that has connected kids and families to the mountains at its 1,200 acres classroom since 1982.
