A Little History
Over the past decade, there has been more and more collaboration between SCoMBA and the Summit Mountain Biking group (SMB) on trail work in the Soda Creek Valley. SMB is an informal group focused on group rides and trail maintenance. After spending a great deal of time on maintenance projects on trails in the Soda Creek Valley, the Dillon Ranger District (DRD) agreed to allow SMB to adopt the trail system for oversight.
Much of the trail system in the Soda Creek Valley grew out of old ranch roads which tended to be routed through lower flatter areas and directly up the fall line on hills. The lower areas tended to be seasonal wetlands and the fall line sections are subject to heavy erosion. Due to these two issues, a great deal of time was spent putting “band-aids” on problem areas. Working with the DRD, reroutes were identified to fix many of those problems and were included in the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Swan Mountain Vegetation Study.
Previous Projects
Recent machine / hand built trail development:
Over the past decade, there has been more and more collaboration between SCoMBA and the Summit Mountain Biking group (SMB) on trail work in the Soda Creek Valley. SMB is an informal group focused on group rides and trail maintenance. After spending a great deal of time on maintenance projects on trails in the Soda Creek Valley, the Dillon Ranger District (DRD) agreed to allow SMB to adopt the trail system for oversight.
Much of the trail system in the Soda Creek Valley grew out of old ranch roads which tended to be routed through lower flatter areas and directly up the fall line on hills. The lower areas tended to be seasonal wetlands and the fall line sections are subject to heavy erosion. Due to these two issues, a great deal of time was spent putting “band-aids” on problem areas. Working with the DRD, reroutes were identified to fix many of those problems and were included in the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Swan Mountain Vegetation Study.
Previous Projects
Recent machine / hand built trail development:
- North end of Soda Creek hand built in 2018
- Hippo hand built in 2019
- North section Groovy Uvi machine & hand built in 2020
- Groovy Uvi / Soda Creek Connector machine and hand built in 2020
- Soda Ridge reroutes machine built and hand finished in 2022
- Soda Creek reroute machine built and hand finished 2025
- Rebuilt Aqueduct Bridge 2025
2026 Projects
In 2026, we are replacing 1.2 miles of the Soda Creek trail with 1.8 miles of completely new trail. It will be done in two phases. The first phase begins on the north end of the 2025 reroute. It will replace 0.8 miles of low lying trail that is a seasonal wetlands with 0.9 miles of trail benched into the side slope to the west of the existing trail. That section is being machine built and hand finished by all volunteer labor during the first three weeks of June. The second phase will replace 0.4 miles of trail with 0.9 miles of new trail. The second phase relocates a seasonal wetlands crossing to a location where the wetland is narrower and easier to build a causeway over. The second phase will be machine built by a contractor and volunteers in September. Timing and details are still to be determined.
In 2026, we are replacing 1.2 miles of the Soda Creek trail with 1.8 miles of completely new trail. It will be done in two phases. The first phase begins on the north end of the 2025 reroute. It will replace 0.8 miles of low lying trail that is a seasonal wetlands with 0.9 miles of trail benched into the side slope to the west of the existing trail. That section is being machine built and hand finished by all volunteer labor during the first three weeks of June. The second phase will replace 0.4 miles of trail with 0.9 miles of new trail. The second phase relocates a seasonal wetlands crossing to a location where the wetland is narrower and easier to build a causeway over. The second phase will be machine built by a contractor and volunteers in September. Timing and details are still to be determined.
2027 Projects
We are in the early stages of planning to do the final reroute on the Soda Creek trail and the reroute of the north section of the Horseshoe Gulch trail in 2027. Both of those were included in the EA for the Swan Mountain vegetation study. The other reroutes will be built once they will not be impacted by logging operations. Below is the map that was included in that EA - trail reroutes are red & black dashed lines. Trail sections receiving reroutes are:
We are in the early stages of planning to do the final reroute on the Soda Creek trail and the reroute of the north section of the Horseshoe Gulch trail in 2027. Both of those were included in the EA for the Swan Mountain vegetation study. The other reroutes will be built once they will not be impacted by logging operations. Below is the map that was included in that EA - trail reroutes are red & black dashed lines. Trail sections receiving reroutes are:
- Soda Creek (two sections)
- Soda Mine (aka Red Witch)
- Campion (aka Vomit)
- North Horseshoe Gulch
- Colorado Trail
- Red