What: CRAMBA Trail Day
When: Sunday, May 20 – 9:30 am
Where: Parking lot on Kronner Road, south of Crawford Rd, down the hill from the maintenance building – http://g.co/maps/wqq45

We HIGHLY recommend long sleeves and pants, also gloves. There are a lot of thorny bushes that need to be dealt with.

We have a couple hundred yards of trail to build, and some minor little projects elsewhere to complete the loop. Also, the Park has purchased a Ditch Witch to help with some of the bigger trail projects. They may have it out there on Sunday to help build and learn how these tools can help with trail building.

If possible, let us know if you plan on coming out – either send an email to info@cramba.org, comment on this MMBA.org forum thread, or comment on the Facebook post.

Hope to see you out!

The Department of Natural Resources is in the process of developing a General Management Plan for Bald Mountain Recreation Area. This plan will outline 20-year goals in the form of Management Zones, which will guide the DNR in the management of park resources and the visitor experience.

The public is invited to a meeting on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 from 6:00-8:00 p.m., where the DNR will share its thoughts on the Draft General Management Plan and welcomes your input.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Orion Center
1335 Joslyn Rd.
Lake Orion, MI 48360

The Orion Center is located south of Clarkston Rd. and east of Orion Oaks Park.

Please join us at the Rochester Mills Beer Co. We’ll start the meeting around 7:00, if you’d like to order food, please arrive a bit earlier to get your order in.

The agenda is below; if you have anything you’d like added to the agenda, please send me an email at info@cramba.org no later than Monday, April 9.

Agenda:

• Trail Projects and Updates
  • Addison Oaks (Bob) : Fall line hill – reroute approved, trailday April 14
  • Bloomer (Derek / Dustin) : New trail and signing project
  • Bald Mountain (Steve K / Dennis) : Marking project, DNR meeting
  • Clinton River Park Trail (Aaron) : Recent trailday
  • Stony Creek (Pete) : reroute planned, trailday April 22
  • Columbus Park (Nick) : work to start soon
  • Pontiac Lake Rec Area (Dave) : trailday April 21
  • Riverbends (Steve V)
  • Stony Creek Skills Area (Pete/Dave)
  • Lake Orion HS (Steve K)

• Financial Report

• Other items / Public Comment
  • MMBA / MiSCA Report (Di Ursu / Steve K)

!!!!!!!! Remember, $6 Growler Fills on Tuesdays !!!!!!!!
Rochester Mills Beer Co (www.beercos.com)
400 Water Street
Downtown Rochester, MI
Map Link

Hope to see you there!

~Marty Shue

CRAMBA-IMBA Chairman

Paul found a couple of great new lines to replace a really low and notoriously wet section of trail.    So they set out to build it.

18 volunteers showed up on a chilly Saturday morning, ready to work.

And work they did.

The walk-behind trimmer is a favorite for making quick work of cutting new trail.

One of the new sections Paul flagged is along the border of the park.  The old trail was just some loamy double track.  This is a slight ridge and required some bench cut in wet clay.   A cache of broken concrete nearby allowed us to build a little retaining wall to hold everything in place.

A big hole in the trail and a whole lot of extra broken concrete was the perfect reason to build a rock garden.

And, of course, a fresh coat of paint for the trail signs!

CRAMBA would like to thank Paul and Aaron for the hundreds of hours they’ve put into this trail.  We’re into our 5th season now and even though it requires a lot of work, its a little gem amongst pavement.

More pictures can be found on the CRAMBA Flickr Photostream

• March 31st – Trail Day @ Clinton River Park Trail.  Meet @ 10:00AM at the parking lot at Pedros Court.
• April 10th – CRAMBA Chapter Meeting.  7:00PM @ Rochester Mills Beer Company.
• April 14th – Addison Oaks Trail Day – 9:00AM @ Trail Head by concession stand.
• April 21st – Pontiac Lake Recreation Area Trail Day.  9AM @ Trail Head.
• April 22nd – Stony Creek Trail Day.  9AM @ West Branch Lot B Trail Head.

Please join us at 10am on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 Petros Ct.   Petros Ct is located off of Clinton River Road, west of the Edison Ct trail head about 1/2 mile on the left.  It is a subdivision that was never developed but the road was put in; it’s a court / cul de sac.  It is in front of the old DPW building. We will have a CRAMBA sign at the entrance.

Things to bring / wear:

• Work gloves
• Boots long pants, long sleeved shirt, hat
• Bug spray
• Water / Hydration pack

We will have the CRAMBA chapter trailer on site so tools will be available, but if you have a personal favorites feel free to bring them.  Since we will be clearing new trail tools needed for this day are as follows:

• Rakes
• Loppers
• Pulaskis

Thanks everone! If you can attend please let me know via PM on the MMBA forums or email.  And if there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank You!

Paul McAllister
Co-Trail Coordinator, Clinton River Park Trail

Featuring a total of 6.9 miles of trail, River Bends hosts some of the newest CRAMBA-built mountain bike trails in the area. A regular volunteer and instrumental person in completing the more recenr trail projects we look forward to Jeremy’s experience helping maintain and improve these widely-used trails located in the heart of Shelby Township.

Thanks to a grant from the CST Trail Builder Program CRAMBA has received 25 brand new CST Caballero tires to give away to volunteers during trail days.

Click here for more information on the CST Trail Builder Program and be sure to visit CST and check out their full line of mountain bike tires here.