3-24-09
New trails at Sope Creek & a new business

Here's a preview of the trail realignments that are happening at the Sope Creek trails, located at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.



I've been helping the National Park Service with a trail rehabilitation project at Sope Creek and after waiting 10+ years for new trails, we got 'em! Since I stopped traveling so much last year, I volunteered to take the lead on this effort as a trail coordinator for SORBA and thanks to money coming in from Coca Cola, NPS was able to contract the rough cut work out to Long Cane Trails, a group of professional trail builders and mountain bikers who know how to build some sweet singletrack!

We have a great weekend coming up with the IMBA Trail Care Crew on April 17-18 at Sope and will have a party at Cavern pub in Virginia Highlands in Atlanta on Friday the 17th, and multiple work parties running on the 18th as we execute the finish work on the trails. Details on this and other work parties are at www.sorbaatlanta.org.

If you can help in any way, let me know by dropping me an email at clmyrickjr@gmail.com.

While we have momentum on this, the work being executed at this time is only phase 1 of 2. We cannot execute phase 2 until NPS gets more funding. We'll need about $50,000 in order to make that happen so start saving your pennies! I'm setting up an online donation site through IMBA where you'll be able to make tax-deductible donations for this effort via credit card.

Let's see....what else...oh, I'm getting the guide service off the ground. The business venture is called Atlanta Outfitters and I'll be providing guide services for hiking, biking (both road and mountain), camping, and paddling trips. I'll have a full range of options for fully catered to not and for family and church groups or ultra-light packing outdoorsmen. Stay tuned for a new website which will include more details.

Racing? Um....not sure I'll be able to get much done this spring. I'm hoping to do a 1/2 ironman triathlon over Memorial Day weekend the local 12 hour mountain bike series. Training time is minimal this year with the efforts above combined with work and work travel. I was in Mexico last week for week and will be spending about (3) weeks in total in Dallas, TX between now and the first 12 hour race in the Dirty Spokes series on May 2.

Well, that's all I have time for right now. I hope you're doing well and will check back for updates on Atlanta Outfitters and the trail work at Sope Creek.