Friends of Pathways has a formal partnership with the USFS to collaborate on design, construction and stewardship of local trails for all users – hike, bike, horse, and ski. We’re committed to providing easy year round access to trails that is essential to maintaining our high quality of life in Jackson Hole.

Another busy week on trails, the crew cleared Arrow, Snotel, Ridge, and upper Phillip’s Canyon so those should be good to go for the weekend with minimal snow left in a few spots.  We will be up working on Ski Lake, Phillip’s Pass, and upper Black Canyon next week.  We installed a few more bike racks at trailheads and pathway destinations and worked with a great volunteer groups from the Teton Science School.  They installed some stump seats at the top of Josies for people to take a well deserved break with a view.  Fun fact since 2003 Friends of Pathways has hosted 65,000 hours of volunteers focused on the trail system.  Thats the equivalent the USFS hiring an additional 63 seasonal trail crew members.  So a huge thanks to groups like TSS and other local organizations that come out to help on trails, we couldn’t do it without you!

We are still waiting on the upper ridges of Teton Pass to dry out but the rest of the trail system is in great shape after some sunny weather.  This week we did a little tree clearing, cleaned up the Blair Dr. Bike Skills Park, and started installing bike racks at some of the busiest trailheads.  We hope the racks will give people another option to bike to the trailhead and to go for a hike or run or ski without having to drive their car.  Enjoy a sunny weekend and if you see any downed tree on the trails use the Trail Maintenance Request button at the top of the page to let us know and we can get out to clear it right away!

The Cache Game trail system is completely dry and cleared of trees!  We cleared 32 trees off of Wilson Canyon and West Game this week and everything in now open and dry with the exception of the Skyline trail which is closed until July 1 for wildlife.  We also cleared 24 trees off of Phillip’s Canyon and Phillip’s Ridge and the lower portions of those trails are a great out and back option.  Similarly the lower portions of Blacks, Big Rocks, Crater, and History are good options this weekend.  Also Munger Mountain is beautiful right now with the aspens starting to bud in a super bright green.  Hopefully everyone can get out and find some sunny windows to enjoy the trails this weekend!

It was a busy week on trails and pathways.  We string trimmed the old horse trail that parallels the Wilson Centennial Pathway as a way to give people a quieter multi-use trail to spread out on during busy commuting hours on the pathway.  Use it as a mellow horse ride, a place for your kids on strider bikes, or a jog on dirt to take it easy on your knees.  We also installed the new Willow St. Bike Lanes to provide a safe route to school and across town.  You can now bike safely and take trips to the grocery stores, Garaman Park, the post office, the library, the Flat Creek, Wildlife Lane, and Snow King trailheads, the fair grounds, Phil Baux Park, Snow King Mountain Resort, the town and county buildings, the Genevieve Block Park, the schools, and Rec Center just to name a few.  Since it looks like rain this weekend maybe take it easy on the trails and stick to the pathways.  Leaving ruts, foot prints, and hoof prints on the trails keeps water from shedding off of the thousands of drainage features we maintain each year and that means the trails stay muddy longer after it rains.  The crew also cleared Big Rocks and lower Blacks, History, and Crater which can provide some snow free loops on Teton Pass.  We will make our way up lower Phillip’s Canyon and Ridge trails next week and try to push up Game and West Game.  Munger Mountain is also all clear and a great option right now.  The Cache Game trails are mostly dry except for the upper reaches of Wilson Canyon, West Game, Game, and Cache.  The warm temps later next week should help open those up so endure the rain and look forward to that!

The lower trails on Munger are good to go and the Cache-Game area is opening up slowly but surely.  We cleared 24 trees off of Munger and cleaned drainage with the USFS crew on Thursday.  All of the trails there are in great shape and the Aspens are just starting to bud.  Big Munger still has some snow drifts on the ridge.  Wilson Canyon is dry up to the 5 way meadows and Ferrins is 99% dry up to the saddle where there is still a bunch of snow on the north side.  Lower on Hagen things are dry up to the last section by bridge 5 and Putt Putt is good to go.  Sink or Swim has just a little bit of snow left on the ski run.  Get out and enjoy this weekend!

Another snowy and rainy week means trails are still melting slowly and the dry ones are a bit muddy.  Ease into tomorrow afternoon and head to sunny aspect first and then explore some of the shady trails on Sunday when its sunny.  We worked with the BTNF crew this week to clear and clean drainage on Putt Putt, KC, Kellys, Lindas, Josies, and Wilson Canyon so those all should be in good shape.  Game Creek is cleared too up to the W Game junction and is pretty dry until you turn that north facing corner just before the junction.  We worked some more at connecting sections of the S 89 Singletrack that was covered up during the highway expansion, so thats a good option to connect from the South Jackson neighborhoods over to Game Creek.  We will head out to Munger next week and start hitting the lower parts of the Teton Pass trails as they melt out with what looks to be a sunny and warmer start to next week!

The trails are starting to dry out after a wet April.  The usual spots, Putt Putt, Crystal Butte, the Sidewalk Trail, and Josie’s Ridge are in good shape with only a few lingering snow patches.  If you haven’t explored the new South Jackson trails you can make a fun loop with the pathway.  Start at Adam’s Canyon on the new A&W Trail and head south to Wilson Canyon, cross over the highway to the S. 89 Singletrack which some volunteers helped us to reconnect last week, and then continue on through the pathway tunnel to the Game Creek Connector Trail up to the trailhead and back via the pathway and the Adam’s Canyon pedestrian tunnel.  As you explore out make sure to stay off of muddy trails, a good rule of thumb after precipitation is to wait until the roads are dry in town before going out to the trails!

This week crews worked on a variety of projects.  We installed a new feature at the Blair Dr. Bike Skills Park, we sprayed musk thistle in Game Creek, we prepped the OPR pad for the new toilet, we fixed barriers on Phillip’s Ridge and History Trail, we updated signs near the Crater Lake junction, we fixed we cleared Phillip’s Pass, we measured and prepped lumber for a new bridge on the Arrow trail, we GPS’ed some user created trails, we worked with Pine Glades on their neighborhood connector trails, we installed new signs on the Adam’s and A&W trails, and continued improving the A&W trail with volunteers on Thursday evening after some much needed rain.  The trails should be in great shape with the recent moisture, so get out and enjoy them this weekend!

Crews were busy this week clearing trees and cleaning drainage around the system.  We hit Black Canyon on Monday which has only a few small snow drifts left near the top of Mt. Elly.  We covered Wilson Canyon and West Game to get them in shape for the Cache Creek race and then got up to the pass and brushed Arrow and Phillip’s Pass.  Then we began building some new features for the Blair Dr. Bike Skills Park that will get installed next week.  We are also still digging along on the Adams to Wilson connector that we have tentatively named the A&W trail.  This connector will allow users to safely access the USFS trail system on the east side of the highway from the neighborhoods on the west side of the highway via the old Adam’s Canyon cattle tunnel.  We will be hosting a volunteer dig night this Thursday from 5-8 to help finish this trail.  Come help out and meet at the top of Adam’s Canyon Dr., bring close toed shoes, work gloves, and water!

Its been a busy week on Teton Pass.  The crews cleared Arrow, Snotel, the Ridge, Ski Lake, and upper History.  There were lots of big trees down from heavy snow and winds over the winter.  Almost all of the trails are dry with a few lingering snow drifts.  We will continue to work on upper Black Canyon and Phillip’s Pass next week.  If you see trees down on the trail use the trail maintenance request button on our site to report them and if possible send a picture of the tree.  Some are easy and take a few minutes to clear, and others like the 4 tree pile up shown above take a few hours.  Around Snow King there are some trail closures tied to the construction of new ski runs and infrastructure.  Make sure to check their information posts before heading out on the trails to get up to the minute info on whats open and closed.  We had a successful National Trails Day improving the connector trail from Adams to Wilson Canyon.  About 35 hearty volunteers helped us rebench the user trail and we will continue working on it over the summer.  Feel free to follow the pin flags and help to burn in the trail to access the pedestrian underpass to the pathway at Adams’s Canyon.  We hope this will provide safe access from the south Jackson neighborhoods to the public lands and trails on the east side of the highway.  Have a great sunny weekend out on the trails!