Today
the 4x4 group will meet with Forest Service folks at the Idaho
Springs ranger station. We'll split into two groups to cover our two
sponsored trails - Barbour Fork and Devil's Canyon. I'll be in the
Barbour Fork group.
As has been mentioned before, this trail used to be a loop though a
portion of the loop traveled upon private land. That land has changed
hands and the new owner does not allow public use of their land. They
installed gates and we are blocked from access. This turns the nice
loop of a trail into two dead-end trails. Curiously, there is a spur
that exists on a few maps that would connect Barbour Fork with Devil's
Canyon. Forest service has expressed an interest in having this be a
usable section of trail. Several years back I traveled a portion of
this dead end spur only to be turned back fairly early in the segment -
it became too narrow / overgrown. We had an interest to travel this
section of trail to see how far we could travel - surprisingly, we were
able to travel a great portion of it. I'll have to make this a
destination with a few others willing to explore. While the Barbour
Fork side of the trail is "open" the Devil's Canyon end has a "closed"
sign. It would be nice to see if we could travel to the DC closed sign
from the BF trail - this should make it easier for Forest Service to
remove the closed sign for this to be a through trail.
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