Did a hike up there on the North Range with John E, Birdman and Diana V. About a third of the North Range is granted to us to build biking trails for now (according to John E via Tom Gettings).
My first impression was horrible. The place is completely overrun by autumn olive. Unbelievable. Almost impenetrable. No wonder they gave this land to us.
After picking around in the ground and actually penetrating the bush, it seems doable if the roots of the autumn olive are not big. They seem to be shallow and fine. Otherwise, the ground is a shale/clay mix that should bench cut extremely easy and pack down like concrete. There are no rocks.
The topography is very hilly. My guess would be once a corrider is chainsawed, the bench cutting would go real fast.
Another guess would be if we scheduled two or three trail days months in advance (like next fall), a team of 15+ could bust out miles of swoopy fast singletrack.
Supposedly, there is a strong contingent of volunteer labor already in place there too.
