{"id":1315463,"date":"2019-10-09T15:28:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T21:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=988949"},"modified":"2019-10-09T15:28:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T21:28:25","slug":"blazing-new-trails-for-rifle-outdoor-recreation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/blazing-new-trails-for-rifle-outdoor-recreation\/","title":{"rendered":"Blazing new trails for Rifle outdoor recreation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Volunteers work on the Bonsai Loop cutting a trail through and over the rocky hillside as a S.E.A.T. plane working the Middle Mamm Fire circles above Rifle last Saturday. The new 1-mile loop will be more advanced than the intermediate Highland Trail Loop that opened earlier this year on Graham Mesa. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
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The city of Rifle \u2013 with help from Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers, Rifle Area Mountain Biking Organization and more than 20 volunteers \u2013 spent Saturday adding nearly a mile to the beginning of a new biking and hiking trail just off of East Seventh Street in the Highlands neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Rifle Planning Director Nathan Lindquist and about 25 volunteers started building the new Bonsai Loop trail.<\/p>\n

Lindquist said the full 1-mile loop would be complete by spring, adding to the existing 2-mile Highlands Loop Trail which opened to the public earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be more of a \u201cblack\u201d (advanced) loop instead of \u201cblue\u201d (intermediate) like the rest of the trails,\u201d Lindquist said. \u201cIt will be a great experience for more advanced riders, and still fun for beginners who can ride most of Bonsai even if you have to walk a few spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Work on the Highlands Loop Trail began in 2018, the single track trail consists of a two-mile loop and a separate \u00bd mile hiking-only trail.<\/p>\n

Lindquist said the city worked through last year roughing in the trails before RFOV hosted a similar trail building event.<\/p>\n

\u201cOctober 2018 we had a similar kind of workday, and finished off the loop,\u201d Lindquist said.<\/p>\n

With the new Bonsai Loop going in, there are already plans for another alternative trail off of the Highlands Loop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one more spot we are going to do a more technical section, it will be an alternative off of the Highlands Loop,\u201d Lindquist said.<\/p>\n

Lindquist said altogether there would be about four miles of trail when the area is complete.<\/p>\n

After spending most of Saturday carving into the dusty hillside Lindquist and a few other volunteers went out on Sunday and roughed in the rest of the loop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need it to rain and pack it down, or snow which it might do Thursday,\u201d Lindquist said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

He said once they get out and ride it, they will notice some things you couldn\u2019t while building it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be some more shaping and refining before we open it to the public,\u201d Lindquist said.<\/p>\n

kmills@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Volunteers carve a new single track trail into the hillside last Saturday afternoon in Rifle. Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers teamed up with the city of Rifle and RAMBO to help build a new 1-mile loop into the Highland Trail system. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
BanzaiTrail-rct-101019-2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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City of Rifle Planning Director Nathan Lindquist, right, talks with a volunteers during last Saturdays trail building on the new Banzai Loop in Rifle. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
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The new Bonsai Trail Loop is being added to the Highland Trails on Graham Mesa on the east side of Rifle. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
BanzaiTrail-rct-101019-1<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Volunteers cover the hillside along Graham Mesa as they cut the new Bonsai Loop during the RFOV Trail Building day last Saturday in Rifle. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
BanzaiTrail-rct-101019-5<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The sun rises above Graham Mesa as volunteers cut the new single track trail during last Saturday RFOV trail building day in Rifle. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram<\/strong>
BanzaiTrail-rct-101019-6<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volunteers work on the Bonsai Loop cutting a trail through and over the rocky hillside as a S.E.A.T. plane working the Middle Mamm Fire circles above Rifle last Saturday. The new 1-mile loop will be more advanced than the intermediate Highland Trail Loop that opened earlier this year on Graham Mesa. Kyle Mills \/ Citizen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 19:52:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}