We have submitted a proposal to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to adopt and improve the trail known as Brown’s Creek above the Galena area in Reno. The lower section of trail is managed by Washoe County as an official trail from the Brown’s Creek Trailhead on Joy Lake Road up to the Forest Boundary. Above that it is a social or unauthorized trail that has already been removed once.

Rather than risk it disappearing again, we’d like to adopt it into the forest trail system and re-route it around the private parcels in the area. We had hoped to use Corral as a model project and this is our first opportunity to do this. We plan to use the spec designs for some of the features we built on Corral and apply them to this project. This would provide the system connectivity that most riders desire as well as maintaining a fun trail for the riders that currently use it.

This project was spurred by the owner of some private property along the current trail route. The road easement across his property does not include the public and he would like to close the gate. The U.S. Forest Service disagrees. Rather than sue the Forest Service to accomplish this, he was more interested in working with us to create a win-win-win solution for MTB riders, the Forest Service, and the property owners. The owners have committed a significant amount of money to build the new trail, money we all would rather see go to trails than lawyers and court fees. We appreciate that kind of cooperation and commitment.

You can read the entire 25-page Browns Creek Trail Proposal.

The environmental review process will begin, and while it may be possible for us to break ground this year it likely will be next spring. There will be lots of opportunities for helping out with the trail work!