CATS returned to Golden Gate State Park to work on the new Racoon Trail reroute for the 5th year in a row. We finished up a couple of switchbacks started by other groups and took a look at the remaining sections to finally get this trail opened. There's probably another year's worth of work left, mostly involving large rocks. But that's what we love best so we're looking forward to coming back next year ! Way too many photos to add to this post (thanks Kathleen !) but here's a link to our Google Drive album for this event: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CvfGqbtTTws7H2X0KZ-yMZbDHH4a2tU4?usp=drive_link

As promised, we returned to Bobcat Ridge Natural area to continue work on the new 1.7 mile Valley loop connector trail (scheduled to open this fall !). We finished up the rock wall we started last time and switched over to another technical section. It's not on the calendar yet but the plan is to return here at least one more time before the season ends.

The CATS crew spent a few days in state forest state park flexing their rock muscles while securing the abutments of a large bridge across the Michigan River. The work was focused on stabilizing the sides of the bridge to prevent further erosion that had started to undercut the the bridge. With multiple tons of rock masterfully set into the hillside we're confident to say that bridge isn't going anywhere.

Another fun afternoon helping Fort Collins Natural Areas build a large rock wall on a new trail at Bobcat ridge ! We'll be back again next Thursday to finish up this turn and probably start on another nearby project (also involving more rock work we've been told !)

Back to basics ! Last Thursday we returned to the Nomad trail link at Horsetooth Mtn. Park to make some improvements to the first section of that trail we constructed over 2 years ago. It was also great to see our good friend and former pres Brandon Smith (aka "Brandolf") joining us again after recently moving back to Colorado from Washington state !

We almost cancelled our scheduled event at Lory yesterday due to a major rain/hail event that forced a road closure in the park just North of the trailhead we were supposed to meet up at. Luckily though, the weather changed for the better and we made the call to give it a go and even with a small crew of 4 managed to add some significant improvement to the Well gulch - Homestead link trail.

Great turnout last Saturday for some much needed improvements on the Sleepy Lion hiking trail at Button Rock ! Over a dozen CATS made the event a success even after losing 20 from a corporate sponsor.

Despite yesterday's threatening skies and bleak weather forecast, CATS volunteers managed to complete our project to build/rebuild a section of rock steps on the lower Horsetooth Rock trail at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space.

Back to our roots ! We returned to Marianna Butte in Loveland last Thursday for some much needed maintenance on one of the first trails CATS designed and built from scratch 🙂

CATS trailwork volunteers had a fun and productive afternoon at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area this past Thursday, dodging (most of) the rainstorms while installing some drainage structures on an section of the Valley Loop trail. We'll be back at Bobcat Ridge next Thursday, May 8th from 3-7pm - see our calendar for details on this and other upcoming projects: timecounts.app/trailcat/opportunities/events

Well, our 2025 trail season is officially open for business ! After a social kickoff gathering at one of our favorite pubs in Loveland (Big Thompson brewery) we dodged the thunderstorms yesterday (with maybe a little psychic help ?) and managed to construct a number of check-dam steps to take a little of the bite out of a climb on a popular hiking trail in Horsetooth Mountain Park. We're still just getting started but have already posted a number of future events on our volunteer calendar (so follow the trailcats.org link on this page if you want to come out

(In case you missed it ..) For the last couple of months our normal weekly project has been working with Larimer County to help build the new "Bay to Bay" trail at Horsetooth reservoir. At this point about 1/2 mile of the proposed 1.8 mile trail has been completed. So there's still quite a bit left to do and if this kind of thing interests you keep checking for updates in our volunteer calendar and sign up to come on out and join in on the fun !

Over the last two weekends we worked on the (final ?) re-route section of the Crag's trail at SFSP which included a timber wall switchback (something new for us). We've got one more event scheduled at this location in early August and after that the trail should be hike and bike friendly from the campground all the way up to Michigan ditch and from there tie into the American Lakes trail

Another great CATS Thursday afternoon at Horsetooth Mountain park ! Our task for this one was to armor a wet area with large surface rocks overlaying a bed of crush so that the water will (hopefully) flow under instead of over the trail

We worked with the Fort Collins trail crew the last couple of weeks fixing drainage issues on the Valley Loop trail at Bobcat Ridge and beefing up the rockwall supporting a climbing turn on the popular Maxwell trail. (more work will be needed in the future so keep checking our events page for new posted events 🙂)

With deep regret we note the passing of our good friend and longtime CATS contributor Bob VanDop. R.I.P. Bob, you will be missed.😔

We decided to get ahead of the bad weather forecast and moved our usual Thursday work day to Wednesday this week. With the permission (and thanks) to Lory State Park manager Cameron Landis we managed to finish a number of improvements to the lower Arthur's rock trail, including a strengthened stream crossing and a couple of badly needed stone steps.

Well, we couldn't wait to get it on the calendar so a group of us decided to hijack Brandon's ranger training at the (gorgeous) Button Rock reservoir and get in some actual trail work (of course Brandon and the rangers joined in at the end and helped us complete some really nice rock retaining structures !)

more pictures and a short video clip: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aFxW1yx_rqlNGoeVeT-eJEwEL5sLmcw6?usp=drive_link