The last day of February

Today the snow melted off just a bit as the temps creeped above 32 in the sun - but remained about 30 in the shade at the warmest point. The rain that was forecast in our area is falling as snow right now and coming down fast. The morning may be ideal for back country skiing.

While finishing up the new website this afternoon to have it go live by Monday - I was interrupted by this fuzzy character. Fortunately, my ADT Alarm system scared him off or he might have broken in and stolen my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Just finished meeting with Mitch Hoeppner and Mike Collini to begin exploring our options for building a pro level disc golf course up here. They seemed stoked by what they saw. More to come soon...
--dB

1:40 PM, 3" on the ground and snow still falling...

Glad I have my skis up here today - looking forward to breaking fresh trail this afternoon. Current temperature is a brisk 18 degrees - in Radford - it is a balmy 30! Really looking forward to getting out there.

The past few days has been chocked full of interviews with partners of the Conservancy and prospective summer employees. We have had some excellent internship applicants on the mountain and are going to interview a few more to make sure we select just the right person. If you are looking for an internship this year please give us a call as soon as possible - time is running out.

Tomorrow morning we will meeting with Healing Harvest Forest Foundation to discuss some forest management options.

Much to do... gotta run so I can go ski!
--dB

Wednesday Warriors Nite Snow Ride

Last night the Wednesday Warriors (a group of DED-i-cated MTB'ers) came up the mountain, driving through 2" of falling snow to converge on our trails for their weekly night ride.

We utilized the new parking lot near the stables and rode for about an hour on Old Turnpike, Bald Knob Road, Moonstomper and Bear Cliffs Trail. It was glorious and after the ride we met at John and Heidi Morehead's house near Eggleston for a cookout and to enjoy the eclipse as the clouds cleared out.

More snow is in our forecast so I am getting out my cross-country skis to get ready to lay some fresh tracks - hope to see you up here!

Enjoy some pix that Emily took this morning showing evidence of our fun from last night...

Support Cycling

As we reach the mid-point of winter my mind races towards Spring and I think of the things that I enjoy doing the most when the birds begin to sing. Ride my bicycle!

Couple things to be involved in as we await the warmer weather:
David Zabriskie has begun a new foundation called 'Yield To Life' This is a non-profit organization that is trying to educate motorists and cyclists about life saving behavior on our roads.

"We all travel life’s roads. I stand before you to ask for your cooperation in providing safe space for cyclists. When you see a cyclist on the road, please, yield to life."
–David Zabriskie, world-class cyclist and founder of Yield to Life

Also, you may have heard that Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador (formerly of Team Discovery Channel) are going to be prevented from racing in the Tour de France this year because they are with the new Astana Team. This is absurd. This is an entirely new team with new management, and they have implemented one of the most stringent drug testing policies of any of the Pro Tour teams.

Levi has an online petition set up to help them fight this ridiculous and arbitrary decision and hopefully get them back in the race.

If you'd like to support Levi go to www.letleviride.com

Baird Owl sighting and other pix

Today the quiet air was chilled with fresh fallen snowflakes resting on the tree branches under a deep blue sky. Good day for pictures! We had some planning to do with our deer management program near the old golf course. Many of these pix were taken there. The Baird Owl was spotted near the Horton Center. --dB

Coyotes in the fog

This morning when I arrived I was greeted with the yelps of coyotes playing down by the far end of the lake. Their cries could be clearly heard through the misty mountain fog that draped across the shoreline. I have also heard them while doing trail work alone on Salt Pond Ridge. It seems that the surging deer population is helping their comeback.

Yesterday the temperature hovered around 6 degrees most of the day, today we are suffering through a heat wave of about 30. Our snow is all gone - but it is still early enough in the season that it will probably be back.

Last week Brad Buchanan came up and shot some MTB action video of Moonstomper Trail, check it out. This is a section right near where it joins up with Bear Cliffs Trail.


This video is of another section of Moonstomper just below...



--dB

Exciting news & planning new programs!

Exciting news!
Robin & Linda Williams (http://www.robinandlinda.com)have signed with us to headline our BrewRidge Music Festival on April 26th! We also have landed another talented group called Ridgewind Band to play.

With the warm and rainy spell we are experiencing it has been a good time to work on planning some projects. We have completed design work on a couple new stickers and logos for our Trail Access program and also the BrewRidge Music Festival

A new hunting program for the Conservancy is in the works that will get handicapped youth out in the woods to experience the thrill of hunting white tail deer and help us manage our deer herd at the same time.

Rudi Woykowski of Rudi's Reptile Removal is assisting us in developing anew program called, Reptiles & Amphibians for this summer that will give children and adults a chance to interact with animals in a controlled environment. Rudi also does wildlife rescue and recently rehabbed an owl with eye injuries.

This morning we made some more progress on our new Cascades connector trail with the help of a local land manager, Mr. Charles Gallo.

More coming on all this very soon!
--dB

Icey day, Lonely at the top.

This morning we had an ice storm pass through leaving a glazed and greasy surface not fit for man, beast or machine. Only a few of us made it in to work so things are very quiet. The road was quite good till the last 100' coming over the top at the hotel - then all bets were off. Driving a Subaru with good snow and ice tires makes all the difference - chains would be nice though.

Looks like we might bringing one of the region's finest reptile experts into our fold this year. He runs a highly regarded wildlife rescue operation and also does many first rate educational programs for kids and adults. More to come - so stay posted!

Lots to do - so back to work!
--dB