You can say you knew the Trails Cache when he was just a baby…

Because the Trails Cache is now almost exactly a year old.  Thanks to leadership and financial commitments from Cache County, the Cache Metropolitan Planning Organization and the cities of Hyde Park, Hyrum, Lewiston, Logan, Mendon, Millville, Nibley, North Logan, Paradise, River Heights, and Smithfield, the Trails Cache is gathering momentum.  Thanks to you, we’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit in this trip around the sun. 

We preserved ½ a mile of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from turning into private backyard hillside.  

Thanks to the advocates who spoke up and showed up, and thanks to the City of Providence and Stan for understanding the public good inherent in that trail.

We raised nearly $700,000 in grant funding for specific trail projects.

Beyond what’s happened on the ground this year, you can expect to see a trail connecting Bonneville Shoreline to USU, a trail connecting Nibley to Logan on 800W, and even more coming down the road.  These projects don’t happen quickly, but thanks to UDOT’s TAP funding, as well as funding from the Utah office of Economic Development, Utah State Parks, the USFS and the Bear River Health Department, we’re making sure funding is lining up to make future projects fall into place.

We made official and signed 4 miles of Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

By filing the appropriate documents with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, we can rest easy in the more ‘official’ nature of the BST Deer Fence Trail. between Millville and Blacksmith Fork Canyons.   In addition, we’ve improved access to the trail from Millville Canyon via new gates, and placed trail wayfinding signs at Blacksmith Fork Canyon, with more wayfinding signage to come along the BST in 2017.

We built over 4 miles of new trails in the valley.

Blacksmith Fork River Trail is now a reality, as is the connection from that trail to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  A great thanks to the Hyrum City, Volunteers and Utah Conservation Corps who put those pieces together. 

And Bjorr, who can forget Bjorr once you’ve struggled over how the heck you pronounce ‘Bjorr’? Over 2 miles of trail corridor cleared and built, thanks to tireless efforts of the Utah Conservation Corps, Cache Valley Highschool MTB association, Joyride Bikes and over 100 volunteers who put their backs into making the newest singletrack in Cache Valley flow. 

We coordinated and participated in 2986 man, woman and child hours of volunteer work. 

Bjorr build days, National Public Lands Day, and National Trails Day were all great opportunities to get out, give back to your trails, and get to meet some great people.  We look forward to even more of this in coming years.

We Celebrated the Cache life with events celebrating trails and active transportation.

Bike N Dine saw a friendly and healthy crowd of 40 pedal to unique meals at Morty’s, Respectfully Raw, and finishing with live music at Crumb Brothers.  We raised $600 dollars that directly supports the Trails Cache’s efforts.  The Trails Cache contributed both to daily support at the CVTD National Bike Week, Bike with the Mayor Event, and shiny new downtown banners in Logan celebrating national bike month.  Next year will be even better.

We achieved 501c3 Non-profit status.

Thanks to the generous trails advocates at Cambell Scientific, as well as the Cache County Foundation, the Trails Cache can now accept tax-deductible donations which will be utilized only to promote, develop and build trails and active transportation facilities here in Cache County. 

We got to meet all of y’all!

Well, maybe not physically or literally.  But we’ve enjoyed building a web and social media presence, and hope to grow this influence even further in coming years – so thanks if you’re one of our 333 facebook followers, 170 instagram followers, or 220 email subscribers.  Please help us reach more of Cache Valley by spreading the word, requesting (and displaying proudly) Trails Cache decals, following us on instagram or facebook, or signing up for our newsletter.

What’s next for 2017?

We thought this first year was a whirlwind, and look forward to even more great work in 2017.  Though we have no crystal balls (we’d rather buy trail building tools) we’re planning on looking forward to:

Cache Valley’s Trails and Active Transportation Master Plan

• We’ve received a technical assistance grant from the National Park Service’s Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance program, and with the added power of planning and design professionals in Salt Lake City, we’ll be working to listen hard to you about what should be put into the valley’s first trails and active transportation master plan.  This plan will help all of us in the valley, from Lewiston to Logan, prioritize and find funding for trail and active transportation projects.

Finishing Bjorr’s first Phase. 

• With funding in place for trailhead amenities and signage, we just need a good season of strong volunteer days to happen to build the rest of this 4 mile loop trail.  With a full season, rather than just the fall, we’re hoping to have the trail ridable in full by late fall 2017

Preserving Canal Trail Alignments

• We’ve been working with community members and city staff of Logan, North Logan, Hyde Park and Smithfield to formally preserve public access to the canal pathways that have been in place for so many decades in Cache Valley.  Stay tuned to the Trails Cache for ways you can participate to show your support for preserving some of the valley’s most valuable trail corridors.

Bonneville Shoreline Progress

• This year, the Trails Cache has established contact with all landowners between Green Canyon and Smithfield Dry Canyon.  Details and any formal approval are still a ways off, but getting the conversations started with each individual is a big first step.  We’re going through the planning process on the Mendon to Wellsville alignments as well.  Will 2017 be the first year of brand new, purpose built Bonneville Shoreline Trail in Cache Valley? Maybe. Maybe.

Bridger Bike Park

• We’re working on some preliminary concept designs for Cache Valley’s first BMX and mountain bike park, planned by Logan Parks and Rec at Bridger Park.  We hope to have some great opportunities for you all to give feedback about the designs, and then we have to start looking for ways to fund the important project.

Growing through your support

And next year, just like ever year, we're looking for ways in which we can grow, build a better regional trail network, encourage more people to move and play on foot, bicycle, and horse, and build community support for expanding our existing trail network.  If you have ideas or talents you'd like to put to use to make progress on trails development in Cache Valley, don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks to all of you who made this year great. Lets do it all again.