Members of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps and Muscle Powered worked on building the Secret Trail and improving trails on Prison Hill last year.
Carson City is working on several trails projects in 2018, none of which would be possible without dozens of volunteers.
Plans include completion of Secret Trail, construction of Hospital Trail, and a durable way to cross the Mexican Dam on the Mexican Ditch Trail.
“Right now it’s an old structure and not safe for horses,” said Gregg Berggren, coordinator, Parks, Recreation and Open Space. “We want to put a walkway over it to make a safe crossway for horses, hikers, people on the river in small watercraft.”
Other projects include Prison Hill trails improvements, initial phase of Centennial Park trails and planning for the Capital to Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park Trail.
Much of the work is a continuation of efforts started last year by about 150 volunteers putting in nearly 1,800 hours for a total value, or savings, to the city of $36,771.
The work was done by several groups, including the Rotary Club, which volunteered in Morgan Mill; the Carson Senators Mountain Bike Team, which worked Prison Hill, Secret, and Ash to Kings Canyon trails; and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, which worked on Prison Hill, Secret and planning of the Lake Tahoe route.
Most of the work, though, is done by Muscle Powered, the 20-year-old citizens’ group that advocates for safe and accessible walking and biking.
“Muscle Powered is trained as crew leaders and in safety, and head up most of the trail work in the city,” said Berggren.
The group and the city have a memorandum of understanding allowing Muscle Powered to oversee the work, including labor done by other volunteers.
Muscle Powered’s Jeff Potter leads construction and maintenance, including the Ash to Kings Canyon Trail several years ago and current work on the Secret Trail, which will become a segment of Epic Ride’s Carson City Off-Road event.
“He’s a trail designer and builder extraordinaire,” said Berggren.
The 1.7-mile Secret Trail runs behind the Lakeview and Timberline areas in Vicee Canyon and is a realignment of a steep and unsustainable user-built trail.
Paul Sinnott, also with Muscle Powered, heads up work on Prison Hill. where a series of trails are being built and maintained.
The Hospital Trail will be a mile-long trail starting behind the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center and connecting to the V&T Trail.
The city is working with Carson Tahoe Health to landscape the trail, which will be a so-called prescription trail prescribed to patients by physicians to improve health.
Still in the planning stages is the 7-mile Capital to Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park Trail, which will take hikers from the Ash to Kings Canyon Trail to the state park at Lake Tahoe. Planning and construction will take a few years, said Berggren.
Right now, the only way to walk to Lake Tahoe is on double-track trails which are shared with vehicles so the new single-track trail that accommodates hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians but not cars will be a welcome addition.
“It will be a great trail,” said Berggren.