Mud Springs trail work ahead of schedule; county seeks volunteers for fall workdays

County trail staff reported that the contractor building the Mud Springs trail is running ahead of schedule and that volunteers are being recruited for multiple fall workdays to help complete hand-built sections and trail finishing.

Tyson Spadeby, the county operations manager for off-road and trail projects, told the Trail Mix Committee the contractor—s current schedule points to a possible October completion for the contract work. He said crews are building a 3/4-mile segment on the north side that must be constructed by hand because machinery cannot access the alignment.

Tyson announced a series of open-call volunteer days and two Saturday workdays: National Public Lands Day on Sept. 27 and Oct. 18. He asked volunteers to meet at the Mud Springs staging area "just off the highway" and to plan for a 9:30 a.m. start; crews will work until mid-afternoon and volunteers may do half-days if needed. Tyson said the contractor and county crews will be on-site through much of the fall and that volunteer groups will be scheduled around machine use.

He also said a second phase with the Bureau of Land Management is in early planning and that staff will coordinate with the agency on future design work. Staff emphasized training and supervision for volunteers on bench-cut trail work, and said the project includes adaptive-friendly features intended to improve accessibility on parts of the trail.

Trail staff asked members to share volunteer notices with networks and agreed to email confirmed dates and locations to committee members when schedules are finalized.