New Telleck Branch Connector at Council Bluff

Ever been riding at Council Bluff and seen the trail that heads off from the first bridge? You know, the one you rode a couple of hundred yards, came to the swamp caused by the beaver dam, and then had to turn around, or do a balancing act to walk across the dam, all the while trying to avoid the briars? Well, that's a thing of the past! The OTA spent this past weekend cutting a new reroute into the hillside above the old trail. It's now wide open to use Council Bluff campground as your base and head out for one-way rides of 8, 16, 25 miles or more, depending on which section of the Ozark Trail you want to ride. The second page of this map gives an overview of what's out there.

Ozark Trail Update

It's been a lot of work, and slowly but surely, the downed trees from the strong spring and summer storms are being cleared away. 2 out of the past 3 weekends have seen some GORC members helping out, clearing our adopted North Trace Creek section. About 11 of the 16 miles are now clear. GORC also cleared the Council Bluff trail, which as some of you may have heard had over 40 trees down on it 2 weeks ago.
This past weekend, the OTA had a maintenance workday and cleared all of the trails from the Telleck Branch to DD and 32, including some work on North Trace. Just to show how difficult a task this is, by the time a couple of us rode over the Trace and Middle Fork sections north of Hwy. 32 the next day, there were already 3 new trees down!

Gorc beauty makeover

As many of you know, we at GORC pride ourselves on our ability to makeover some of the areas trails. But the trail themselves have asked that we highlight one of their hidden talents. MAKEOVERS! As you can see they specialize in facials. I received the Moonlight Ramble facial.

The trail has many secret ingredients they use, but they have allowed me to talk about a few of them. Pavement. Don't underestimate the power of pavement. It comes in several different colors. From black to grey, or even red! I chose the black pavement. We used just a touch below my left eye, under my nose, and my chin. I got a couple of cute temporary tatoos as well. I know! On the face? but they just looked like little mouse whiskers and I took them off later.

Julie on the other hand received the Lost Valley facial. Hers was a mixture of gravel and dirt. They grind the two up into a mixture and she chose to focus on the right side. The concoction started above her right eye and followed it down to her chin. She chose some tatoos as well, to go above her eye. Very nice, but she chose to keep them hidden for our monthly galla. She wasn't too sure if GORC would except facial tatoos. Julie is new to the club. I had the privilege to be there for her first facial. Afterward, she had so much excitement we were worried she couldn't walk out. So, a very nice fireman cut the chain and let the trail chariot come pick her up. Curb side. What service! It was also Bryan's birthday. Julie missed the pretzel, but we'll get her one of her own someday.

Anyway, I am sure you have seen a lot of others touched by the hands of the trail. Each one of us are able to get our own unique makeovers. No two are alike. Some are full body makeovers! The price of these makeovers can be anywhere from free to whatever co-pay your insurance charges. But believe me, they are worth it!