.... Wrote:
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> If they put in a simple dirt track bike trail
> through the Eel River canyon it would be a great
> way to explore the canyon. The trail would not
> need to be graded and groomed.

Hey , wait it's not so simple. In fact there is nothing simple at all about it. It would cost tens(or hundreds ) of millions of dollars. The tracks would have to be removed in a very tight canyon with few access roads. New access roads would have to be bulldozed to reach certain areas. Permits to grade and disturb soil parallel the Ell river would need to be obtained.The soil would need to be tested for contaminates. Bridges would have to be rebuilt for pedestrian traffic. Culverts would have to be rebuilt along with all kinds of drainage issues. Tunnels would have to be rebuilt at millions of dollars apiece or permits obtained to grade new roads around the tunnels. The sinks, slides and washouts would have to be repaired, removed or stabilized. This would be needed to open the trail. Then the yearly cost to maintain this trail would probably make it the most expensive trail in America.
Creating a trail on portions of the ROW north of Fort Seward where the ground is more stable might make sense.

One interesting side note.It has been rumored with the legalization of pot, the price of pot has dropped to the point were it is hardly profitable to grow outdoors. . Let's hope this trend continues so the carpetbaggers who moved up there to get rich quick move on and it can return to a wild, rugged , peaceful place.