ABOUT THE PROJECT

Greenhorn Gulch is an iconic trailhead located on the Ketchum Ranger District (KRD). It is a true multi-use trail system where one can regularly see hikers, dirt bikes, mountain bikes, equestrians, and e-bikers sharing the system. In 2023, there were 3 bridge sites along the first 0.3 miles of the Greenhorn Gulch Trail.

According to our Trail Monitoring data, the Greenhorn Gulch Trail is regularly one of the most utilized recreation facility on the KRD. In 2023 it saw 22,509 total trail counter detections. That is a lot of traffic!

Not only did the trail wind through the riparian area at the beginning of the trail network, but as it climbed up the canyon, it continually crossed the creek, shared the same footprint as the creek, and crossed through multiple avalanche paths.

Between Phases One and Two, we routed the trail out of the riparian area, eliminated two bridges, replaced two bridges with fully engineered designs, and rerouted miles of trail out of unsuitable locations to more sustainable corridors.

The Greenhorn Trail Network will need to continue to serve the community, and meet the demands of increased recreation pressure. The refinements made to the trail network through the Greenhorn Improvements Project will allow it to serve the community for years to come.

Phase one saw the removal of the first two bridges from the trail head and a reroute of the trail out of the riparian area. After removing the second lower bridge (which was at the end of its useful lifespan), and closing the trail in the riparian zone we rerouted 0.2 miles of trail along the north side of the creek to the third bridge.

This should reduce future maintenance costs with two less bridges and eliminate trail braiding through the wetland. It also moved the trail out of beaver habitat that is continually flooding the trail.

The third bridge (also at the end of its useful lifespan) was rebuilt with a fully engineered design in a sustainable location. All of this has allowed for quality riparian area restoration that we accomplished with both professional and volunteer efforts.