A new access road has been cut into the former Rotarun recreation area west of Hailey in Croy Canyon, Big Wood Backcountry Trails executive director Chris Leman announced this week in a posting on the group's Web site.
The new road, a cooperative project of Blaine County, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Mountain Dirt Riders and Big Wood Backcountry Trails, will provide more direct access to the popular recreation spot, which has been renamed the Croy Creek Trailhead. The groups have been working together to provide the new access road and a parking area for the site, Leman wrote.
With the new access road into the site complete, two old access roads into the trailhead have been ripped to discourage traffic from using them, he stated. He said the old access roads intersected with Croy Creek Road at unsafe angles that provided poor entry and exit into the trailhead.
"Basically, the old access roads did not provide for good lines of sight for the viewing of oncoming traffic," Leman said.
He added that officials are asking everyone to stop using the old roads and to instead use the new road into the site. He said the old roads will be seeded later this fall. Traveling on them will lead to soil compaction and make the establishment of new growth more difficult.
The new road into the trailhead has been machine compacted, but it remains somewhat dusty, Leman said. He said plans are in the works to apply a gravel surface to the new road, but until then it will help if people using the new road travel slowly to keep the dust down and keep the surface of the road from getting washboarded.