MERA Weekend 6 - 2021 (copy)

Nicholas Fairbanks takes off down a wooden ramp on Mount Emily Recreation Area’s Dirt Circus mountain bike trail during the annual Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club Shuttle Day on Saturday, June 26, 2021.

LA GRANDE— Nearly 50 miles of trails are again available to hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders in the western Grande Ronde Valley.

The Mount Emily Recreation Area reopened for day use on Saturday, July 31, for nonmotorized activities after having being closed completely the previous 10 days because of high fire danger due to hot and dry conditions.

Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer primarily covering the communities of North Powder, Imbler, Island City and Union, education, Union County veterans programs and local history. Dick joined The Observer in 1983, first working as a sports and outdoors reporter.

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(1) comment

mjvande

What were you thinking??? Mountain biking and trail-building destroy wildlife habitat! Mountain biking is environmentally, socially, and medically destructive! There is no good reason to allow bicycles on any unpaved trail!

Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There is also no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1996.

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