(Connor Fields) Today on Outdoor Nevada, I hit the trails out at Sloan Canyon, learn about the difference between sanctioned and unsanctioned trails, and meet up with a local high school mountain bike team.

All this and more on today's Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ I'm Connor fields, your new host for my favorite show, Outdoor Nevada.

-The Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area located just south of Las Vegas is a pristine desert landscape rich in natural and cultural treasures.

This 48,438-acre area is renowned for its stunning geological formations, including colorful sandstone cliffs, rugged canyons, and unique rock formations.

Visitors to Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area can explore a network of hiking trails that wind through the rugged terrain, providing opportunities to discover the area's diverse flora and fauna while enjoying panoramic views of surrounding desert landscape.

The area also offers recreational activities, such as wildlife viewing, birdwatching, photography, and mountain biking.

For me, I've always loved riding my bike out here at Sloan Canyon.

And as more and more people start riding mountain bikes and get out here, the trail system has continued to grow and develop.

And I always thought that was awesome, but there do happen to be a few issues with it, one that us as riders and ultimately residents of this area need to address.

So today, I'm meeting up in multiple groups so we can learn how to legally and ethically develop this land and, ultimately, have fun and ride responsibly.

♪♪♪ -Riding the trails here is a ton of fun.

There are multiple access points to miles and miles of trails.

And herein lies the problem.

The trail system here has been described as a bowl of noodles, trails everywhere with minimum signage and not a lot of direction.

Now, truth be told, I've been riding these trails for some time, and I've always enjoyed myself.

But recently I've come to realize the majority of trails here are unsanctioned.

Not only that, the features are also unsanctioned, the jumps, the berms, the constructed elements, basically, all of the fun stuff is unsanctioned.

I mean, come on.

Really?

What does "unsanctioned" actually mean?

Because it's the Bureau of Land Management that looks over the Sloan Canyon, I figured that would be a good place to start and get some answers.

Today, I met up with Betsy.

I love this area.

What is it that you do out here?

(Betsy Bangert) I'm an outdoor recreation planner here at Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

So I handle anything that involves recreation and conservation.

I handle special recreation permits for events and also trail planning, things of that nature.

-Is it just this area that we see here between the mountains?

-So Sloan Canyon encompasses over 48,000 acres around the Henderson area.

It goes from here all the way over to Inspirada.

-It's all connected?

I've lived here my whole life, and I had no idea that this was the same part as behind Inspirada.

-Yep.

We have Inspirada, Shadow Canyon area, Anthem, and then McCullough Hills as well.

And then even some land south through the McCullough Range.

-What constitutes a national conservation area?

-So national conservation areas are part of the National Conservation Lands, which are a small portion of BLM lands that are set aside to be managed as with conservation as our main goal over multi-use.

-I've been coming out here for a long time.

I'm a mountain biker, myself, and I have seen that there's been a little bit of disagreement between BLM and the mountain bikers.

There's some other people here who love this area and enjoy these trails as much as I do.

I know you already know them.

Why don't we go have a conversation and learn more about each other?

-Sounds good.

♪♪♪ -There are so many people who ride these trails, and I don't think many of these people know anything about the rules of adding and making trails.

We can all look at the Bureau of Land Management as the bad guys, but they really aren't.

They are doing their job taking care of the public lands.

Now, I hear the same thing you do, "public lands."

To me that means the land belongs to us.

You're right, kind of, but imagine if everyone, everyone did what they wanted on public lands.

It would be complete chaos.

There has to be some rules and guidance.

That's where the Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association, or SNMBA, along with the Bureau of Land Management come into play.

Betsy and I met up with David and Alison from SNMBA to talk trails.

- ...predate the National Conservation Area.

-Do you know when people started riding mountain bikes out here?

-I believe they've probably been riding bikes and mountain bikes for a while out here, but I think in the last like 5 to 10 years, mountain biking has really, really taken off in Southern Nevada.

-Alison, tell me a little bit about what you do.

(Alison Cormier) So I'm with the Southern Nevada Mountain Biking Association.

I'm the manager of Community Engagement and Education.

I try to share with the mountain biking community things that they should know about riding the trails.

I'm also a coach on one of our NICA teams.

NICA is the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.

It's a mountain biking league for high school and middle school kids.

-I wish they had that when I was in high school.

-David, tell me what you do.

(David Spicer) I'm the president of Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association.

-So you guys work together a lot?

-We see a lot of each other, you bet we do.

We've got a great Board here in Las Vegas area.

We really are an advocacy committee to try to make things happen out here in the Sloan district and all of BLM land in the area.

I work, as president, I work with the state offices themselves, you know, the main office up there to try to get everybody communicating about the needs for recreation, the needs for lands down here, our attempts to try to get the trails that are here up on the RAMP plan and get them legitimized.

-When you're talking about legitimizing trails, this trail we're standing on is a favorite of many other riders out here.

But as you informed me, it's not sanctioned.

What constitutes a trail to be sanctioned or not?

-Basically, in order to be a designated trail, the trail had to go through what we call the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, where it had to be looked at and gone through environmental compliance to make sure that the trail was in good shape to be created.

-A trail like this, one that is not sanctioned, are you guys gonna come in and clear it out, or are you going to work together to try to make it part of the existing trail map?

-Our hope here at Sloan is to look at all of these trails that have already been created and try to get them through the National Environmental Policy Act.

We are planning to redo our trail plan here at Sloan.

So we're planning to try to look at all of these trails and then assess which ones we think we can keep, which ones may need to be restored.

And our hope is to keep as many as possible and open them up for the mountain biking community.

We just have to do things the right way and get them through the environmental review.

-As you work with the youth, I imagine that they don't know all of these things.

They don't know the rules.

They don't understand the bureaucracy and the things that have to go through different layers and levels to make a trail.

How do you navigate that challenge?

-So hopefully-- our plan is to start a NICA program called the Teen Trail Corps.

And what that program will do is bring the student athletes out to actually have them work on maintaining the trails so that they can see what kind of work goes into having the trails that they're riding on.

And at the same time, we can talk to them about the need to have the trails properly sanctioned and the reasons for the NEPA process.

So hopefully, if they're learning that at a younger age, as they get older and are out riding on their own, they'll have those things in mind already, which a lot of people don't know, as it is.

It's just going to take a certain amount of education to help everybody to understand why a trail needs to be officially designated.

-And I think that's something a lot of people underestimate is how difficult it is to build a trail.

Then not only do you have to build it once, you have to maintain it every time it rains, every time people are riding over it.

It isn't just a "set it and forget it."

-And so part of the problem with that is the incredible numbers of miles of trails takes a lot of work to maintain them properly.

And the BLM doesn't have the resources to do all of that work, which is that's where Southern Nevada Mountain Biking Association can come in.

We can gather the volunteers that will come out and help maintain the trails the way that they need to be maintained.

-Absolutely.

As a kid we had a saying.

It was "No dig, no ride."

If you don't come out here and put a little bit of sweat equity into the trail, you weren't ridiing.

-Right.

-Today, we have to absolutely provide the lack that's in the BLM offices.

These guys are public servants.

They work for us, but we've got to help them do their jobs properly.

We can provide a lot, and the volunteers who use these trails are the most motivated people, as you know.

The ones that would want to get out and ride love to work on them.

If we can get them all working on that, maintaining trails and constructing new ones, we're going to have all that energy that's used in the illegal construction out here go to something that's quite positive.

That's something that the BLM has put forward.

And all the conversations, many who have recently, developing relationships to get people to work in the right way and give them something to do.

Absolutely, it will work out well.

-It really sounds like everybody's on the same team.

We all want the same end result.

So my question for you is if I'm a rider and I'm out here and I want to build a trail, what is the process to do that?

-Well, patience is a virtue.

So it takes time.

That is what I tell people.

I know a lot of people want to come out and want to build and see something that looks like it might become a good trail, and a lot of these trails are incredibly interesting and well-built.

But we need to make sure we do our due diligence and we do what we were congressionally mandated to do here at the BLM, which is build these trails responsibly and go through the National Environmental Policy Act in getting them established.

We just ask that people basically out riding, it's okay if you want to ride these trails.

We understand that you don't know what's sanctioned and what isn't sanctioned.

On our side, we plan to work on the education side of that, as well as signage.

So we're going to plan to increase our signage here at Sloan.

We're also planning on doing some tabletops at McCullough Hills and Anthem where we actually outreach to the public along with redoing our trail plan, but we ask for patience in that timeframe in between.

Please stop building trails.

Please don't make your own trails.

What is here is here.

We are planning to inventory what has been created and see what we can do to get that through the National Environmental Policy Act.

So we just ask for some restraint right now and for, for the people that are building these trails to just work with us and to, you know, reach out to SNMBA and organizations like that because they are, like they said, we can't do this by ourselves at the BLM.

Our office at Sloan is incredibly small.

And we're dedicated, but not to the point where we can hit all 48,000 acres at once.

All of you having these guys here and the mountain biking community on our side and working with us and having the same goals as us, that would be great.

And we would all, I think, benefit from that.

-David, how would you get a feature like this approved?

-To get this approved, you'd have to submit it.

You'd have to draft it up, engineering's drawing, officially declaring how much weight it's going to carry.

Is the capacity going to be adequate enough for the use as intended, okay?

Then you would take that and submit it to the BLM and submit it for its authorization.

And whether-- they would go through the NEPA process and determine if it's appropriate or not in whatever BLM land of placement it may be out there.

And you'd have to ask for their blessing for that.

But something-- it's a process.

It's just like the same, under the same NEPA process the trails are, these have to be done the same way, period.

-It's a relief to know that features like this can be approved on other trails, because I like them and I imagine some of your riders like them as well.

And I look forward to meeting some of them and riding this afternoon over at the Late Night Trailhead.

It's good to be informed.

Talking with David and Alison is one thing, but I want to ride.

We would do just that, but not yet.

First, it's off to another local trail for a little bit of work.

Alison is not only part of SNMBA, she's also a coach for a local mountain biking team.

The team was meeting up at Lone Mountain for some trail maintenance.

The Lone Mountain Trail is a 2.9 mile loop trail and is considered easy.

It is a great place to get out and ride for all ages and skill levels.

Working with the young men and women to do some trail maintenance was an awesome experience.

It's really cool for me to see that not only do they enjoy riding and the outdoors, but they also take pride in taking care of the trails that they use.

About half of the trail is exposed, and there's a large drainage ditch running through it.

The first thing that we did was gather some of the larger exposed rocks and move them off to the side of the trail.

We wanted to move them to the downhill side of the trail so if they kept rolling and kept eroding, they wouldn't fall back into where you wanted to ride.

Rocks are an awesome part of mountain biking, but you want the rocks to be dug into the ground.

You don't want them to be loose and exposed, because that could take you down.

Once we removed some of the larger rocks, we used rakes and other tools to move some of the dirt over and patch up the area that had been eroded.

Once we finished our work, it looked like a great trail, nice and smooth, and you could ride it on both the left side and the right side.

The next thing that we did is remove what is known as a social trail.

A social trail is an unsanctioned and unplanned trail that starts with one person riding or walking down it, then another, then another, and eventually it gets dug in and creates its own new trail.

This particular social trail is just a shortcut back to the parking lot.

And really, it doesn't cut much out, and you lose some of the fun aspects here because you avoid some of the downhill with a nice berm at the bottom.

The way that we were instructed to remove this social trail is by making it seem as if it was never here.

We started by putting some large rocks in the middle of it, covering it with some different sticks and bits and pieces.

Then we used rakes and moved some of the smaller rock on top of it.

Once we were finished, it didn't look like a trail ever existed here.

I had an absolute blast working with the young men and women of NICA.

I think it's really special that these riders not only enjoy riding their bikes, but also enjoy maintaining the trails that we're on, and we all benefit from the work that they're doing.

I love seeing young people not just getting out and enjoying riding, but also doing their part to help take care of the trails.

Caring for trails, putting the work in, it gives you a better understanding of what makes a good trail.

It also makes you a better rider because you understand the trails.

One of my favorite things is hanging out with like-minded people.

And what makes this even better is that everyone here, they are the future.

And I can tell you this: The sport is in great hands in Southern Nevada, and the trails are too.

While we were working, I overheard a trail ride being planned.

The team was going out to Late Night Trail with Alison and David for a ride.

Yeah, I'll be there.

The Late Night Trail offers an exhilarating mountain bike experience.

And the Late Night Trail system offers so much variety and so many options for riders of all skill levels.

They have everything from beginner trails that are great to learn on to moderate trails for riders trying to advance their skills and take it to the next level, all the way up to expert level trails that have rocky sections, steep descents, and crazy switchbacks to ride through.

It really is a buffet of trails for people to ride.

We're here in Cottonwood with a couple of NICA teams that have joined me.

What's the name of your team?

(Allison Blazi) We are the Beasts.

-And what about you guys?

(Zeke Mangus) We are the Red Burritos.

-The Red Burritos, how did you pick that name?

-Well, it started out as the adult road biking team called the Red Burros, and I guess it turned into Red Burritos for the little kids' cross-country biking team.

-There you go.

And how long have you been riding?

-I've been riding for probably over five years now.

-What about you?

-I've been riding for a little bit over three years.

-And who got you into it?

-My dad.

-So it's a family affair?

-Yeah, me and my brother.

-So you and your brother, you guys compete on the same team?

-Yeah.

-Who's better?

-Him.

[laughter] -Do you guys ride in just this area, or do you ride all over the Valley or even around the state?

-Personally, I travel all around the state and see what's up.

And then I'll even go out of town to ride places like Moab or like the Palisade Plunge in Colorado.

I love to branch out and see different trail networks.

-How long have you been riding?

(Maddy Hirschi) I've been riding for a little more than four years.

-And what's your favorite thing about mountain biking?

-I love like how nice everyone is and how everyone just wants to go out and have fun on their bikes.

And, yeah.

-And so when you have a team, do you guys get together for practice?

Is it just for events?

How does it work?

(Dax Bennet) So we go to like-- we have practices every Wednesday-- or any day of the week.

And that's like once a week.

And then every once a month, we have a race.

-When you compete, is it one team versus another team?

Are there other teams that become involved as well?

-Um, there's like about eight teams that are in the Valley, and we all compete against each other in our different categories.

-I asked you what your favorite thing about mountain biking is.

What's the hardest thing about mountain biking?

-The hardest thing?

I mean, there's a lot of different hard aspects about it.

It depends on what discipline you're doing.

But I would say that for specifically the cross-country discipline, mental fortitude really is very demanding.

Being able to keep going when your body wants to shut down completely is extremely taxing on your mind, in my opinion.

-Do you feel that the strength developed mentally while you're racing mountain bikes is something that will carry over into normal life?

-I already notice the benefits of developing mental fortitude in my real life.

I find that I use the examples I find in mountain biking in my day-to-day life.

I use it as examples to push me through.

If I don't want to do my work or if I don't want to do something that day, I remind myself of how hard I push myself in mountain biking and how I want to apply that to my everyday life.

-That's a great answer.

That's one of the most important things about all sports.

But mountain biking in particular, you learn so much.

You learn about yourself, you learn about your equipment, you learn about the land that you're riding.

One of the best things about riding mountain bikes is that it's different every single time, right?

Some people like to play football or they like to play a sport that's always on the same field.

But when you ride, do you enjoy that every time that you ride, it's a little bit different?

-Yeah.

Because when when you ride, it's just like it just makes your-- your bike moves differently on different landscaping.

So then you get to figure out how fast you want to go on each one.

-When you ride through the trail, it goes by real quick.

But when you walk it and you take the time on it, you notice how many little pieces there are to the trail.

-That's right.

Lots to it.

-And another thing about the unsanctioned trails is it limits where we can have our NICA events.

So we have a lot of our events out of town.

We have them at his ranch in Beatty.

We have them in Caliente.

We don't have many that are-- we don't have any that are in town because we don't have enough sanctioned trails.

So that's one of the things that the Southern Nevada Mountain Biking Association is doing is working with the BLM to make more sanctioned trails, which will eventually lead to us being able to have our NICA events in town.

-And increase the amount of kids we can handle on the trails out here.

-Right.

-Which is good thing, right, guys?

It's a good thing to have more trails, more of your friends out riding bikes, right?

That's what we're after right there.

-What is your favorite thing about mountain biking?

(Isaac Buxton) I'd say my favorite thing about mountain biking is improving each time I ride.

Like, it's just really cool.

Like three years ago, I would not have thought that I'd be riding 20 miles.

So, yeah, that's basically it.

-My favorite part is all the friends that I've made through mountain biking.

Basically everyone knows each other since we all ride together, so you get to meet a lot of new people.

(Isaac Blazi) My favorite part about mountain biking is kind of getting your mind off of stuff like school and other things.

-My favorite part about mountain biking is progression.

A couple of years ago, I would not-- I would be very surprised to see that I can ride down the hard trails that I can like over here at Cowboy or in other parts of the country.

So that's my favorite part.

-My favorite part is like the competition and just pushing each other to be able to get better each time.

-That's awesome.

Does anybody have any questions for me?

-I was wondering, so if I'm not wrong, you were a professional BMXer?

-That's correct.

Yep.

-What discipline did you do, race BMX or freestyle BMX?

-I raced.

If I had hands and feet off, it was an accident.

-Okay.

-Did a little cross-country, cross training, building base level fitness.

As you know, you could build a heck of a lot of fitness.

I always loved mountain biking.

And when I retired, that is my chosen hobby.

Ready to ride?

-Yep.

-Yeah.

-Talking with everyone was great.

It's such a cool thing to be around such a dedicated group.

Mountain biking is a huge part of my life.

It is so much fun to ride a trail.

You get outside.

You get to see the sights.

You get those lungs going, the blood pumping.

You get the challenges, the thrills.

You can push yourself to be a better rider.

It is so much fun.

Mountain biking on the Late Night Trail is not for the faint of heart, offering experienced riders a chance to test their skills and endurance against the rugged desert terrain.

With its steep climbs and fast descents, this trail provides a thrilling adventure that rewards those who dare to tackle its twists and turns.

As riders conquer the challenging terrain, they are treated to breathtaking views of the surrounding desert landscape, creating an unforgettable mountain biking experience.

My personal favorite is 3 Mile Smile.

And as the name would ensue, you ride it for three miles and you can't help but smile.

It's a downhill trail, so that means no pedaling.

You've got jumps, you've got turns, you've got different obstacles, and it is a total thrill to ride down that trail.

I love that these trails are all in my backyard.

I love being a part of the local mountain bike community here in Southern Nevada, and I want nothing more than to share the joy and the benefits that it can bring to riders of all ages.

With that being said, it's important that we as riders do the right thing to sustain the sport and take care of the land.

What I learned today, and I hope you did too, is that we all need to do our part.

Find yourself a trail, preferably a sanctioned one, grab your bike, get out there, and have some fun.

That's what I'm going to do right now.

I'm Connor Fields, and I'll see you next time.

♪♪♪