Not to stir the pot anymore, but Dolly Sods North is a small portion of the 2 MILLION ACRES newly designated [read: protected] from destruction under the OPLMA (Omnibus Public Land Mngmnt. Act) all across the country. Why would there be uproar over this? It simply prevents any mechanical intrusion into the area; camping, hiking, birdwatching, etc. are still allowed.Number 2: Dolly Sods North is where mountain bikers have been riding, racing and doing trail maintenance for the last 20+ years. In 2009, over the objections of almost every local business, all local government and business groups and the U.S. Forest Service, our sell out Congress prostitutes passed the Wilderness legislation that made Dolly Sods North part of the existing Dolly Sods Wilderness. That is reason number one why the Rattlesnake will not start at Timberline this year.
Granted, the 7,000+ acres comprising DSN were valuable to riders, but there are many more millions of acres available to us mountain bikers to utilize and *gulp*, take for granted.
It is sad to see the hard work and trail maintenance of so many riders not available for biking anymore, but rest assured that the land will now not ever fall into the hands of another greedy company wishing to retrieve oil or gas, harvest timber, overgraze, fire mortars into, or destroy (again) the beauty of the land that we ALL have access to.
Back to the subject though, it's a bummer they won't be able to run the Rattlesnake through that part of Dolly Sods ever again. However, it sounds like the birth of this new gravity-oriented mindset at Timberline is really starting to build steam and will hopefully provide us with one more great place to ride and race our bikes and enjoy the grandeur of the area.