Bridger-Teton National Forest officials plan to rebuild about a third of a mile of a popular mountain bike trail that runs between Crater Lake and the Trail Creek parking lot and trailhead.

Work on 1,650 feet of the Parallel Trail, also known as the Gravity Bike Trail, is expected to begin this month. In place of the route that stands today at the trail’s “Chicken Foot” section will go a longer, windier, more sustainable route, said Linda Merigliano, the forest’s Jackson District recreation manager.

“It’s become pretty eroded,” Merigliano said. “It’s absorbing a lot of traffic, and the use in that area is going up.”

The 1.5-mile Gravity Trail both parallels and is hugged between Old Pass Road and Highway 22. It is located outside the Palisades Wilderness Study Area boundary.

Gravity is a common descent route for people riding Fuzzy Bunny, Jimmy’s Mom and other popular Teton Pass mountain biking trails.

The Chicken Foot stretch of the trail is by far the most poorly designed and damaged, according to a Bridger-Teton scoping document.

“It’s an embarrassing mess, which is quickly becoming a major safety issue,” the document said. “It is also uncharacteristic of the rest of the trail.”

In total, the new trail will be 880 feet longer than the one in place today. Earth and material dug up for the new trail will be used to fill in and reclaim the old route.

The Teton Freedom Riders will lead construction of the new stretch of Gravity. Funding comes in part from a One Percent for the Tetons grant.

During construction of the new Gravity Trail, heavy equipment will sometimes be in the Old Pass Road area.

This article appeared on the Jackson Hole News & Guide website on May 2, 2014.