Two dozen volunteers working with nonprofit Routt County Riders showed up on Saturday for the first public volunteer day for continuing construction of a new trail as part of the Mad Rabbit system and to celebrate National Public Lands Day.

Laraine Martin, the riders’ outgoing executive director, said the work crew completed about a half mile of “dirt finishing work” on the tread surface of what is currently called Trail 19, which spurs off the winter Bruce’s Trail. The trailhead starts just west of the Rabbit Ears Pass summit off U.S. Highway 40.

“Previous to this day’s volunteer work, the U.S. Forest Service and Routt County Riders staff have been working on the trail corridor for the past month,” Martin said. “Not every day, but chipping away at it, running chainsaws to clear standing dead hazard trees and downed trees along the new trail corridor.

Work earlier this summer by federal and nonprofit staff included “running the tracked excavator machine along the trail to clear out the dirt surface itself and get down to mineral soil” for an approximately 2-mile loop trail, Martin said.

On Saturday, volunteers cleaned up after the excavator passing through, removed additional roots and loose rock, tamped down the dirt surface and picked up a large bag of highway roadside trash at the trailhead, Martin said.