Trails Update: April 28th... First one of the 2023 season!
Emergency repairs and buffing
Here we go! It’s that time of the year again, when our social feeds are filled with “dual sport” claims, “new bike day”, and “is Lord of the Squirrels open?”... Plus Dan’s nature photography packaged in trail crew updates!
The (help wanted) crew started up this week after a few weeks of snow checks and deadfall clearing (thanks Pat!). Like every spring, we prioritize emergencies over our planned renovation program to make the trails safe to ride.
BC Hydro’s vegetation management program loaded up my “to-do” list this spring. We have debris-covered trails and tread to repair under most of the powerline sections.
The heavy machinery, used to mow the trees down, worked through the winter while the trails were hidden under snow. Removing woody debris was the easy part… elaborate rock walls and bridges were smashed indiscriminately.
We started at nester’s repairing Robin Yer Eggs and then moved to the lower Sproatt zone… Piece of Cake got hit hard. The bottom bridge (that we had transplanted from another location 2 years ago) was crushed. My recycling bug kicked in and we managed to salvage half of it and complement it with boulders. The new alignment on-ramp didn’t quite work, so we got to play with the hammer drill… a treat in the first week of the season!
A Cut Above was peppered with fallen trees. Two of which fell on and damaged bridges. Those required some fun “creative carpentry” to repair.
It’s great to be back at it!
The snow is melting fast so please report what you find out there on Trailforks. Whether it’s downed trees or deep snow, photos always help.
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
