Trails Update: August 25, 2022
Not that thing again!
It’s pole saw season. Now that dirt everywhere has turned to dust, if we’re not standing in a running creek… we’re “Low Risk” hand tool bound. Most of our week has been spent de-branching some of the trails we didn’t get in 2017 and 2018, plus some that have been added to the map since then.
We hit the far South trails… Derailment, Runaway Train and End of the Line. It’s worth a visit to see the beavers’ progress geo-engineering their habitat along the Cheakamus River. Westside old school trails were also cleared including Industrial disease, Up Up and Away, Pigs on a Wing, Short Bus, and some newer trails like Industrial Waste and Chipmunk Rebellion.
Clearing eye-poking branches is perhaps not as “instagrammable” as building a jump or discovering a new viewpoint, but this literal “pain in the neck” work is an important part of our annual maintenance plan. There’s good news for the crew… trees and their branches tend to grow UP, so we won’t need to return to those particular trails for further de-branching treatment until new trees start to grow into the trails’ corridors.
Nice bridge!
I’ve been saving a “standing in the creek” project for this time of year. Well actually, it was mostly because the creek was flowing way too high when we discovered its bridge(s) needed replacing. Middle Tunnel Vision’s biggest creek crossing is now upgraded too. That was a refreshing worksite indeed: the heat nearly knocked me over when I returned to the truck!
Nobody likes to waste good wood! I’d like to thank Clay from Resort Renewal Services for donating some leftover cedar beams that will find a dreamy happy home as part of a bridge over a beautiful babbling brook… or become someone’s nightmare derailleur crunching old school skinny…
The future!
Scott and I took this heatwave as an opportunity to hike up a mountain. We spent some time getting to know the terrain we’ll be contending with for the (still unnamed and awaiting approval) Mystic-Function trail. The steep terrain was rife with challenges: some related to the heat, some related to our fitness, but the mission was a success. We found an alignment that avoids a lot of the wet spots and will lessen the grade of the trail. Our goal is to design a trail that’s more like the Chipmunk than the Squirrel.
I mentioned wasps last week and we found several nests on our big hike. The hornets are also out, but luckily, they’re hunting the pesky Horse and Deer flies. Watch your step(!) and please report nasty critter encounters (nests) on trailforks.
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
