Trails Update: July 28, 2023
deadlines!
As you probably know, I perform well under deadlines! For example… I loved sneaking in a last minute bypass on this week’s Toonie course 🙂
This week, we’ve been “all hands on deck” again on Flashback 1 performing upgrades to meet Adaptive-mtb blue standard.
“What’s the rush Dan?”
Have you heard that the Fox Factory Trail Trust is hosting a volunteer trail MORNING this weekend on July 30th?
My enthusiasm spikes when a section of trail nears the ribbon cutting, so the trail crew has been tying up loose ends on parts that were built last season: pulling stumps, widening the tread, building bridges in anticipation for a huge volunteer turnout.
The lack of moisture had forced us to forgo tread finishing work for fear of losing all that dust in the wind. Monday’s monsoon could not have come at a better time. On Sunday morning, volunteers can focus on benching sweet Cheakamus gold. Please sign up to join us to dig… and get a chance to win a Fox 38 fork!
Tree huggers.
I had the opportunity to guide my good friends Rob and Bob to some outstanding trees that I’d found while exploring my new neighborhood. Bob is a biologist and my #1 resource when I discover new (to me) critters. Rob has helped Bob “core” trees all over the valley for his “Old and Ancient Tree Map of Whistler” project. Amid storytelling and banter, Bob did some science, measuring trees and calling for Northern Goshawks (an endangered bird that only nests in old growth forests). We cored 2 trees: “the biggest Western White Pine Bob has ever seen in Whistler” and a striking Douglas Fir whose bark was over a foot thick. Bob counted 510 rings for the Pine and the Fir’s incomplete core had 750! Each ring represents one year of life for the tree… meaning these are some VERY OLD Trees. Science is fun!
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
