Trails Update: May 20, 2022
Higher up to High Side
The trail crew continued up Far Out this week. Improving drains and smoothing the tread where slippery steps or harrowingly narrow sections made cautious climbers cringe. Like most of the traffic these days, they turned up See Colours and Puke to close the popular High Side loop. The original builders suggested we improve the first feature (and associated ride around). We’ll be back next week to complete that work. We’re really loving the “light duty” digging in Cheakamus! (as opposed to the rock drilling and root wrestling everywhere else in the valley…)
Waldorf week!
Benoit ran this year’s Whistler Waldorf week in the Nester’s hill area. They worked on a project already familiar to Waldorf alumni: Robin Yer Eggs! The trail has changed significantly since getting some firesmart thinning. The dark twisty climbing trail isn’t the same now that the bulk of the trees have been removed. We’ve learned a thing or two from this experience and have subsequently met with the forestry company to discuss how they can better protect the trails that snake through their worksites… You may have noticed a difference at the other end of Nester’s hill where the riding experience has not been so severely altered last year.
Flagging tape oh my…
In other tree cutting news: The Cheakamus Community Forest is planning some harvesting in the Wedge area.
Flagging tape in the forest is a pet peeve of mine. Whether it was left behind by the trail builder, hung way up by snowshoers or left behind after industrial activity, for me, the un-natural bright strings of plastic represent the antithesis to a natural forest experience. You can imagine how my anxiety spiked last weekend as I rode one of my favorite loops…
The planned cut blocks overlapped sections of Comfortably Numb (secret north) and Out There. Nicole (WORCA trails administrator) and I had the opportunity to meet with Simon Murray (CCF manager) this week. We visited the planned sites together to get a clearer picture of the expected disturbances (trail closure times and scope of rehabilitation work post-logging).
The area is a second growth plantation that was first logged in the 1960’s and replanted in the 1970’s. Old roads throughout the area will be reopened for machinery access and the operation will be commercial logging. There has not been any commercial logging in the CCF for a few years so for comparison with recent activity: tree retention will be much lower than along the Cheakamus Lake FSR (That operation was fire thinning). We pleaded for better buffering of the trails and Simon volunteered to modify some of their layouts to minimize the machines' impact on the trails. They will also leave crucial trees where the trails slalom around them to avoid the “straightening trend” that Robin Yer Eggs! experienced.
Not all flagging means cutting…some of the flagging out there is to indicate those trees that will be retained close to the trails so please don’t pull it down.
For anyone curious about broader CCF plans or specifics about this operation, you can find more information on the Cheakamus Community Forest website.
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
