Trails

April showers bring June overgrown trails  It's time for annual haircuts on our powerline and logging clear-cut trails. The May false start to the summer really got the Thimbleberry and Alder growing! The direct sunlight might be nice for plants but running a chainsaw/brushcutter for hours is less pleasant. We picked the coolest days to give "Hot Dog Alley","Beaver Pass/Pond" and "River runs through it" the first trim. We also started on the long ignored "lower Babylon"/"See Colours and Puke" loop.  Nature alert! Renee found an "owl pellet" and Pat noticed the sweet bear claw mark on a tree (see photos below). Pat and I tested ... Read more

Too hot to set "Green Jello"  This week got started with a scorcher: hot enough to keep the bugs away! Trek Dirt Series sponsored the last trail night of the spring. 25 Tuesday diggers got a full workout moving 267 buckets of rock and dirt to cap last week's 130 metre bottomless duff trench (all numbers are approximations). This section of "Lower Sproatt" still needs some work before opening it... we will wait until BC Hydro has completely completed their work on the new-new-road to connect it. ... Read more

We started this week by sharpening all of the tools to tackle the "Green Jello" re-route (of the Lower Sproatt road). Tuesday night diggers were up against the deepest duff of the season! There was enough red rot under the green moss to consider changing the project name to "Red Velvet Cake". The cold beer and snacks were provided by long-time trail crew supporter Pritchard! Next week (June 19) we'll close out the spring Tuesday dig nights by finishing this same project with support from Trek ... Read more

Moving bridges My "to-do" list is ever growing and some projects are more complex than others: -cut dead-fall on this -armour that -brushcut this and that -re-position 2500 lb bridge that got pushed down stream by a debris-flow With a lot of planning, some expert advise and unfamiliar equipment, we finally got the "Industrial Waste" bridge back in position!Huge thank you to Kevin and Bart at RMOW parks and trails and Chris for the extra muscle on moving day! (check out the timelapse of the move HERE). I now feel ... Read more

"Hey! There's a trail!" This week, we mowed the lawn in the Cheakamus zone. Your derailleur should be free of vegetation on "Garbage", "Just Another Bike Trail", "Trash", and "Runaway Train". It's fun to finish what we started: Tuesday dig night got it done on the "Hot Dog Alley> Scotia Creek" climb. Thanks to everyone who helped get this great upgrade done! We've run several trail nights on this one, and, Giant Whistler Bike Co. provided the beer for the final push and "ribbon cutting ... Read more

We fired up the brushsaw this week to give "Cut Yer' Bars" a trim. We also patched up the wooden features on the segment that takes you back to the school. We opted for a simple (decking only) repair since this piece of trail will become a segment of valley trail in the next few years. We patched up, armoured and capped eroded sections of 99'er and the "Lower Sproatt" singletrack descent. Capping with dirt makes it all look so smooth and ... Read more

"The Muffin Man is seated at the table In the laboratory of the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen..." -Frank Zappa This year's Whistler Waldorf School week was digging close to the school:In Lost Lake! The Class of 2021 (currently in grade 9) broke ground on a section of trail I've wished existed since we poured cement on "Central Scrutinizer"... We successfully built the first part of "Muffin Man", connecting the "Central Scrutinizer" to "Comfortably Numb" (at the frisbee golf course).  Ultimately, it will reach "jelly ... Read more