Trails Update: July 24, 2026
trail day!
The trail crew are happy to welcome WORCA members to our annual Trailforks sponsored digging event on Wednesday July 29. The weather looks to be cooperating: This weekend’s rain will make the soil primed for benching and shaping the Marmot Mayhem! Meet us behind Forecast Coffee in Function Junction at 9am. Coast Mountain Brewing is providing their best potent potables to help beat the heat!
blue squirrel?
12 years ago, when we started to build Lord of the Squirrels, we were aiming for it to be “one of the easier trails in town”, comparable to the Zappa trails and Cut Yer Bars. Back then, trail ratings were mostly subjective: trails would “magically” appear, then were rated in comparison to other trails in the difficulty ladder of a particular network. To put it simply: the gnarliest singletrack trails would get double black, the easiest unpaved ones would be rated blue. Everything else got rated black. This made the ratings heavily skewed to the mountain biking culture of an area… you may have experienced this when travelling to another town to ride: the ratings often seem “wrong”.
Professionally building a Rec Sites and Trails BC (RSTBC) approved trail (like in the case of LOTS), involves following the widely acclaimed “Whistler Trail Standards”, published in 2003 by (WORCA member) Andrew DeBoer. That document presents more objective rating factors like width of tread/bridges, average/maximum incline and guidelines about obstacle height. And so, with great enthusiasm, we set off to build an epic blue trail. Upon opening in Fall 2016, locals could ride the smooth tread UP to the lake before shredding back down (Mystic was still unfinished). Some folks even thought we made it too easy. Pretty subjective analysis, but LOTS also met the measurable standards: average and maximum grades for intermediate rating (less than 10% and 35%). Once On the Rocks connected the alpine network a literal bike frenzy occurred: over 10000 sets of tires per season hammered the smooth tread, exposing roots and bedrock. “I’m not sure it’s still easier than the Zappas” said ex-trails director Tim Andrews, to which I rebutted “But it’s still nowhere near the likes of (black rated) Billy Epic, Out There or Business Time”. Debates about rider fatigue, alpine exposure and comparisons to home network ratings have raged (mostly online) since the trail opened but the measurables did meet the mark... until now.
RSTBC has updated the Provincial trail rating standards with some new measurable factors such as exposure (fall height), segment lengths for grades and jump feature measurements. They have also adjusted most of the incline grades (steepness): the maximum grade for a blue rated trail went from 35% (unspecified segment length) to 25% for no more than 5 metre segments. That last line closes any rating debate: The last ridge of Lord of the Squirrels was at the old maximum. Several other blue trails in town have also been affected by the shifted standard. The WORCA trails committee has reviewed and debated priority/action for these. In some cases we simply changed the sign to Black Diamond (Mid-Danimal, A Cut Above, Upper LOTS). In other cases, network wants/needs guided us to redesign/re-route/renovate to retain the original rating: Delineator, Dessert Platter, 99’er and now lower LOTS. So, we’re making a ride-around which will provide a more relaxed finish to Lord Of The Squirrels. It ain’t easy digging but the black flies are sure happy to have us!
See you on the Trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
