Trails Update: July 31, 2026
wild weather swings
The clouds let us “have it” so to speak this week! Timed perfectly with Crankworx and a bunch of volunteer digging activities, for a few hours everyday, it felt more like October than July. Up on Lord of the Squirrels, that moisture let the crew know about future mud issues… Meanwhile, lower in the valley, I got to host the first WORCA “ride/dig camp”. Coach Lukas guided the group of 11-14 year old campers to various locations around the valley where I’d set up some digging projects. We started the week in Cheakamus, removing excess duff and improving the last berm on AM/PM. The next day, I tried to hide behind my computer but the campers braved the monsoon. I met them at Hot Dog Pass. They were already soaked! After a snack under the WORCA tent, we needed to warm up, “let’s build a jump!” I exclaimed. That got everyone moving, collecting rocks, de-duffing the line and filling the wheelbarrow. It was raining so hard but no one seemed to notice. We harvested some great orange dirt by widening the only piece of this trail too narrow for my friend Sam’s adaptive bike to pass. “There’s too much dirt left!” said Catherine, when Jack declared that the jump was ready to test. That was easy to fix, we supersized a berm as the sun started to tease between showers.
I just had time to change my socks before joining the trail crew on a course flagging mission for Crankworx’ E-Enduro. We manage the race course marking for WORCA maintained trails that are used in large events to ensure the racers STAY ON THE TRAIL! It’s an opportunity to make some minor improvements to sightlines and choke the trail where necessary. It also gives us a great “baseline” assessment of the trail right before the event. And, of course, we return after the race to repair any impact caused by the race.
The Summer festival also featured our annual Trailforks sponsored trail day. “Big Rock Rob” saw the forecast and rolled into town just for this event! Marmot Mayhem was ready for another session of hefty benching, boulder stacking and tread capping. Trailforks founder Trevor May and his crew brought the same energy that helped complete the Rock Rabbit extension last summer. The WORCA dirt campers also joined in on the fun and they were rewarded with first tracks down the newest metres of trail. Coast Mountain brewing helped us celebrate the dig session and midpoint of our trailwork season before everyone dispersed to watch the Adaptive-mtb AirDH, concerts, art shows, fundraisers or whatever else Crankworx could offer on a Wednesday!
See you on the Trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
