Comox Valley Mountain Biking Forums and Trail News

got out for a little head lamp building tonight.  Universes constant barrage of pictures of split cedar was pushing me over the edge.  If anyone is ever thinking of working by headlamp I highly recommend it, you can definitely get a lot done in the winter if you build at night.

The section of trail I worked on tonite runs along an old skid road (after a really flowy singletrack section) and there is this drainage that crosses the trail and flows into a skunk cabbage swamp.  The trail is in an area that is almost entirely Red Alder.  I had thought about building a bridge but didnt want to pack in materials.  Then one ride I glimpsed an old cedar stump off in the distance.  After some rummaging around in the salmonberry I found a nice old cedar log.  The heartwood has rotted out but the sapwood is still fine.  I had to use Doug fir for the stringers, not ideal, but better than hemlock.  I had to keep the bridge to the side to allow for horses and the occasional atv that also use this stretch of the trail. 

during heavy rains in the winter the swamp backs up and the drainage gets fairly deep, so there will be periods where the water will likely be up to the rungs of the bridge.  We'll have to see how it handles next winter.

I like these bridges over area's you know will end up being mud holes wet feet sucks.On my last trip to Snowden i noticed some of the bridges on the lost frog trail looked alittle shakey and will probably need replacing pretty soon.

ryder:

On my last trip to Snowden i noticed some of the bridges on the lost frog trail looked alittle shakey and will probably need replacing pretty soon.

yup some of those bridges are toast.  They are fairly large spans and cross over fish creeks so the Forest Service has said they will replace the bridges on Lost Frog.  We thought it was going to happen last summer but it didnt, so maybe this summer. 

 Looks like the first bridge.  You sure you aren't just photoshopping the same bridge in different pictures?

j/k nice work..

The Stickman bridge is way more solid.  Solid Cedar stringers vs Doug fir stringers that could have been a little thicker.

 It'll still last 10 years.

Thats good news about the bridges good xc trails for the reign x1.The metal down ramp on the Tazz trail is interesting i was surprized to see it way out in the woods.

ryder:

Thats good news about the bridges good xc trails for the reign x1.The metal down ramp on the Tazz trail is interesting i was surprized to see it way out in the woods.

did you ride all of Taz or just the last third after Box Lunch?

I'am not sure if i rode all of it, one loop i do sometimes from the riley lake parking spot is Ogies to the junction than left making my way up to wiley's wood down wiley's than left than right on what i think is the start of tazz down Tazz to lost frog than around it to lost lake and eventually back to riley parking lot.

ryder:

down wiley's than left than right

at the bottom of Wiley's is Enchanted Forest.  If you go right and follow it out to the road, continue on the spur on the other side to the end, you will find the start of Taz.  It is very overgrown, but will be opened up again this summer as it has some tech rock sections on it.  When you turn left on Enchanted Forest and then right again you are going onto Box Lunch, which then intersects with the last third of Taz.  The route you are riding is the same route the 50km Marathon takes in that section of Snowden.  Definitely a fun route to take.

So I had been hearing rumours of 4x4's pushing farther and farther into one of the main areas our trails are located.  Apparently they are coming off a newish logging road, and start up one of the mtb trails, falling trees to make room for their trucks.  After they have chewed up that trail they head off through some open rock bluffs and then cross another trail, chewed that up and head further into the woods for over 2 km, crossing and running along a total of 6 trails.  Now who am I to *** about someone building trails, as I am responsible for quite a few unauthorized trails myself.   For me the issue is the carnage left in the wake of the trucks.  One section of the 4x4 trail runs up a creek, or what used to be a creek.  This trail is still new, I can only shudder to think what it will look like after a year of 4x4ing.

On a ride today I found a Jeep and an ATV making their way up the "trail".  It's pretty tough 4x4ing and I'm actually amazed they can get to where they are going.  I went up and talked to them for a bit, a bunch of half drunk yahoos, so I didnt waste my time trying to explain the environmental impacts of their hobby to them.  I got the licence plate of the Jeep.

So what should I do?  What can one do? 

I know section 46 of the Forest Range and Practices Act states:
(1.1)  A person, other than a person described in subsection (1), must not engage in any activity on Crown land that results in damage to the environment, unless in doing so
  (a) the person
    (i) is acting in accordance with a plan, authorization or permit under this Act,
    (ii) is not required to hold a plan or permit because of an exemption under this Act and is acting in accordance with this Act, the regulations and the standards, or
    (iii) is acting in accordance with another enactment, and
  (b) the person does not know and cannot reasonably be expected to know that, because of weather conditions or site factors, engaging in the activity may result, directly or indirectly, in damage specified by regulation

I have sent an email to the local MoF Compliance and Enforcement Manager, as well as the local MoTSA officer.  Would the RCMP care?

If anyone has any experience with dealing with 4x4's, Id like to hear how you have/havent resolved it.  I thought dealing with dirtbikes and quads was bad enough, but they got nothing on jeeps.

These next two shots are of the creek crossing.  I know its kinda hard to tell there used to be a clean gravelly creek in there.

I would agree the 4x4 trucks really make a mess,what i see done around around comox lake is ditching, blocking off with boulders or gates.The area is more controlled when the security guard is there.The sad thing is a few wreck it for others ,people have different recreational interests not everyone can ride a mountain bike and they just want to get out with their families for some fun on the weekends.I think the majority of people out there respect the trails and aren't there to wreck them.

ryder:

people have different recreational interests not everyone can ride a mountain bike and they just want to get out with their families for some fun on the weekends.

I'll admit I don't like running into any motorized vehicles when I'm out on the trails, but everyone has a right to be out there within reason.  When you are driving up creeks (which are connected to fish creeks lower down) I think you have forfeited your rights to be there. 

The streams and creeks should be left alone i think they suffered enough damage in the past from poor logging practices.I think its just about being respectfull and leaving a small footprint.

flow:

forfeited your rights

I couldn't agree more. Having fun is one thing but it should not be done at the expense of other trail users or the environment. Carving your footprint through the forest, altering the natural waterflow and destroying habitat shouldn't even be considered fun. Vandalism is more like it! I suppose the worst part is that some folks will never understand what we're even worried about. Scary.

Have the RCMP been informed? Surely trespassing (I presume it's private land) is an offense that is being committed. If they are driving close to walking trails it is also dangerous so they are causing public endangerment.