Campbell River is definitely a great place to check out if you are planning your next riding vacation. A short drive north of the Comox Valley (which also has fantastic riding) and near Mount Washington (for the gravity lovers), the Snowden Recreation Area has about 100 kilometers of singletrack. A great way to check out the trails is by signing up for the BC Bike Race or River City Cycle Club’s annual 50km Trail Challenge. The rocky terrain provides natural technical challenge but there is also plenty of flowy singletrack for everyone to enjoy.
We had a unique opportunity to work in Elk Falls Provincial Park which is only a short drive outside of town. The Dean Martin trail is used frequently by local riders who ride from town out to the trail network. BC Parks allows mountain bikes on this one trail within the park and the River City Cycle Club is currently writing up a memorandum of understanding with BC Parks to become the stewards of this trail. Our project was a prime example of how a simple realignment of a steep fall line trail improves user experience while reducing the environmental footprint of the trail. Our crew did such an amazing job reclaiming the old trail there was no way to tell where it even was.
Like many clubs, River City Cycle Club was also looking at how they could encourage their membership to get involved with trail. A Trail Care Crew visit was a great first step as it brought together members of their club who had never come to a build before. Other builders from Quadra, Denman, and Hornby Islands, as well as people from Victoria, Courtney, Comox, Cumberland and Gold River attended. If your club is putting on a trail day in your community it never hurts to invite people from neighbouring clubs/towns. Plan to attend another club’s build day once a year and invite them up to your next build. Helping our neighbours is a great way to give back to the riding community and provides an opportunity to learn and share trail building knowledge.
It was a great experience working with a large crew from varied backgrounds who mustered the courage to work in rainy and windy conditions while keeping a light heart about it. A big thank you goes to Tom and his whole crew for their dedication to the trails in their home town. We look forward to working and riding with everyone in Campbell River again soon.
IMBA Trail Day from Cyclops on Vimeo.