The Prince George Cycling Club (PGCC) was first established over twenty years ago. In the past few years they have worked on gaining access to and formalizing the Pidherny recreation area. The site officially opened in October 2010 to provide recreation opportunities for all non-motorized users. Pidherny is known for its advanced mountain bike trails and for having the only view of Prince George sans pulp mill. The PGCC is the first club that we have worked with that has put together a master trail plan and uses volunteer trail managers to look after the trails.
The project chosen for this visit was key for a couple of reasons. The club is trying to minimize the number of wood structures in the network in order to reduce the maintenance required on the trails. However, they still want to maintain the technical challenge that the area is known for. We took an existing trail and created multiple lines in the same corridor to show how to maximize the terrain, maintain the technical challenge and manage water. We also continued building the beginner trail designed by Dan Scott with Trail Solutions last fall.
Our volunteer crew included a dozen youth from the Katimavik program. If you haven’t heard of the Katimavik program before, it “offers Canadian youth the opportunity to contribute to the sustainable development of communities across Canada through challenging volunteer service programs”. Many of the youth were avid trail users so they enjoyed the opportunity to work on trail alongside other volunteers. We were also joined by members of the Caldonia Ramblers, a local hiking club, and a handful of members from the PGCC. Everyone was keen on the project and worked through a couple of light rainfalls in order complete both projects. As we wrapped up the day a few riders came down the trail and were amazed at the flow and challenge that the new section of trail offered.
We want to applaud the hard work of the PGCC, especially Brett Woods, the trail guru, and Nicole LeBlanc, the Sprockids coordinator. Thank you to everyone who helped with donations to provide us with skookum accommodations at the Four Points Sheraton in Prince George.