IMBA Canada’s Trail Care Crew (TCC) was delighted to get an invitation to visit the Town of Trenton in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.  During the planning stages for the visit, it was evident that the area has many recreational activities that the residents actively engage in, including mountain biking.  With an 8 km network of singletrack trails easily accessible in the urban setting of Trenton Steeltown Park, there was significant interest from the County and the Town of Trenton to get public involvement and stewardship in place to support ongoing trail improvements and maintenance.

 

The weekend started on Saturday morning with the TCC hosting a Trail Building School (TBS) to more than a dozen spirited individuals from the local community.  The classroom session helped to introduce and teach the concepts, theory, design and construction techniques for sustainable trails.   Later in the afternoon, the group worked on a reroute for a badly eroded section of fall-line trail in Trenton Park.  The original section of trail was rehabilitated at the same time as the new contour type trail was being constructed, giving all of the participants a chance to see the practical application of the techniques taught during the morning classroom session.  The newly constructed alignment opened up an additional 30 m of sustainable multi-use trail that will be easier to manage and maintain into the future.  The TCC was very happy to hear favourable comments during and after the trail building session, and more importantly that everyone had fun!

After the long day, the TCC and a large number of the earlier participants, joined in the opportunity for a campout in the park.  With food and drinks fueling the starving group, the chance to finally relax around a warm fire was the perfect way to finish the very productive day!

On Sunday, the TCC was invited on what would be a very ‘epic’ ride.  Almost 60 km later, and after seeing much of the singletrack in the area, the TCC was happy to have had such a nice welcome and extensive tour of the county.

The start of the ‘epic’ ride!  (Picture courtesy of Sherry Huybers Withers)

Special thanks to Sally O’Neill from Active Pictou County for organizing the event, Greg and Ali Hayward for hosting me, and Sherry Huybers Withers for organizing the epic ride on Sunday!