The Great COVID Outdoor Exodus
Great! More riders!
Tell me if this sounds familiar; your local trails have seen a huge increase in traffic since COVID and some associations have been able to secure more funding for trail projects. Sounds like some new trails are coming!
Maybe, maybe not. And not building new trails is, believe it or not, the best way to move forward to ensure the existing trails get some well-deserved love for a few reasons:
Some biking specific trails were created more than 10 years, even 20 years ago, with little knowledge of drainage and understanding how many users would end up using those trails.
Some multiuser trails were created for hikers and horseback riders many decades ago.
During Covid we saw the mountain biking membership double in my local areas and a similar increase in people using the trails from other user groups (hikers, runners, horseback riders).
Large weather events such as windstorms, floods due to precipitation, forest fires and other unpredictable events that damage the network have been more frequent in the last 20 years. We had two floods, 2005 and 2013 in Calgary, that completely changed the water table for flood plains. What was considered once in a century became twice in 8 years!
The BIG picture
Many of us know that when new trails are built, we ride them as soon as possible when they are fresh, as this is usually where the best version of this trail will be. We know when the masses show up, the trail gets a proper trashing of how well it was designed and built. It also shows the problem areas that develop when you send multiple users, different ability levels of riders, and sometimes disrespectful users when the trails are muddy.
“Trail building is part knowledge, experience, art and in some cases luck! Mother nature and/or clueless people can really mess up the best builders in the world”
When an old trail is not properly maintained, the problems are known by the people using it regularly. Thankfully, most associations are putting effort into basic maintenance, but most do not have the resources or machinery to rebuild entire sections. It’s more exciting to pitch a whole new trail idea than to get people motivated to rebuild a trail that has been pounded for 20 years. However, it is critical to maintain the trails that are used and make some tough decisions about the ones that should be removed if they are unsustainable. What is most important is to act before the trail gets worn because then it becomes that much harder to justify spending time, effort and usually money to rebuild a trail.
These pictures are from a trail called Powder Creek Trail west of Calgary, Alberta, that will be rebuilt. This trail has been used by hikers, and horseback riders, and often used for cattle grazing by ranchers and, of course, mountain bikers. The trail is about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) and is one of many that the volunteers at Friends of Kananaskis are overseeing with some funding from the Provincial Government. Due to excessive use and limited stretched resources that only managed to do basic maintenance, the trail showed some significant wear and tear, and it was known that drainage was an issue compared to other trails in the area. In 2013, a huge 24-hour rainstorm dumped between 100 mm and 200 mm (4-8 inches) in the area, creating a lot of destruction on a good part of the trail. Around Kananaskis Country, a lot of infrastructure had to be replaced, including bridges, culverts, busy trails, and areas adjacent to water. Finally, in 2023, after more funding became available, the Friends of Kananaskis were able to address this trail to give it some much-needed love and attention.
The Provincial Government is funding a project to rebuild and partially reroute the upper part of the trail at an approximate cost of $250,000 (Canadian). They realized the original design in some parts just kept water on the trail, and rerouting a portion of the trail was the best way to address the problems. It is a drastic measure and a costly one. I don’t know of too many trail associations with the money on hand if one of their main trails would need such a rebuild.
Regress to progress?
I worked in Oil and Gas for many years, and the company I worked for embraced the right way to view exploration and extraction. If you are going to do it, you maintain it properly and ensure it is sustainable over time so that it will be there for future generations. I have witnessed a landowner ask the local association to stop new trail development in a certain area until it could show the existing network was being properly maintained. That’s when I realized that moving forward means demonstrating proper stewardship of the land and sustainability in the existing network.
We have come a long way from scratching steep, loamy trails down the fall line, and we have a much better appreciation for traffic, drainage and thinking more about network sustainability instead of individual trails. It is tempting to only think about new trails when funding is available/possible. Unfortunately, trail fairies do not exist, and most associations have limited resources between paid crew and volunteers.
Sustainability works!
Having a network of trails means a significant amount of maintenance to ensure the trails ride the way they were meant to and do not get worn out or in disrepair due to a lack of maintenance. Everybody wins when someone rides a trail network, and it brings a smile to their faces and a memorable thrill that keeps us all young (yeah, Dopamine!). Riders are more discerning than ever before, and more of them travel for riding, so they see how much care the local community has for a network. Let’s all make it the best memories that we can!
Words: Jerome Pageau Photos: Supplied by Jerome Pageau
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerome Pageau
I built my first trail at the age of 12 with my dad and I have been building mountain biking trails for 25 years both volunteer and paid work. I am a downhiller and an ebike rider so bring on jumps and corners. I work for Dig Trail Design out of Rossland in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. I firmly believe in giving back to my community and my way is to build and maintain trails. I told my friends that they would need to pry my pulaski from my cold dead hands as I plan on doing it for many more years. I feel very strongly about trails and nature and I hope I can use my voice to further discussions around trails and the people that build them.