Trail Builder Mag Participates in Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance's Shovel & Shred Event
This past Saturday, the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance hosted Shovel & Shred. What is Shovel & Shred? “Women and femme-identifying folks are invited to dig alongside Evergreen trail builders and Red Bull Athletes for a day of bringing together the MTB community. To put it simply: we will dig, ride and chill.” The folks at Evergreen invited Trail Builder Mag to participate this year, and I’m glad we did. It was truly an event for the ages. So what happened to make this a spectacular day?
One of the movements I’ve been paying attention to over the past couple of years is the continual rise of women-only trail building events. As a photographer, I’ve been invited to many locally through the Northwest Trail Alliance. While my role was to show up and take photos, I couldn’t help but notice how powerful these events were. Women would share why they signed up and how meaningful these spaces are. In fact, in Volume 1, Issue 1 of our print mag, I have a whole article focused on this very topic where I interview women to learn more about the barriers and obstacles they had to overcome to participate in trail building. So when I got the invite to Shovel & Shred, I was all-in.
My intention in today’s article is more of a “Hey, I went there” and a photo dump. Why? Because there are a few stories that are percolating that I am exploring more. You see, so many threads wove together in the tapestry of this event. I want to tug on a few of them for more articles. In particular, one of the themes we learned about was the impact of trails in the logging community of Darrington, Washington, where this event was held. It’s a familiar storyline that we find all over the West. Towns dependent on resource extraction (logging, mining, etc.) face a bleak future when these industries shrink or cease altogether. Some seek to reinvent themselves and reinvigorate their local economy through tourism, and new trails are part of it. Again, more to come.
The plan for the day was simple … dig (or shovel) in the morning and then shred in the afternoon. In the morning, I ventured out with one group higher up on the mountain to work on a black line. It was a lot of fun chatting and taking photos.
In the afternoon, I hung out at a great spot on a blue line where riders momentarily emerged from the dense forest to hit a berm before going back in.
Afterward, we met back up in town, where there was a raffle, dinner, and live music. Hard to believe so much was packed into one day.
As I’ve mentioned above, there are more themes from this event I want to continue exploring. It was a reminder that trail building touches many topics, from the trails themselves to tools to riding to climate, soil types, economic development, and so much more.
Words: Sean Benesh Photos: Sean Benesh
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag. He is also the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon. While in grad school, he worked as a mountain biking guide in Southern Arizona. Sean also spends time in the classroom as a digital media instructor at Warner Pacific University.
