Trail Care - Kananaskis 2001

CMBA, in conjunction with Ridley's Cycle and Bow Cycle did about 65 hours of trail maintenance on the Sulpher Springs trail in Kananaskis Country. This is part of our ongoing program to educate Calgary bike shops and their customers on the importance of responsible riding.

Ridley's Cycle
September 23

Our trail maintenance day at Sulphur Springs went ahead as scheduled on Sunday September 23. We had 7 people from Ridley's Cycle and 3 CMBA members.

We started by discussing safety, the purpose of the day and trail maintenance philosophy / practices. Work started just after 10 o'clock. The day included removing loose gravel from a steep slope at the beginning of the riding loop, then we moved along the trail in the counterclockwise direction for about 2 km, making improvements to numerous drainage issues. Two people rode the entire 12 km loop removing overgrowing brush. By 2 o'clock most of us were starting to run low on enthusiasm. We finished up back at the cars around 3 o'clock. Most headed back to Calgary.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves and left feeling that we had made a significant start to improving the condition of the trail.

Thanks to Ron at Ridley's for helping to organize an enthusiastic group of people (Rick, Liz, Tammy, Ryan, Chris, Joel and Mark Duke). Thanks to Kip and Catherine.

Bow Cycle & Sports
October 14

On Sunday October 14th, amid a dusting of new snow we met with 4 employees and associates of Bow Cycle & Sports to perform some trail maintenance on the Sulphur Springs trail.

We had decided to work on the section of trail that descends from the high point of the trail, in the northwest corner of the Sulphur Springs loop. This is a series of switchbacks which have become braided over the years and was in need of some care and repair. After discussing how water flows down hill and mentally re-engineering the landscape, we decide to leave an old uphill trail as the water drainage course and we removed the berm between the lower trails to form one wide and flat trail. Basically, as one person put it, "control the water drainage and designate a trail". Ya, that's about it. Anyway, four or five hours later and a couple of corners and straight sections later, we called it a day. A good time was had by all, and sense that we had made an improvement to the trail. While retrieving our vehicles, Brian Sibthorpe of Bow stated that they would be back next year to help again. So thanks to Bow for the effort and for helping all of us keep access to these trails.

 
Home | What is CMBA? | People & Contacts | Education
Newsletters | Trail Care | Help Out | Membership | Links | Site Map