TRAILS MAINTENANCE
My last report re: trails maintenance appeared in Summer Newsletter, June 2005. The balance of last summer slipped away quickly and pleasantly for me. Being away in late August-early September caused me to miss Elaine's deadline for the Fall Newsletter. Sorry Elaine. Thus, this report deals with incoming Trail Reports since late Spring '05, other details of our trails and thoughts for the 2006 season's maintenance.
Trail Reports:
June 26, 05: Bert and Sue Port, by email re Brilliant Overlook [BO] Trail: Cleared off a few small deadfalls and clipped some branches. Lots of ticks. Gave tick-removal instructions to Vancouver visitors.
July 21/05: Harry Simoens and his Great Pyranees Mountain dogs, Montana and Sierra: Reported by email on high water along Columbia Trail, Selkirk College trails and Waldie Island Trail. Harry did some branch clearing between BO parking lot and the beginning of the Doukhobor Water Line Trail [DWLT]. Waterline trail fine with couple of easily traversed fallen trees. SR trail after BO junction – tall herbaceous vegetation obscuring trail due to wet June.
August 28, 05: Harry S. and dogs [email]: Reported some more tree removal for power line installation above the Brilliant Expansion Project and some new temporary road work associated with same. Harry reported traversing DWLT and returned on Skattebo Reach [SR] trail. Couple of 5" diam. trees across trail but passage OK. Dirt bike tire marks on SR and BO trails.
Sept 26, 05: Bert and Sue Port, [email]: BO trail: cut three trees out of trail and removed some rocks from trail. Otherwise A OK.
Sept 28, 05: Ken Brownlie with Tom Major, by reg. mail: Upper BO trail from start to tower – cleared trail of many blow-down branches. Trail in good condition. Noted – need for signage of Forest access road to BO trail.
Feb. 06: Gordon H. and others at Exec. Meeting reported an extensive wash-out of DWLT in Little McPhee Canyon – will need a serious work party this Spring.
Many thanks to all for reports and their care given to our trails. Over the past seasons the sign-in sheets at BO/SR trails junction show hikers using the trails as late as Nov. 27/04 and as early as Jan 30/05. Heaviest signed-in use was through April and May, -- 48 entries on 24 separate days.
The Dove Hill Trail and the Elk Cutoff Trail don't get the same reporting as the other trails and I have no trail-head registers for reference. I made two trips over these in late Nov/early Dec/05, following informal reports of some blow-downs. Cleared several 8" plus diameter blow-downs from across the trails in the woods on the north and east side of Dove Hill. The brush along the uphill side of the trails on the drier south and west sides of Dove Hill need serious clipping back this Spring, if we are to continue to enjoy free passage. Maybe the elk and deer will have browsed it back for us? On Dec 4th my birding mentor, Peter McIver, and I followed what looked like the meandering tracks of two River Otters skidding and sliding down over the snow, intermittently crossing the trails all the way down of the SR/BO junction, Dove Hill trail and the Elk Cutoff trail, to way below the communication trailer and antennae site and the Golf Club Warden's house. The otters were having a good old romp, presumably on their way to the Lower Kootenay and Columbia Rivers near the College.
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