About 9 years ago, I was bitten by the trail building bug. From never even considering building a trail, to being virtually addicted to it. I still say that even if I were unable to ride, I would still need to move dirt around.
The first attempt at trail building was a more "freeride" addition to the downhill trails on Dry Hill in Port Angeles. My friend Steve Johnson and I had just gotten back from our first trip to the Shore and were a bit inspired to say the least. We found a spot to start and forged ahead not really considering the whole permission thing.
A couple of weeks of building had gone by when one day we rode up to where we left off (this was before we had a key so it was bikes and a BOB trailer) and nailed to a tree was a ziploc baggie, and not the good kind. In it was a note from our local DNR rep letting us know that we were not following the proper procedure and we were putting all the trails in jeopardy.
There were a lot of things we could have done at that point, but we chose to go in with our tails between our legs and try to build a relationship with them. This has proved to be a good idea as most of you know. They allowed us to finish the trail we started, but only after we rebuilt an old defunct trail as somewhat of a "penance". We gladly accepted.
Our penance trail was called Mitch's Loop, named after the original builder. The trail that started all this was Limbo. It was quite a bit different that the rest of the trails on Dry Hill. It grew into one of the favorites and probably stayed that way because it is one of the few trails we never raced on.
Limbo went through several evolutions, starting out with a couple of the gnarlier wood stunts I've ever ridden, to eventually being more of a flowy trail. The one thing that stayed consistent was the fact that it went through an old, mossy, beautiful forest. Limbo's biggest asset was sure to be its demise.
That day has come unfortunately. I just came down to see the first bits of destruction and it ain't pretty. They have punched in the road right-of-way and it follows quite a bit of the trail. You can see some remnants of the trail occasionally and the random cedar bridge to nowhere amongst the rubble.
Ironically, both Limbo and Mitch's Loop are what got me into trail building and they are the first to go. This is a total harvest, so it's safe to say that there won't be much of a trace left. I took my daughters up with me today and they cried for about an hour talking about their memories of taking their friends up with us to keep here occupied while daddy worked in the dirt. Taking care of her this evening probably helped me be a bit less depressed.
Enough bad news, the good news is that we are going to have a blank slate, with a view! Maybe it's time for that machine built trail???
I wish I could have ridden it one more time though....
The first attempt at trail building was a more "freeride" addition to the downhill trails on Dry Hill in Port Angeles. My friend Steve Johnson and I had just gotten back from our first trip to the Shore and were a bit inspired to say the least. We found a spot to start and forged ahead not really considering the whole permission thing.
A couple of weeks of building had gone by when one day we rode up to where we left off (this was before we had a key so it was bikes and a BOB trailer) and nailed to a tree was a ziploc baggie, and not the good kind. In it was a note from our local DNR rep letting us know that we were not following the proper procedure and we were putting all the trails in jeopardy.
There were a lot of things we could have done at that point, but we chose to go in with our tails between our legs and try to build a relationship with them. This has proved to be a good idea as most of you know. They allowed us to finish the trail we started, but only after we rebuilt an old defunct trail as somewhat of a "penance". We gladly accepted.
Our penance trail was called Mitch's Loop, named after the original builder. The trail that started all this was Limbo. It was quite a bit different that the rest of the trails on Dry Hill. It grew into one of the favorites and probably stayed that way because it is one of the few trails we never raced on.
Limbo went through several evolutions, starting out with a couple of the gnarlier wood stunts I've ever ridden, to eventually being more of a flowy trail. The one thing that stayed consistent was the fact that it went through an old, mossy, beautiful forest. Limbo's biggest asset was sure to be its demise.
That day has come unfortunately. I just came down to see the first bits of destruction and it ain't pretty. They have punched in the road right-of-way and it follows quite a bit of the trail. You can see some remnants of the trail occasionally and the random cedar bridge to nowhere amongst the rubble.
Ironically, both Limbo and Mitch's Loop are what got me into trail building and they are the first to go. This is a total harvest, so it's safe to say that there won't be much of a trace left. I took my daughters up with me today and they cried for about an hour talking about their memories of taking their friends up with us to keep here occupied while daddy worked in the dirt. Taking care of her this evening probably helped me be a bit less depressed.
Enough bad news, the good news is that we are going to have a blank slate, with a view! Maybe it's time for that machine built trail???
I wish I could have ridden it one more time though....