Project Updates 2007 | Project Updates 2006 Hey Everyone, This page will be dedicated to keeping you up to date on this years trail work. We will provide you with images and information on our volunteer days, trail crew and other local trail projects tied with ours. If you want to help out, just give us a call at 250-517-9617.

April 28/07 - Our first Volunteer Day was a GREAT success with 40 anxious trail builders showing up. We managed to get around 300 metres of trail completed and another 75 cleared for the next day. The trail that was built is beautiful, and we can't wait for the rest to be complete. A special thanks to Tim Hortons in Sicamous for providing lunch, and to Skookum Cycle for the draw prizes. Volunteers were teased with the fact that of they come out to 3 days this year, they will get the much coveted Shuswap Trail Crew t-shirt. May 12/07 - The second volunteer day was another awesome day of digging trail. 30 intrepid volunteers showed up and managed another 175 metres of trail. Once again, the quality of work was exceptional. This time Top-of-the-hill Salmon Arm Tim Hortons provided lunch. Please remember to thank our sponsors when you are out and about! May 14 -18/07 - Working with our Katimavik participant, Josh Grant, we managed to build a 80ft log bridge on Lower Rubberhead. Our goal was to complete the trail we had started with the JCP last year, and try some different construction techniques. We used windfall cedar from the area, and cut and hand split every board on the bridge. It was a lot of work, but we ended up with a very solid, and long lasting structure, with lots of traction. June 4/07 - The JCP (Job Creation Partnership) will be starting soon. This partnership allows us to create a trail crew with those eligible for Employment Insurance who are looking for work experience and training. If you know anyone who fits that criteria, have them apply at the Shuswap Employment Centre on Shuswap Street in Salmon Arm. In order to get trail on the ground in any substantial way, we need a crew of 8-10 people who can work at it every day. We will likely be starting in the next two weeks so let us know ASAP! June 18/07 - June 22/07 - A busy week! We started with a crew of 7 people with the Job Creation Partnership with Services Canada. After getting them trained on our current design standards, we got them out building some trail near Canoe Beach. We also got the trail head cleaned-up in Sicamous for our visit and hike with George Abbott on Friday. June 25/07 - June 30/07 - We continued our work at Canoe Beach with the buiding of a large switchback in the auxiallry parking lot. It was an ideral location with lots of rock and material to work with. We also managed to get some mountain bike trail on the ground near Rubberhead, as well as about 250 metres of trail in Sicamous.   July 2/07 - July 6/07 - We worked on various pieces of the trail this week, touching up some of the work we did in the snow last year, and adding about 200 metres of trail in the North end of the system. July 9/07 - July 13/07 - Another week of variety. We built 125 metres on the 109 FSR road section, and about 200 metres at Park Hill. We also prepped for the volunteer day in Sicamous on Saturday, and hiked some proposed trail near Balmoral in Blind Bay with John and Roger from the CSRD. July 14/07 - Volunteer Day - an intrepid group of 12 people came out to help build almost 80 metres of trail on a hot Saturday morning. Despite the lower numbers, the trail that was produced was top notch! We all enjoyed an amazing lunch provided by DeMille's. July 16/07 - July 20/07 - Some of the highlights from this week were forestry training courtesy of John Evdokimoff from the CSRD, some tough trail building near the 109 FSR on larch Hills, a hike with John Coffey connecting our Mica section towards Sicamous up an amazing cliff band with superb views of Mara Lake, and touch ups to the now well packed Sicamous trail head section. July 23/07 - July 27/07 - We constructed a couple of retaining walls using native cedar. We will likley use cedar where rock is not readily available. We also finished off a section of trail near the 109 road which connects to a cut block. We will use our new Dicth Wicth SK 650 for working in cutblocks, as it speed up the process and makes quick work of stumps and logs. July 30/07 - August 3/07 - We began new trail in the 110 to 109 section, which was tough going as it was mostly rock, with little soil to speak of. We also finished work on our retaining walls and switchback in Sicamous. As well, Sicamous got some new trail built and flagged. August 6/07 - Agust 12/07 - The crew started off the week with their S100 training (Forestry Fire Fighter). We then worked on some trail at Park Hill Park that we needed to finish off. August 13/07 - August 17/07 - We began work on the grassy knoll section, and started leadership training for the crew. Each crew member lead a day of work, dealing with all of the questions and concerns that come up during the day. The whole North end of Larch Hills seems very rocky. This makes it more challenging to get much accomplished during a day, but it makes for a solid trail foundation. August 20/07 - August 24/07 - The crew continued work in Sicamous this week. There is still much to be cleared to get to the lookout area. The big news this week was the addition of a Ditch Witch SK650mini skid-steer. It is essentially a small bulldozer (1m wide). It allows us to plow trail with a minimum effort. In the first 3 days we used it, we completed 400m of trail in very tough conditions (open cutblock). This would have taken us easily 5-6 days buy hand. August 27/07 - August 31/07 - With the Northview Cutblock section finished, we moved over to the 109 Eastview cutblock. Once again, we used the machine to puch out way through. It was a little slower going this time, mostly due to larger rocks and stumps in the way, but still faster than by hand. A total of 500 metres in 3 days were accomplished. We also cleared another 350 metres of trail in Sicamous.