McLean Trail Status - May 9th 2012

[axel99]

We were able to ride most of Swanys with the exception of the of the exposed ridges at higher elevations having a few deep snow drifts on the trail. There is a little bit of blow down that need to be cleaned up on the trail but nothing significant.

[giantjoe]

Lower elbow lookout was pretty ok, there were the two wet spots that are always there, but otherwise it was in good shape. The north section is very obstructed by logs, but I think that was the intent.

[cedric]

The north section is very obstructed by logs, but I think that was the intent.

By my recollection, we only ran into one new log that we didn't clear with handsaws and 5 minutes. It will require 5 minutes of powersaw crew time. I'm assuming by North section you mean the piece on the north side of the road, no?

[giantjoe]

No, I meant the northernmost entrance on the south side of the road. Out by the big clearing that everyone camps at. Right. Out by the gravel pit.

[cedric]

My bad, I should have looked at the map. That trail is moreso North/South than East/West. Nonetheless, I still don't remember many logs that weren't there last year.

[twotired]

We were able to ride most of Swanys with the exception of the of the exposed ridges at higher elevations having a few deep snow drifts on the trail. There is a little bit of blow down that need to be cleaned up on the trail but nothing significant.

Snow drifts and a bit of blow down....I think I may have a short video of that....why yes I do, here it is;

[axel99]

We were able to ride most of Swanys with the exception of the of the exposed ridges at higher elevations having a few deep snow drifts on the trail. There is a little bit of blow down that need to be cleaned up on the trail but nothing significant.

Snow drifts and a bit of blow down....I think I may have a short video of that....why yes I do, here it is;

[Spinalguy]

rode it yesterday. 10+ cms of fresh. (dude...sunny blue skies )
More big logs in the way would be even better to keep the illiterate 4 tire crowd out. (as in...unable to read signs, bikes only, no quads)
Things will soften up even more out there in the next 2 -4 weeks. Tread lightly.
My first time on the elbow system of trails and ruts were huge. Although i am told it is always like that.
Police/fire trail has to be very soft and prone to overuse damage at this time of year.
Maybe we should all start thinking about higher elevation rocky rides when in group settings

[BurntTimber]

We did the run up quark mountain on the 12th and it was clear running up there, running down the back side however was a bit of a challenge. There were a number of 3-4' drifts crossing the trail that you really had to blast to make it through, didn't seem like anyone had cut a trail for us yet!

Once we got along the ridge line it got a lot better, and when we got closer to the bottom it definitely cleared up. You could see some guys had started from the bottom up as there were a couple cuts through the snow.

Where there wasn't snow the ground conditions were awesome on the single track, looks like we're in for some great spring riding this season!

[cladoo]

Rode out of Fisher Creek Staging area yesterday. Man the valley between First Ridge and Second Ridge is totally logged out! Lots of trail gone as they weren't white ribboned. There needs to be some major trail cleaning and rerouting through there. Barwell system needs work. Looks like I'll have the chain saw out next ride.

[cedric]

I'm thinking to forego the guided ride this week and bring my Husky out for a workout on Wednesday evening, anybody willing to help me tackle some of the mess out there?

[cedric]

Seeing as I only had one handguard, I didn't feel like pushing my luck with my knuckles on the guided ride, so I went out and did some trail clearing. It was a cold, wet and otherwise miserable night, so a good night to do some work and try to keep warm. I decided to head to Barwell, as Claude suggested it needs a lot of work. It was not as bad as I expected, but there was plenty of work to do. I managed to get a lot of trail cleared out, but ultimately ran out of time and energy as darkness set in. There has been a lot of logging in the south areas of McLean Creek, it's like the aftermath of a war down there.

The trail's highlighted in green are what I managed to clear out last night, I fell just short of reaching the well site after getting my saw jammed in a log and derailing the chain getting it out.



Turned a lot of these:



into these:




You are here, and it looks nothing like it used to (these were taken at the intersection marked with red star on my map):

[axel99]

Good work clearing out that trail, thanks Ryan! That photo of the clear cut looks like a neutron bomb went off, scary

[axel99]

Barwell Mountain trail is all clear from where Cedric left off to the end at 5 point hill.

Snow sucks at the end of may.

[steve-o]

Barwell Mountain trail is all clear from where Cedric left off to the end at 5 point hill.

Snow sucks at the end of may.

that's it? Why didn't you do more?