Logging behind Swany's Ridge

[Pipster]

I don't get it. The government is taking riding areas away for 'environmental protection' yet a couple hundred meters from Quirk Creek in the Wildhorse valley they build a massive road and log the hell out of it? I rode through there for the first time since in was logged and what a mess. The water drainage off the now decimated forest is horrible.

[trailguy]

Understand the frustration. That is the mother of all logging roads with the dirt/logs banks. Looks like they had to go down approx. 4' in spots to hit hard/level ground.
We have been working with Spray Lakes Logging for the last year in trying to preserve our single track trails.
The trail you are referring to is Swany's West. Currently it is a mixed result for us. Originally we were going to loose all of trees and our very expensive Chopper day Muskeg Matts. Working with SLS they moved their Cut Block boundary off our trail in the NW corner of their CB and up to our Matts. (There is one logging road crossing there that I will try and flag/clean up). They completely changed their plan around our Matts by leaving all the trees around them as well as all the trees that run up the mountain in the draw/spring.
South of the Matts it is a different story as the trail is gone. With the logging road crossing our trail a couple of times in the south half of the CB also adds to the difficulty in trying to find our trail.
We have contacted SLS and asked if they could repair our trail south of the Matts. Also asked what their plan is for the logging road.

[Pipster]

Cool. Thanks for the response and the background info. I was surprised (riding West to East) how much they respected the existing trail and was wondering how that came to be. As you said though, past about halfway though, the trail is mostly gone. I can see it here and there just below the new logging road.

Anyway, my post wasn't necessarily about that trail in particular. It was more about the larger issue that our riding areas continue to get shut down because of supposed 'environmental' damage and yet, logging hundreds of hectares in the same regions is totally fine. Now that it's logged, the amount of runoff coming down off that slope is really eye-opening.

Thanks for all you guys do to keep us riding.

[dirtyboy]

I noticed that the trail is literally filled with boulder rocks where it runs below the logging road. The bull dozing rolled all the rocks down and they lay resting in our little trail divot. There is no way to ride the trail with those rocks in it. Trail opportunity?

[trailguy]

I noticed that the trail is literally filled with boulder rocks where it runs below the logging road. The bull dozing rolled all the rocks down and they lay resting in our little trail divot. There is no way to ride the trail with those rocks in it. Trail opportunity?

Seems like a good idea. I was thinking from the south end of the Muskeg Matts, do a hard left, go up the hill either in the trees SLS left in the draw or if that is too wet we go through the CB up to the east CB boundary ( maybe have SLS clear a trail in the CB ), from there go up a little higher onto the trees and head south towards the Swany's truck trail.

[dirtyboy]

I noticed that the trail is literally filled with boulder rocks where it runs below the logging road. The bull dozing rolled all the rocks down and they lay resting in our little trail divot. There is no way to ride the trail with those rocks in it. Trail opportunity?

Seems like a good idea. I was thinking from the south end of the Muskeg Matts, do a hard left, go up the hill either in the trees SLS left in the draw or if that is too wet we go through the CB up to the east CB boundary ( maybe have SLS clear a trail in the CB ), from there go up a little higher onto the trees and head south towards the Swany's truck trail.

I agree. That's similar to my thoughts also. Maybe North of the matts also?

[trailguy]

I noticed that the trail is literally filled with boulder rocks where it runs below the logging road. The bull dozing rolled all the rocks down and they lay resting in our little trail divot. There is no way to ride the trail with those rocks in it. Trail opportunity?

Seems like a good idea. I was thinking from the south end of the Muskeg Matts, do a hard left, go up the hill either in the trees SLS left in the draw or if that is too wet we go through the CB up to the east CB boundary ( maybe have SLS clear a trail in the CB ), from there go up a little higher onto the trees and head south towards the Swany's truck trail.

I agree. That's similar to my thoughts also. Maybe North of the matts also?

If we take the trail over North of the Matts it would likely require matts where the trail would cross the draw/spring higher up. SLS did do a 180 on their plans at our matts and they are in perfect shape so I thought we may as well utilize them.

[scubarusteve]

My wife and i tried to do this trail and could kinda follow it along the logging road, Seems like it was a pretty sweet trail. if anything needs to be done let me know and I'm there to help. I also just picked up a sweet compact dewalt chainsaw for clearing some logs/debris if needed.

[dirtyboy]

My wife and i tried to do this trail and could kinda follow it along the logging road, Seems like it was a pretty sweet trail. if anything needs to be done let me know and I'm there to help. I also just picked up a sweet compact dewalt chainsaw for clearing some logs/debris if needed.

The trail is marked with high stumps and in some places, the logging company put up pink flagging to mark it. There are many logs lying on the trail. If those logs were moved to beside the trail, I'm sure everyone would enjoy the trail more and tend not to ride around them.

Like mentioned above, RMDRA is waiting for approval for all trail work.

[scubarusteve]

Yeah that sucks. Hopefully the logging company will make the road crossable at least in sections.

[trailguy]

SLS got back to me. They have been out this week removing debris from our trail through the CB, however due to the logging road crossing our trail 3 times they said it is not really ridable. SLS asked us if we could use the logging road in the time being until the road is reclaimed in the summer/fall 2019, at which time our trail will be repaired/ridable and they are going to try and reclaim it to limit quad access. I agreed given their quick response to my email and the fact that they legally have 3 years to return our trail.
We are looking at a re alignment for some of this trail, but given the chances of approval from the current government we may wait until the spring of 2019 after the election.
If I can get some time, my goal is to mark/clear the trail and have it ridable from the downhill off Swany's ridge, across the first road crossing to the mats. From there have it ridable to the next road crossing - this would be after the top cut trees SLS did for us. From there ride the road out to the Swany's truck trail.
There has been a huge tree recently come down across the mats that will also need removing.
Prior to SLS logging this trail, we flagged it in green ribbon, so look for it and the orange Dirtyboy mentioned SLS recently hung across the cut block.

[scubarusteve]

Thats good news trailguy, glad they are willing to work with you to keep our trails ride-able instead of taking the 3 years to reclaim.

[Pipster]

I noticed that the trail is literally filled with boulder rocks where it runs below the logging road. The bull dozing rolled all the rocks down and they lay resting in our little trail divot. There is no way to ride the trail with those rocks in it. Trail opportunity?

Seems like a good idea. I was thinking from the south end of the Muskeg Matts, do a hard left, go up the hill either in the trees SLS left in the draw or if that is too wet we go through the CB up to the east CB boundary ( maybe have SLS clear a trail in the CB ), from there go up a little higher onto the trees and head south towards the Swany's truck trail.

I rode this trail yesterday and I must say, it's not that far off from being 'road free'. Once the trail crosses to the South side of the road, there are small boulders blocking the trail but it didn't seem like anything that would take alot of time to fix. Then there's a choke out where the road meets some vegetation further down and I'm not sure what happens after that. I was reluctant to do anything thinking that it might just be a recurring situation every time a truck goes on the road? If not, next time I'm out I'd gladly kick off all the boulders.