Teamwork Builds Trails And Knowledge In North Carolina
IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 1
March-April 1998
By Tony Castleberry
Craig Plocica (NOC Communications Director)
and Paul Desrosiers (IMBA Contributing Writer)
IMBA partnered with the USDA Forest Service and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in western North Carolina last November to host a highly successful, three-day Trail Camp. A legion of 107 motivated volunteers got down and dirty to build and repair mountain bike trails.
Located on the banks of the Nantahala River, the event served as a hands-on seminar where participants learned trail construction and maintenance from leading trail experts, including IMBA's Trails Resource Director Kurt Loheit and Jan and Mike Riter of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew. Other crew leaders included NOC bike shop manager Kent Cranford, U.S. Forest Service Assistant Ranger Frank Findley, Jr., and Jim Parham, author of the Southeast guidebook series, "Off the Beaten Track."
Loheit, an aerospace engineer from California, has travelled throughout the U.S. to lend his experience and trail expertise. "This is the biggest turnout for a camp that I have seen yet," he said. "But it's not just the number of people that is so exciting, it's the effort and energy they're giving."
The Wednesday prior to the NOC Trail Camp, Loheit and NOC employees surveyed land purchased by the NOC last year to construct a new trail, which, Loheit suggested, "might turn out to be one of the premier rides in the area." After careful deliberation, Loheit drew a mental picture of the new trail, flagged the route, and anticipated the arrival of the volunteers for Saturday's trail building session.
On Friday evening, a slide show of various scenarios that Kurt encountered in his past work prompted many questions from the audience, ranging from benching a trail to laying out geo-cloth, and dealing with a boggy crossing. The brainstorming also addressed participants' problems with their local trails. By the end of the evening, all were eager to get to work.
On Saturday, the volunteers split into two groups. About 60 went with Loheit while the remaining volunteers joined Cranford, Parham, and Findley at the Tsali Recreation Area in the Nantahala National Forest, eight miles down the road from NOC. Tsali hosts 100,000 bikers a year.
Loheit's ambitious crew trekked out to the new NOC terrain. He demonstrated the nuances of trail construction from excavation to path building. Saws, slingblades, and other excavating tools were donned by volunteers to begin clearing a path for the trail to come. Then they employed pulaskis, picks, shovels, and good-old fashioned foot pounding to carve and smooth the dirt trail.
In a span of about four hours, a three-quarter-mile mountain bike trail was neatly laced into a rocky, rugged mountainside. Loheit said, "It goes to show you that if enough people work together and envision what the trail would ideally look like, a lot can be accomplished in a short time."
After further excavation and construction, the trail will be completed and opened for riding. NOC staffers and volunteers plan to have the trail ready for action in the upcoming Knob Scorcher Race.
Meanwhile, the Tsali group tried to identify the causes of trail erosion and learn how to create counter measures. The teaching ground was a portion of trail which had been neglected after being deemed too difficult to ride. It was a victim of water erosion and brush overgrowth. To alleviate these problems, Cranford, Parham, and Findley guided the group in building grade dips every 20-30 yards along the trails. The dips channel water flow off the trail, rather than down it. "Erosion of this section of the trail was probably the worst problem we faced today," Cranford said. "Everybody has done a fantastic job and worked together, so things are shaping up."
The group faced another challenge, rerouting the trail to avoid the current rocky, eroded hillside route. Cranford, Parham, and Findley solicited input from the volunteers to design and flag a friendlier route. This new path erodes less and adds the bonus of another half-mile of singletrack. "They (the volunteers) came up with a logical solution and were able to envision what the trail would look like, " Cranford commented.
Once the dirt settled, everyone had an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor, bicycling local trails on Sunday. Their satisfaction will be shared by all the mountain bikers who can continue enjoying the Nantahala area thanks to these trail additions and improvements, as well as NOC's continuing leadership in trail activism and education.
"Camps like this one often inspire people to stay involved for a long time, not just during the camp," Findley commented.
Two more NOC trail camps are currently in the works. The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews, Loheit, and the NOC will all lead trailwork schools in `98. Contact IMBA for more information.
