Happy trails... need maintenance. These ways to get into the most beautiful parks of our mountains don’t just naturally grow and stay in shape. Shrubs and vines grow over them, water erodes them, and people with their heavy boots can affect them.
 
Our club has done some trail maintenance before. So when we heard the Seymour Mountain trail right under our noses needed some help, it was decided to give it a go.
 
Our preliminary instruction with the Rangers -- Kelly, Mark and Alex from the Mountaineers Club (a wonderful teacher on the how to’s) -- got us to clear a short reroute of a part of the trail dangerously close to the edge of a cliff.
 
On Sept. 30 at 8:30 on a cloudy morning, eight women from the North Vancouver Outdoors Club met with Kelly, Mark, Duncan and Alex “Friend of the Trail” up on the Mt. Seymour parking lot. There were three more helpers with us from the North Shore Hikers, The Trail Committee and another Ranger whose names fell prey to one of my senior moments, sorry.
 
This time Kelly explained that some heavier work was planned: Leave your clippers in the car. Shovels and heavy tools were provided by the Rangers.
 
Mt. Seymour’s three peaks are a very popular destination. A lot of boots travel up this way. The terrain is somewhat rugged and with wet weather things can get worse. Rocks can slide, the trail will get muddy with people trying to avoid puddles, widening the way by moving around them erodes the landscape even more.
 
Kelly explained our objective: We were to avoid a possible rockslide when the rains would start. We had to recreate the trail part that goes up to meet the ski run. The tools and our packs would be shuttled up by truck while we walked up on the left side of the chairlift on the marked trail until we met on the ski run.
 
We learned here that the rocky part right below needed a little re-arranging to mark the trail a bit better to have people stay on it, so to not kick loose more debris all over the site.
 
Three groups were created: the first group would work on the rocky part down, the second lower down needed to dig free a drainage that was plugged and overgrown as well as cover the real trail with small rocks from up the hill and decommission the part that needed to recover from the abuse of boots “off” trail. The third group removed a rotten bridge further down to build a new one. The lumber and the “Gabian baskets” were already on site (these baskets are wire structures to be filled with rocks.)
 
Well, you all know that for weeks we had hot, dry summer weather, but of course, this day started out cool and cloudy, then fog rolled in which brought fine drizzling drainage-free, moving water and mud. Everything looked there for a while like a construction site with tools and really dirty workers, wet and cold, from time to time interrupted by groups of hikers who did not mind the weather.
 
At the end of the day we assembled at the top of the re-arranged portion of the trail, tired and dirty and satisfied that we had earned our hot bath…! I thought of the respect we should pay to any well maintained trail and the Rangers – who have the knowledge of what needs to be done, but who are few and therefore need some help to keep things safe.
 
For my part: I will tread more lightly in the wilderness….
 
Mystery spot Garibaldi? You are standing on the bridge leading to the campground at the Lake.

Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Dec 06 - Jan 07