Sprockids Mountain Bike Park - March 24, 2013

Today was a day to celebrate community volunteers. Sprockids Mountain Bike Park is a place I've written about a lot. Last year it celebrated its 20th anniversary sharing our amazing forests with kids through the love of mountain biking. Teaching kids to ride safely with family and friends in a sanctioned park with educational components. This system is now used across Canada.  Here it is 2km from my front door and I place where I love to hike.

  

Sprockids Mountain Bike Park - shovels ready

Capilano University's Mountain Bike Operations students organized the day to install over 30 signs throughout the park. Students, families and some diehard trail fairies spent the morning digging and carrying signs. Never get lost again! I've often been hesitant to direct guests to this park because of limited signage and maps in a complex system of trails making it an easy place to become disoriented. This is a great addition and will be very helpful to hikers and bikers alike.

I decided to try it out with a short hike in an area I haven't been to for a while. These pictures are all from Skoolz Out which is just above the Skills Park. The question isn't "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?"...the question is "If a tree falls in the forest, what can we make with it?"

I would love to see someone bank on this.

Some very fun bridges

Yes, that long "bridge" is one tall tree...rootball still in tact at the end

That boulder at the end of the jump is taller than me!

 As I hiked, I could here some bikers above me. I decided to wait and see what is was like to jump off this. I expected someone to just launch over it and fly down the trail. Turns out, all these jumps and bridges are great teachers and confidence builders. Three young teenagers rode down and all came to a stop either beside or on top of this jump. They studied it...rode past it to check the landing...and discussed. Three different times one of them would ride up to jump it and stop at the last minute...not ready for the leap...talking to themselves that it was about being there mentally.  Finally one of them did it, and they all celebrated for a minute. A brief pause before taking off together to find the next challenge.

I finished my hike just in time for the skills demonstration. After a morning of digging holes to install signs, the kids were treated to a free lunch from the Lions Club burger trailer. Then they hit the skills park for some serious jumps from Coastal Crew and friends. They were flying...25 feet off the ground. Sorry, no good pictures, but they were impressive. The really fun part was after one of the older kids would jump, an eager 4-8 year old would ride from the same starting point and off to the next small run with a couple of junior size berms. The little guys were just as thrilled to show off in front of the audience and just as proud to ride successfully. The older guys cheered them on as much as they did for their friends making the huge jumps. What a great day.

Hidden Groves - March 20, 2013

Hello Spring!  To celebrate, I managed to take time for my first hike in the forest in a month.  Boy did it feel good!  Holiday, March rains, and a cold have kept me off the trails.  I made time to explore Hidden Groves on Sechelt Inlet. I've only hiked here a couple of times and it seemed like a good day to explore.

Massive old growth tree...500+ years old

The volunteers who have developed this park have done an enormous amount of work to create not only trails, but informational maps and signage.  No worries about getting lost here...maps can be found throughout the trail system. They've even marked and named the largest, oldest trees to be sure you don't miss them. 

Too bad I didn't have a friend along so that you could see just how big this Lonely Giant is. The young trees are as skinny as a man's arm.  Lonely Giant towers over the others and would take a group with arms outstretched to reach around it.

Lonely Giant

 I covered most of the southern half of the park in about an hour.  These are easy trails with no serious climbing.  The ground can be uneven in places, but the terrain is mostly flat with only gradual elevation changes.  I look forward to my next trip where I'll explore the north side where there the maps show some steep climbs up to an amazing view of Vancouver Island.

You can't get lost here

The trail builders have been busy. The official grand opening of the second wheelchair accessible trail is Sunday April 7.  It is a special celebration for dogs and people of all capabilities.

Monty's Way