Just a few minutes north of Nakusp on Highway 23 at both the turnoff to Adams Road and the turnoff to Turner Road, a crew of 18 staff and contractors is carving out a brand new trail system from the bush on both sides of the blacktop. On crown land shared by those trapping, logging and mining, there is now also a recreation site in progress and already open for use. The brainchild of local fitness enthusiasts and business owners Janis and Shon Neufeld, Mt. Abriel project is gearing up for the 2018 riding and outdoor recreation season. The Mt. Abriel recreation and trail system is headed up by the Nakusp and Area Bike Society and has received close to a million dollars in funding from a huge variety of sources with more to come.
As the rain poured down outside on June 13, the Hostel @ Shon’s was host to dozens of people throughout a two-hour open house. Staff and contractors were on hand to answer questions and mingle with others interested in hearing about the latest developments. About 40 to 50 folks eager to talk about the new trail system and recreational site 8 km north of town came through during the gathering.
Work has been going on at the site since last year when the progress totalled 6.7 km before winter hit.
Neufeld said the are “now nearing on 10 km built. We hope to have 15-18 built by the end of this year and then by the end of next year it will be more like 25 plus kilometres built.”
One of the most exciting aspects of this trail system is how diverse the terrain is and that the trail design takes into account all types of users throughout all seasons. Adaptive Mountain Biking, pedestrians, families, dog walkers (on leash from Oct 1-May 31) and children on run bikes will all be able to use certain trails because they are being built with lower grades and less turns. All mountain biking trails are deemed non-motorized but the roads that run through the area are used by maintenance crews and will remain motorized.
Justin Truelove, Program Coordinator and Trail Specialist for the International Mountain Biking Association’s Canadian offices was there from Guelph Ontario for a site visit to see what has transpired since he was here last year. His involvement is a result of an invitation to collaborate.
“Janis and Shon reached out to our organization for help with the conceptual masterplan design of the trail network that is being built as we speak.,” said Truelove. That was three years ago. Representatives from IMBA visited the proposed site in 2015 “running through the woods bush-whacking with just concepts in our mind as what ‘should’ happen. To come back and see what they have put in the ground so far is fantastic. It’s awesome trails, great experiences and to know where they are going to go is a real big game changer for Nakusp.”
He cites the thirty designated recreation sites already in place for camping, the lake access for paddle-in, paddle-out, and the implementation of adaptive and accessible trails for users with a variety of abilities. When asked if people outside of Nakusp knew about Mt. Abriel, Truelove answered with an emphatic “yes! The Columbia Basin Trust has been a very active funder in this project and they know what the potential is. The region is very excited; Revelstoke, New Denver, Slocan, Castlegar, Rossland, Fernie, they all know what’s going on. And in the mountain bike world because the community as vast as it is is so intertwined and connected, mountain bikers are pretty ‘stoked’ with what’s going on here. This project is the biggest one going on in Canada.”
He quantifies this by saying that outside of resort operations and national parks with large-scale trail crews, for a community-based project, there are 17 paid staff on a regular full-time basis, they are building fifty-plus kilometres of trails as the end result. This will all be managed and maintained by members of the community. It is going to make Nakusp a real destnation.
“The way our world works right now with social media, tourism and word of mouth do a great job already. The Pinkbike website sees 25,000,000 clicks a day on a slow day so you can better believe that once this opens, we get some really cool adaptive, experientail and downhill experiential articles and photos. 25,000,000 people a day are going to see that and all of a sudden, Nakusp is on the map.”
Local rider Kish Pedersen said, “I think that the trails are awesome. They are in our backyard so that is super convenient.” Inga Ivany has been mountain biking for twenty years and said, “It’s a great addition to Nakusp. A lot of local people who may be new to mountain biking getting back into it or families will enjoy the less extreme areas.”