Squamish trail users can now revel in the newest addition to the area's legendary backcountry system: 22 kilometres of expertly built routes to challenge new and technical riders alike.
The Squamish Dirt Bike Association (SDBA) has been working on an expansion to the trail network between Valleycliffe and Garibaldi Highlands for years to both provide a broader network for motorized sports enthusiasts and generate a friendlier rapport with mountain bikers by minimizing user conflict.
"It's something that the dirt bike community really wanted to give back," said SDBA vice president Scott Ellis.
The idea for the project was born out of the dirt bikers' realization that as residential areas and mountain biking expanded, and with the possibility of the Garibaldi at Squamish resort encroaching on their former playground, they would find themselves with less and less terrain in which to enjoy their sport.
So the organization plotted out trails in unclaimed terrain utilizing deactivated logging roads to give dirt bikers access to the Lava Flow area, which has the Ring Creek Rip as it main connector.
"Basically, we're trying to give the dirt bike guys their own area," said Ellis.
Two years ago the SDBA approached the province with a request to build a network that would complement mountain bike trails.
In October 2009, the province granted the group permission.
"Our happy hard working recreation officer at the Ministry of Tourism Culture and the Arts, Norbert Greinacher, was absolutely instrumental in getting us all the permissions and the referrals that were required," said SDBA president Ed Alder.
"We also worked with SORCA [Squamish Off Road Cycling Association] on the referral quite extensively. That was good for building relationships there. We continue to do that on an ongoing basis, which is really helpful to keeping things moving things in the right direction for all the user groups."
Highly-acclaimed trail builder Ted Tempany and his Dream Wizards crew were enlisted to help plot out and build the system, and work began in earnest when the federal government came through with funding through the BC Off Road Motorcycle Association.
"It's absolutely awesome that, especially in these hard times, that first of all the federal government could find some funding for these types of project," said Alder.
The project was budgeted for $85,000, and in the end they received an additional $35,000 from another organization that had been unable to spend all its own federal grant monies.
There were also untold hundreds of volunteer hours put into the backbreaking work of blazing trails and crucial details like where to place signs to ensure maximum benefit.
"There's really only four accesses you can get to and from [Lava Flow]," said Alder.
"So we've put in four signs. It gives direction to the users, for instance 'Motorized is prohibited on The Plunge' and 'Please watch for all traffic at any time' - even there is a one way section of trail, don't expect not to see someone coming the other way, etc. etc."
The most popular addition to the trail system may well become a route paralleling The Plunge called the Save the Plunge.
"I was pretty shocked how many people carried their bike all the way, and said 'It's just too much for me.' So this is a trail that pretty much goes the same place, but much easier," said Ellis. "It's has been a really major hit with the mountain bike community."
The result is a thrill for trail users and builders alike, said Alder.
"It feels great."
The work isn't over yet, however. The group expects to receive another, more modest grant from the Ministry of Tourism to upgrade existing trails, and they've also become part of a new advocacy group that includes SORCA and the Canadian Pacific Trials Association called the Squamish Backcountry Trailusers Coalition (SBTC).
"We're a group that comes together and advocates as a group," said Alder. "It seems to work a lot better to have a bigger voice."
The SBTC wants to add the voice of all terrain vehicle drivers as well, and Alder encourages anyone interested to go to www.squamishdirtbikeassociation.com for information and contacts.
"As a user group in North America [all terrain vehicles] outnumber dirt bikers and mountain bikers and equestrians. It's very important to have a voice."
