Whatcom volunteers drain water, improve corners, remove obstacles from Radical Dragon
It was cold and wet Saturday morning, but dozens of people were ready to go out in the forest and start building trails. These people are volunteers, and they are the people who keep the mountain bike trails at Galbraith mountain maintained, and on Jan. 7, roughly 30 of these volunteers met up to repair and clean the Radical Dragon trail.
Puddles were filled in or drained, holes were covered and turns had larger walls built to make them safer and faster. Stumps, roots and other obstacles were removed. Dirt was carried up and down the trail in five-gallon buckets to build larger turns. Large rocks were moved up and down to add to jumps and create barriers on turns.
The volunteers, mountain bikers themselves, knew how they wanted the trails to be maintained. It was not uncommon to see them plan a ride down the trail, and see where they went, and figure out what needed to be fixed, removed or added.
“I like being around the forest and meeting like-minded people,” said volunteer Ben Hansford. “It’s also nice to create something and you ride it and go ‘oh that was sick, it works, I am not dead.’ It is a good feeling. It is also nice to make some trails that are a little more accessible to people.”
Volunteering is optional for members of the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition, the non-profit organization that promotes trail access in Whatcom County. The trail maintenance day was organized by James Pulse, the lead trail building instructor for the coalition.
“It’s more common to do trail maintenance during the winter time. There is a lot more moisture, and when there is more moisture, we have to be more conscious of where it is going, and making sure the trails are sustainable.” Pulse said. “So we can see where that water is flowing and be able to go through and get drains all taken care of.”
The coalition provided shovels, rakes and other tools. Pulse walked up and down the trail with his dog, instructing the volunteers and finding spots that needed improvement.
Volunteers were spread out across the trail, creating a line of workers who knew that improving the trail helped their community. Alex Juhn was volunteering to maintain a trail for the first time, after biking on Galbraith for about three years. He figured that with the rainy weather, there wouldn’t be a lot of volunteers to help with the trail, so he was pleasantly surprised to see the large turnout.
“It is good to see all these guys out here, everyone is really involved and really cares and that is what you get when you have a really good mountain biking community, and that is what makes this place really stand out, it is what makes it special.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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