White Salmon Project
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Aug. 23, 2009 - 2:17 pm
S&S Trails worked on two short projects in the Pacific Northwest while escaping the Texas summer heat. The first was a planned one that we learned of through our membership in the Professional Trail Builders Association, while the second was a spur-of-the-moment opportunity that arose due to our collegial relationship with IMBA.
August 15-16 we worked in a small town just across the Columbia River from Hood River, Oregon. A private landowner decided to buy his wife a mountain bike trail for her birthday and he contacted the PTBA, which then posted the job listing for its members to bid on. Most of our colleagues in the industry were busy with larger projects and we had already planned to be in the area visiting friends, so it worked out well for us to go build for a couple days on this private piece of land. Our friends Scott and Rita (former Wisconsin IMBA reps) helped us out, and we four were very productive over the weekend. It also helped that birthday-girl Jeanne and her husband Steve were hard workers and wanted to be involved with the process of designing and building sustainable trail on their land.
Video Time Lapse shot by Scott at FX4.net
The property was a nice mix of open rolling grassy fields and steeper forested slopes. Jeanne is an intermediate to advanced level mountain bike rider, and she wanted some technical features added to her trail to increase the challenge and provide an opportunity for skills progression. After scouting the property with her we devised a plan, ranked the tasks in order of priority, and got to work. Prior to our arrival in Oregon the construction plan did not include machinery and we had assumed that we’d only be able to complete about 200-500 feet of trail over the weekend using hand tools. When Steve and Jeanne learned how much more footage we could complete using a trail dozer they agreed to mechanized building, and through a friend of Scott and Rita’s we were able to rent a Ditch Witch and make a lot more progress.
At the end of the weekend, we all had built approximately 1600 feet of trail including two packed-earth tabletop jumps and another wood-framed jump with a 22” drop. We also flagged an additional 500+ feet of trail and cut open the corridor on a 300-foot section in the woods. Jeanne had asked about where to buy a McLeod and Pulaski so she could keep working on the trails after we left, and we supplied her with information on IMBA and links to local trail building resources and opportunities. Overall it was a great project; our hosts were very gracious and hard-working, our friends helped us out a lot, and (aside from the dust) the working conditions were very agreeable temperature-wise. We hope to be able to return next year to check on progress and visit again. We appreciated the work!
