Installing new wooden signs Lower Hot Springs Trailhead Aug 14.26
Ember A, a new member, hiker, volunteer and Nakusp resident (please welcome her), and Bob T installed some of Jamie D’s handcrafted wooden classic trail signs at the Hot Springs Trail lower Trail Head. Thanks to Jamie’s signs, new structural screws, metal post caps, on-site post painting, and some careful amateur carpentry work, Ember and Bob thought the end result was a pro job fitting for a national park. A dozen or so new signs remain to be installed.
Cedar Grove Clearing Sunday July 19
Bob T and Corinne T cleared and brushed the Cedar Grove trail and last few hundred meters of access road. The trail access is open again although the caribou birthing pen is still occupied and care needs to exercised when passing it. Please follow the posted procedures. The trail was in good shape after the winter and spring with no big falls and light brushing required. We enjoyed a quiet moment on one of the benches by the huge cedars in the grove. Thanks Corinne, my dear wife, for the help. It was a pleasant outing.
Kuskanax Mt North & South and Turner FSR Clearing
Jamie D, Frank K and Bob T spent a great day on Saturday July 18 prying or pulling boulders and clearing trees off the upper Turner FSR on the way to the Kuskanax Mountain N Trailhead, and clearing the north and south trails up and over the summit down to the Vickie’s View KMT trailhead. The FSR clearing was the hard part. The trails were in surprisingly good shape with only a handful or smaller falls. We enjoyed lunch at he summit while visiting with a small group of ultra marathoners who were training for upcoming competitions. Bob drove back down rough Turner Road to pick up Frank and Jamie on the other side. While waiting he did some clearing on the Vickie View road, which is getting very rough.
Good work team!
Box Lake Nature Interpretive Trail
The Forest Succession interpretive signs and plaques are now installed at Box Lake along the short nature trail at the East Rec Site Campground. The large sign boards describe forest succession in a previously logged forest, and how wetlands are formed. 8 smaller plaques highlight the trees, shrubs, mosses and other plants that grow over time.
Thanks to Barb C and Frances S for conceiving, planning and designing the pro project and Skye C for the graphic design. Also a big thanks to the install team of Gavin A, Rachel M and Ethan Z from RSTBC, and Bob T for digging all the holes, building the excellent big sign boards (Gavin), staining the posts, and grooming the trail. It was a great team effort.
visit the interpretive trail with friends and family!
Nakusp Garden Tour
We have just added a new “trail” to our inventory, a Garden Tour of the beautiful Nakusp downtown gardens planted and lovingly tended by Ray Nikkel. The Nakusp Garden Tour webpage on our site includes a brief description of the gardens, a map with locations, and a bio of Ray himself. Thanks to Gail J and Graham F for interviewing Ray, visiting the gardens and creating the web page copy.
North Arrow & Slocan Lakes Outdoor Brochure
An ad hoc group of trail and outdoor activity Societies from the north Arrow and Slocan Lake areas got together this past winter and spring to design and publish a new Outdoor Activity brochure for our region. It includes a list of managed hiking, biking, x-country skiing trails and paddling locations with information available to visitors and residents to help them locate and choose their activity. A QR code (nakusptrails.ca) will take you to a matched website location finder with various search tools and web links to related sites or documents. This is a “one-stop” source for all the non-motorized outdoor opportunities in our region.
Thanks to local government for supporting the design and printing of this brochure, including RDCK Areas H & K, the Villages of New Denver and Nakusp, and the Arrow Slocan Tourism Association.
A big shout-out to Shauna Fiddler of Design Farm in Slocan City for leading the design work, Beth Macleod and True North Forestry for mapping and quality control support, the Society reps who joined the design team including Gerald W, Richard A, and Tracy F of the Nakusp Chamber (who got the project going in the first place by bugging Bob T for a new printed trails brochure until he finally did something), and the Nakusp & Area Community Trails Society for their ongoing support, including hosting the project web location finder. And a final thanks to me (Bob T) for making sure it got done!
Brochures are available at the Nakusp and New Denver tourist information offices, and various hospitality or tourism businesses in the area.
Shannon Lake Group Hike July 12.26
9 NACTS Members joined Simone H and Graham F for a total of 11 happy hikers on the Shannon Lake Trail this past Sunday, July 12.26. The weather was perfect and the trail clear. They look like they were having a good time, although there are no reports of swimming in the cold lake! It is a beautiful spot.
Saddle Mountain Clearing July 8
Graham F and Bob T spent a full and productive day on Wednesday July 8 clearing the Saddle Mountain FSR to the Upper Parking lot and the trail from there to the summit. Or at least to the last of the falls that down-coming hikers reported. Graham also hiked down the trail at the end of the day from the intersection with the upper parking lot spur to the Lower Trailhead. He reported as many as 50 falls in that section, which is a lot. We will come up with a plan for clearing that section, or if not, posting it as un-maintained. For the time being we highly recommend hikers start from the Upper Parking lot. The outhouses are also unmaintained for now so bring your own tissue and use the bush if you find them unappealing.
Kimbol Lake Upper Clearing July 2.26
Gavin A, Jamie D and Bob T cleared remaining falls on the upper part of the Kimbol Lake trail on Thursday, July 2nd. This was Gavin’s first day as a working volunteer for the Society and he did a great job. The first fall we tackled was a huge cedar about 4 km up the trail that laid across and along the trail creating a formidable obstacle. We learned a few lessons the hard way as Gavin put our small e-saw to the test, cutting a split and rotten section that was more than twice as deep as our 16” bar could handle. We got it done after multiple cuts and a bit of prying and chiseling to unstick the saw. Jamie did an equally excellent job of grooming the trail. It is good to go for the season.
Kimbol Lake Group Hike June 21.26
Seven hikers spent a lovely day in the woods climbing from the Nakusp Hot Springs to Kimbol Lake. The weather was perfect for a late spring outing. Some even went for a swim. Bob, Jamie and Ida continued along the east shore toward the trapper’s cabin to check out falls and were happy to discover the trail was clear on this section. Some falls remain to be cleared on the upper part of the trail from the Hot Springs.