Hikers and bikers in Fernie may notice a few new changes to the trails this summer.
Grand Opening of Trail Dogs
Fernie Trails Alliance (FTA) celebrated the grand opening of a fully completed mountain bike path a few kilometres east of town above Coal Creek Rd. on July 10.
A blue-rated downhill route called Trail Dogs was finished this year, connecting with the previously completed green-rated Up Dog. The circuit takes riders up the mountain and down again in a loop.
FTA executive director Melanie Wrigglesworth said that having both trails allows riders to access the hills above Coal Creek Rd. by bike rather than having to drive up the mountain to ride them.
"Sometimes they close this road because of logging so we wanted to still let people have access even if the roads were closed," she explained.
Trail Dogs is a flowy machine-built track with plenty of berms and dirt jumps, and a group of riders tested it out at the event for the first time.
"It's a nice smooth uphill, so it's not too hard. It's accessible for younger kids too," said rider Vicky Proulx.
She added that it took her family about three minutes to ride from top to bottom on Trail Dogs.
The trails were machine built by Kimberley company Lifetime Outdoor. Inc, and FTA got $85,000 of funding from Columbia Basin Trust and the Resort Municipality Initiative to have Up Dog and Trail Dogs completed.
Wrigglesworth said the next project will extend the adjacent black-rated Contra all the way to the top of the mountain.
Upgrades to Montane Trails
The addition of a new picnic and rest area, and trail signage was completed at the Montane trailhead last week.
The signage, installed by Parastone and Tourism Fernie, provides information on bear awareness and trail etiquette. Parastone property manager Wendy Howse said they tend to change up their information every year, and put new signage up for each season.
This follows the extension and enhancement of nearly four kilometers of Montane trails, to make them more accessible for people of all abilities and to better withstand heavy rain. An open pit toilet was also installed in Montane Park.
"We did some work to rehabilitate the Easy Beaver trail from the atmospheric river we had a few years ago. We did some resurfacing and put in new culverts and fixed the damaged areas," said Howse.
Parastone donated $40,888.00 in kind for these upgrades, and got $60,000 from Columbia Basin Trust, $1,000 from Fernie Gravel Grind and $430 from TransRockies Race Series.
Completion of the Coal Creek Camping & RV campground is on the horizon, with opening scheduled for next summer. The site backs onto Montane Farm, just off Coal Creek Rd.
Howse said the campground will have roughly 90 fully-serviced sites with RV access. Parastone and Coal Creek Heritage Society have been working on building a public-access trail that will circle around the campground and lead to Coal Creek.
Howse said Coal Creek Heritage Society is volunteer run and all donations go towards the protection and upkeep of the Coal Creek area.
