As the year passes, freshet turns to mud turns to dry earth turns to snow, and every day there is the opportunity around Nakusp to get out into nature to watch the cycle of seasons. The Nakusp and Area Community Trails Society (Nakusp ACTS!) wants to help get you out into the fresh air.
Nakusp ACTS! has been hard at work since their formation in 2011, and now manage nine local trails (Kimbol Lake Trail, Kuskanax Mountain Trail, Cedar Grove Trail, Hot Springs Trail, Box Lake Trail, Wensley Creek Ski Trails (summer use) including the Jackrabbit Interpretive Trail, Saddle Mountain Lookout Trail and the Rails to Trails from Nakusp to Area K/H boundary, if you were curious).
Not only that, the Society is maintains the Hot Springs Valley cross-country ski trail and the rail bed along Summit Lake and is working to work with the Village to improve the wrap-around Nakusp trail. The area behind Summit Lake hadn’t seen a lot of maintenance in the last decade or so, said Wulf Mense, Vice Chair and leader of the Maintenance team.
“We are pleased to report that Society volunteers were able to do maintenance on all of our trails this summer,” announced the Society’s Jan. 2013 newsletter.
The Trails Society counts about 57 members in its roster, and the action-oriented group focuses heavily on the trails themselves, with few meetings held, Mense told the Arrow Lakes News. Members get together to plan or to organize teams of volunteers ready to hit the trail.
With the exception of the building of the new Kuskanax Mountain Trail and some heavy equipment operations, all of the work is done by volunteers who gather once or twice a week for a few hours to clear brush or fallen trees, or to build water drainage structures which help to prevent trail wash-outs.
“The Ministry (Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations) has been very supportive of our endeavours, both in material and professional support,” the newsletter stated. “They provided the materials for new foot bridges on the Hot Springs Trail and some new trail signage for our area.”
“Last week we had a meeting with the Ministry,” said Mense, who characterized the Society’s relationship with FLNRO as a positive and cooperative one.
Working with other local organizations and groups is something the Society would like to continue to do and expand in the future.
For example, Nakusp ACTS! help put up interpretive signage in collaboration with NACFOR on the Jackrabbit Trail at Wensley Creek.
Any signage needs to be up to date and correct, said Mense, in order to reflect the actual state of trails. In this effort, the Society has developed a stewardship program where people are encouraged to “adopt a trail” and hike it once or twice a summer and report its condition to the maintenance team.
For Mense and the Trails Society, the point of the whole exercise (and it is a lot of exercise) is to create possibilities for locals and tourists to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. In this spirit, Mense said he would like to promote the trails and get all the local groups working together. The Trails Society, ATV and snowmobile clubs have members in common, which is a good start.
Although maintenance and putting up signage makes up a large amount of the work done by volunteers, the Society has also taken on the ambitious project of connecting Mac’s Trail up with the end of Turner road.
The trail has been dubbed “The Nakusp Grind,” and for good reason. Rising sharply from the Hot Springs Road trailhead, the path includes a series of switchbacks that eventually follows a ridge along Kuskanax Mountain.
Last year, two full-time workers were hired for eight weeks and were able to get 65 per cent of the planned project done Volunteers have flagged the rest of the trail’s path and brushed areas along the way.
Mense pointed to a map of the project which showed plans for a loop hike at the Turner Road trailhead as well as another trail down to Gardner Creek in the future. For now, the goal is to complete the connection from Turner Rd. to Mac’s Trail.
Education is also key to making and maintaining trails in more ways than one, according to Mense. Some trails are too fragile to support motorized activity, especially in the alpine, whereas others are perfect for all kinds of activity. Even so, education and signage on multi-use trails for the sake of everyone’s safety are a good idea, said Mense.
Getting younger folks into the outdoors is also something the Trails Society would like to be more involved in, either through class hikes or getting students involved in building and maintaining trails.
The world outside your door is a big place, and there is always room for one more, so the Trails Society encourage anyone interested to contact them or pick up a membership form at Little Mountain Outdoor Gear or Meritxell Books.
