Operation East Canyon Part II (Sept. 13, 2008)

Well, I managed to cleanup the East Canyon Trail pretty good all the way up to the 8 km mark last ride. This time I managed to continue my trail cleanup to about the 10 km range. There are however still several large logs past the 8 km mark that will have be power-sawed but I took care of the rest. During my toils of sawing and moving fallen logs I happened across a salamander under one rotten log I moved, I had been trying to find one during a summer camp trip at Rolley Lake to no avail and now when I find one when I have no one around.

After bush-wacking for a bit at the 9.5 km mark I got back onto the main trail again and was able to ride for a little while before I had to dismount and break out the saw again for three large trees that had fallen across the trail. I had been out in the woods now for 4+ hours and hadn't seen a single person or animal and was just dragging a cut tree off the trail when I turn around to see a golden retriever looking at me curiously. I dropped the tree and the dog ran off barking. Now coming down the trail were four women who had been up the trail camping ( one of them being the owner of the dog). They applauded me for my trail work and said that they had been up as far as the 11km where they had camped. I asked them how far the trail went and if they knew where it led to. At last my questions had been answered. They gave me a map of the trail and told me the trail led to Hector Ferguson Lake and it was a 14km trip to the lake. I thanked them for the map and they went on their way.

I decided to ditch my bike after cutting and moving one of the large trees and to hike up the trail and see how it looked. The trail up ahead looked promising but also needed a lot of work. I decided to leave it for another and got on the ol Devinci and headed back along the 10 km of trail to the parking lot.