Boy Scouts, MCC, IMBA, Forest Service team up on North Shore trail building

Beginning Saturday, June 18th and finishing with a banquet and ceremony this last Saturday, June 25th, two hundred "Order of the Arrow" Boy Scouts from a five-state region, helped USFS, Minnesota Conservation Corps, and International Mountain Biking Association teams build trails in the Tofte Sugarbush and Grand Marais Pincushion trail systems. In total, sixteen miles of "single-track" trails meant primarily for mountain biking were begun by the scouts and will be finished by the Forest Service, volunteers, as well as the Conservation Corps. (Read our original report: Cook County Single-track 2011)

Spiffy Subaru/IMBA vehicles come to town.

Saturday saw the arrival of the IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) officials, experts at mountain bike trail planning and building in ecologically-sensitive areas. Headed up by regional rep Hansi Johnson (See his pages here and his blog entry on the Cook County project here.), they held a one-day seminar on trail building at our Grand Marais Recreation Park hall attended by SNOC/Velomarais, CMM, Scouts, and the USFS. (See their site: http://www.imba.com/tcc/host-toolkit/TBS)

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IMBA's Morgan Lammele gives a lecture on trail building.

As SNOC/Velomarais' Mark Spinler synopsized, trails should not become channels for rain runoff. Soil should be removed down to mineral soil in order to avoid compaction, as humus tends to sag inward after use, forming erosion- and muck-prone water troughs. Optimally, runoff should cross a trail and never follow it. Additionally, in areas that are boggy or often seepage, wooden bridges and planks should be built.

Morgan giving last-minute tips.

On-site IMBA instruction. 

USFSers Cory Mensen and Tom Yankovick after a hard day's work on the Pincushion trails. Cory and Tom helped supervise and plan much of the trail-building effort.

Order of the Arrow leaders Kurt Fuhrman and Daniel Schmit debrief the troops during a dry spell on Thursday.

Mark talks with Gabriel Wanderley, a Brazilian mountain bike enthusiast from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Gabriel had heard of the IMBA/Cook County project and came especially to help and learn. He tells us he and friends have also built trails in his home region. He is currently an engineering student.

Scouts describe the size and number of the black and deer flies and mosquitoes.

Tofte USFSer Cory Berg discusses the Pincushion single-track with Mark. Cory is an avid mountain biker himself.

Once the work started, the Scouts - some two-hundred strong - did the lion's share of the hacking, digging, and clearing. Again, these Scouts were all members of the BSA's Order of the Arrow, a voluntary service wing of the Scouts for older boys and young men. (See their ArrowPower2011 page.) We visited their jamboree-style "tent city" on the CCHS soccer field and had to admire their fortitude, as it rained for the better part of the week, the sun and warmer temps coming only on Friday and Saturday.

Back at the SNOC/Velomarais shop we all marveled at this wonderful project. In times of very loud public budget noises, a bunch of people, money and an uncommonly great amount of good karma came together to do something really great for North Shore cycling!