After breakfast, trail building contractor Thomas Schoen gave us a sneak peek on what to expect in the coming days in terms of trail building, introduced what his work is about, various terms to know and useful tools for trail building. He showed us his own handmade specialized tool that is shaped like a pizza slice which gives him a greater edge. He also explained all phases of a trail building proposal from the first idea to proposing it to an government authority or community.
The plan of this day was to visit the Desous Mountain trail network. We met volunteer trail builder and bike shop owner Mark who has been building trails since many years. While hiking up to the top of Desous Mountain Mark and Thomas explained how the trails were built by professional builders keeping in mind factors like sustainability, water drainage, discourage motorized access, etc.
The trails provide a scenic view of the Fraser river and surroundings mountains. Later on we also met Skyler who is son of SIMPCW community councillor Tom and works for Thomas as trail builder. After we successfully reached the top we descended down a quite steep trail and were impressed by all the corners and technical trail features.
We ended our day with diner at Oliver Street restaurant before heading back to Chief Will-Yum campground.
