Well, the weather took a turn this week, but because this is McCall, nobody was deterred. Our local trails, particularly Bear Basin, came alive with mountain bikers, hikers, and dogs layering up and getting after it.
As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. Ha. This could be the motto of our little town.
Personally, my week started with a dog lap around the basin—down Baby Bear, across the Grand Traverse, up to the gate, down Polar Express to Blue Ridge Parkway, back to Polar Express, and out to the car.
My daughter and I did this nontraditional, but dry, early-season lap so often the last two weeks, she became the Local Legend on Strava. Which is interesting, because I rode it as much as her. I think there's a possibility Strava is discriminating against me. Might have to lodge a complaint 😄.
The best part of lapping the same terrain regularly this time of year is you get a firsthand look at how quickly the snow is receding. At the start, we ran into a few small snow piles on Baby Bear, at the creek crossing on Grand Traverse and a few places throughout Blue Ridge Parkway.
It was shocking to see how quickly those piles receded. By the end of the week, we didn't have to dismount and, more interestingly, found ourselves giving each other space because the lead biker and the dogs kicked up enough dust to clog the nostrils.
It wasn't quite July-dry, but it was definitely unusual.
A couple days ago, we ran into a friend at the junction of Baby Bear, Sleepy Hollow, Westy, and Grand Traverse. After some chitchat, we shared our beta on Bear Basin network.
"If you haven't ridden Westy yet," she said, "you should. It's completely open. CIMBA cleaned it up, even shoveling some paths through a couple remaining snow banks."
Great news. After too many days on the same route, we were ready to start exploring other trails. So, the next day, we road Westy to the Grand Traverse and found that our friend was right. The trail was dry and clear—in great shape.
Flowers popped bright and yellow and beautiful. And riders were all over the network, hooting and hollering at the quality of the early-season riding.
Working our way back to the trailhead via Blue Ridge Parkway, we ran into a CIMBA member coming the other way with a chainsaw to clear the last of the fallen timber. We noticed the trails were raked and mostly clear of debris—again, a CIMBA-led initiative.
The bottom line? If you've been putting off jumping on your bike because of concern over the quality of the trails, you can cross that worry off your list. Thanks to CIMBA and their volunteers as well as riders who just anonymously help out without being asked, our trails are in great early-season form.
So, layer up. Grab the dog. And get after it.
See you out there!
