Posted by: tashi
Or mountain bikers on hiking trails in the 90’s.
Or even fast cyclists on MUP’s anywhere crowded.
Interesting you bring up hiking trails. 25 years ago we use to do St. Georges and Per Gynt as rideable trails; never gave it a thought (although our numbers were less then too). For many of us hiking up St. Georges was the best alternative to getting to the road (since going around to Mtn Hwy was long winded and pointless kms). Might of seen the odd hiker on St Georges but I don't recall seeing many hikers at all, even on the Baden Powell. I only started to notice non-bike traffic increase really when biking became more popular and the trails became more known. I have noticed a correlation between smooth trails and more hiker/runner use on bike trails as a result. I could easily argue that bikers on hiking trails was the best thing to happen to hikers since without us the network would of stayed small and hardly used. I have never, even on the Baden Powell, other than district work, seen a hiking group do any trail work of any type. Go up St. Georges and Per Gynt today and compare.
