Never ridden Merritt before and am wondering where I can pick up a map of the trails. Might be up there next week!
Thanks
Info centers have em, theres one at the Kelowna/Vancouver/Kamloops connector, and one at the Bailey House near city hall. If not there, Nicola Valley Outdoors should have a few.
Buuut the map is from 2004 or 2005 or something, its pretty outdated. It does give you good directions to where most of the trails start though. What kind of trails are you planning on riding?
Mainly "all-mountain" whatever that is! Climbing is not an issue but would take a miss on the bit hit / gap trails.
You can pm me with trails if you like.
Thanks!!
Sept 6 Update-
Trails running smooth. Everything is dry and dusty. Just a heads up- I was clearing some debris off the quad trail between 98 and Chrispys yesterday (I use it on my dual sport moto to access my bike trails) when what looked to be a curious juevenile cougar snuck up behind me and got within 20 feet of me. He was between me and my moto but luckily I had just picked up my saw when I realized he was there. I fired it up and scared him off. Needless to say, it was a little un-nerving to have him get that close without me noticing. Keep your head up out there!!
The Merritt Mountain Bike Association made it's first "Facebook official" trail day!
When: Saturday, October 20, 2012
Where: Godey
What: Repairing or rebuilding 10 out of 15 bridges on the trail
Why: Godey is a fairly high traffic trail as many of you know. A lot of the trails from the top of Iron funnel down into it, and it makes for a nice finish for any ride.
If anyone is in town, whether riding or visiting the in-laws, this would be a great way to give back and make some connections. Good Karma too!
Unfortunately I won't be in Merritt but I will try and do my part by spreading the word.. I believe Sean O'Flaherty is behind this event, the new Facebook [HTML_REMOVED] Twitter pages, and also the revamped MMBA website. So give him some props if you see him!
Link to MMBA Facebook page.. Like it!!
Link to the Facebook event… Scope it!!
Sept 28th Update.
Still waiting on some sort of precipitation as we haven't had rain since early July up on iron. Some isolated showers rolled thru about a month ago but nothing really got wet. Trails in the area are top notch right now. I'm going to start working on the Burn as soon as it rains. Get it in shape before the fall/winter riding season starts. (In addition to the fact that there are no bad kitties up in windy canyon.) There will be some cougar sighting signs posted up on Iron in the next couple days. I believe a juvenile has moved in and is scoping out his new territory. I saw him once and have seen lots of signs of a big cat in the area. Ride with a buddy up there for the next little while. I haven't been back up there by myself since kitty snuck up on me. Damn kitty is nicely settled into my head. Hah
Chris, we've been having the same problem here in kelowna…too many cougars!
I started bringing my dogs with us now.
I got a new bike together finally, waiting for rain before I head your way.
transition bikes
Chris, we've been having the same problem here in kelowna…too many cougars!
I started bringing my dogs with us now.I got a new bike together finally, waiting for rain before I head your way.
Yah, I take my dog as much as I can but when I go up on the moto he stays home. Let me know when you're gonna head over. Maybe rain today?! We'll see….
Mega laps lately with lots of out of towners. Trails are fast and dusty as fuck. New blowdown (2) on Heroic Doses near the bottom. A few (5/6) on 99/Treats as well. Maybe rain this weekend. The new tech hip drop on mid revival claimed 2 guys this weekend. Might need to re-work the takeoff.
Chris
Anybody around this weekend that wants to ride Iron and/or the burn? I've hit both a bunch before, but not comfortable guiding myself. I'll bring up a couple industry guys with us as well. I have a vehicle that can retrieve, but can only carry 3 bikes. Let me know!
E-mail is best
mrocksmith AT gmail DOT com
Regulatin' since 1983
"Mount up"
Mike! Sorry for the late reply. I'm not riding this weekend. We're rebuilding all the bridges in Godey. Trails will be greasy!! Got a bunch of rain last night/this am. Put yer new rubber on if you have it!! Haha. I'll be down in the Godey canyon sat/sun. Pop by and say hi!
Chris
Snow down to the top of Fox Farm on Iron. Not too sure how much is up top but it looks pretty white up there. The lower elevation trails are prime right now tho.
Nov 1st Update.
Rode 98 into Godey tonight. Small snow patches up top but VERY good after the snow subsided. There was some new blowdown on the Bunker Berms section. We moved what we could but it was getting dark so we had to leave a few that will need a chainsaw anyways. The new bridges in Godey are working well. A couple were built with hikers in mind and are kind of rough ( cleated with 2x3). The others are smooth and sturdy. Trails were quite wet but very fun. Probably my last ride of the year as I have to go back to work this weekend. 7 months 6 days off. I had a good run. I will get on blowdown removal as soon as possible in the spring. There are already lots down that I haven't gotten around to clearing. It was a good year up there. Thanks to those that helped out with building/ maintenance thru the summer. I appreciate the help. With almost 10 separate trails to upkeep and a relatively small riding community here it is sometimes quite daunting.
Thanks,
Chris.
Wish I could have made it up this year. Couldn't make the annual Thanksgiving pilgrimmage. Next year will be a different story though.
As a casual user of the zone, I appreciate the work you put in Chris. Have a good winter, and hopefully see you next year.
Regulatin' since 1983
"Mount up"
how's iron mtn right now ? still snow up there ? might go this weekend if its clear
I'm out of town, back to work in Calgary as of yesterday. The trails were all time on Thursday evening. We didn't have any new snow over the weekend so I would assume its good to go. The ol goat(girlfriend) said it was creeping up to 20 today too. There is a fair bit of new blowdown on almost all trails but I would say its good to go. Tacky leaf covered trails! There was a little snow at the very top but nothing considerable. Have a good ride! See previous posts for locations of blowdown.
Chris.
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