Pump Daddy Opening Postponed
July 20, 2011
Sodden lovers of trail:
We really don’t seem to be able to get a break with the weather this year. The snow stayed deep and low well into spring, which made opening trails and dealing with the associated drainage issues a real challenge. If a late to recede snow line wasn’t enough to make some of you consider taking up a different sport the recent trend of daytime highs rarely cracking the low teens mixed with heavy rains every few days likely is. The trail crew has done a very good job this spring, and those of us who haven’t taken up paddling or some other water-based pastime have been fortunate to be able to ride trails that for the most part have been in very good condition all things considered.
Unfortunately, none of this helps with the matter at hand. The buzz around town for the last few days has been that Pump Daddy is finally going to open. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day. We hate to be the bearers of horrendous news, but it is not to be. Today’s deluge leaves us with no choice but to postpone the opening. To shred the trail now will lead to the destruction of a lot of hard work, so we are opting to let the trail dry out for a few days before we open the gate. We are as unhappy about this as anyone, but try as we might we cannot control the weather.
Deluges aside, all is not lost. The trail is holding up really well to the wet, and is 99.9% ready to go. We have installed the required signage, built the required ride around and received the green light from the Province, so we are very close. We simply need a few days with no rain to dry out the ride around. This section was built quite recently so it got completely saturated during Sunday’s torrent. This ride around is a required element of the trail, so we cannot move forward until it is ready to ride.
We also need to be mindful of the Woodcreek Main Road. The Wetzin’kwa Community Forest and Dean Daly have been very supportive of our trails and have thus far been agreeable to riders using their road. To impact the road while it is wet would definitely jeopardize the relationship that we have built, and none of us can afford that! Pedal laps of Huckin’ are OK, but it’s pretty nice to have the option to shuttle when the legs aren’t feelin’ the spin.
We will be monitoring the trail very closely in the coming days, and as soon as it is ready we will pull the closed sign down and send out a notification via email and our website that the trail is open and ready to ride. We are still planning on having an opening event at some point, but for now we will monitor the trail and open it as soon as we can. Stay tuned, and thank you for your ongoing understanding.