trans canada trail

Most mountain bikers are aware of the riding scene in Rossland, British Columbia thanks to the Seven Summits trail (an IMBA Epic). Nelson has a reputation for big lines and big air. However, located right between the two, in the heart of the Kootenays, is Castlegar which has mostly been overlooked until now. Their tourist information office used to receive a few hundred requests for trail information every year. Those requests now number in the thousands.

We generally have a sense of what we will encounter at each of our visits. We meet the trail champions of the community, we explore some trail, we engage the volunteers and a new trail is created. Working with the Forgotten Trails Association wasn't much different except that our volunteers exceeded our expectations.

We had a busy week planned for us in Thunder Bay, Ontario so we got down to business as soon as we arrived in town. This was two visits rolled into one. We were working with the Black Sheep Cycling Club to make sense of their trail system and with the Trans Canada Trail to link a large portion of the trail through town.

We were thrilled to learn earlier this year that we would be heading to Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories to work with the Parks Canada staff at Wood Buffalo National Park. It's home to many endangered species with the only nesting site in the world for migratory whooping cranes and the world's largest free-roaming herd of wood buffalo. During our visit we were stopped by black bears and bison everyday and we spotted sandhill cranes, bald eagles and pelicans as well.