The Burns Lake Mountain Biking Association (BLMBA) is gearing up for its annual Big Pig Mountain Biking Festival, which will be held this weekend.
The successful festival, now in its eleventh edition, has attracted adventure-seekers from as far as the Yukon and California.
“As always we have received incredible support from numerous local businesses and governments for that,” said BLMBA president Guy Epkens-Shaffer.
In addition to this major event, BLMBA members have been busy with a number of projects.
READ MORE: Mountain biking puts Burns Lake on the map
The hard-working local group is in the second year of a three-year partnership with the Nechako Kitamaat Development Fund society to build a five-kilometre upper intermediate downhill trail named Hogzilla. The new trail, which will run from the top of Boer Mountain to Kager Lake, includes a 2200-square-foot boardwalk near the drive-in campsites.
Epkens-Shaffer said this new trail will help attract more mountain biking tourism while adding to the skills of the local and regional riding community.
The group is also in the final year of a two-year project in partnership with the Province of B.C. to build an eight-kilometre connecting trail on the back side of Boer Mountain - between Razorback and Pigasus. This project includes a refurbishment of the existing trail around Star Lake, which Epkens-Shaffer says it’s overgrown.
In addition, BLMBA has partnered with a number of local businesses - Burnt Bikes, Tree to Tree Contracting, Free Growing Forestry, Bulkley Valley Credit Union - and Chinook Community Forest to purchase a Rokon two-wheel drive off-road motorcycle. Epkens-Shaffer says the new vehicle will help BLMBA access remote trail areas for maintenance and safety purposes.
READ MORE: About 3000 hours of volunteer work to maintain Boer Mountain in 2017
In addition, BLMBA is working on a couple of smaller projects. These include building a set of three entrance options to the Pierce Hofer Memorial Wall Ride, and a complete overhaul of the Wee Piggy skills area just north of the Kager Lake parking lot.
Furthermore, this spring the Burns Lake Community Forest helped BLMBA clear trails of a significant accumulation of blowdown while capturing some marketable timber. Epkens-Shaffer says this has reduced BLMBA’s workload, as well as mitigated some of the fire hazard at Boer Mountain. He hopes this operation will be expanded in the future to address other areas of the recreation site.
READ MORE: Threat of fire ‘imminent’ at Boer Mountain site
“Beyond that we are planning a beginner/intermediate uptrack [trail] from Kager [Lake] to the top of Boer [Mountain],” said Epkens-Shaffer, adding that this plan is still in the nascent stages.
“Our building commitments are fairly heavy for this year and next, so we have not applied to any agencies for funding.”
For more information about the Big Pig Mountain Biking Festival, visit http://www.burnslaketrails.ca/index.php/big-pig-bike-festival.
@flavio_nienow
flavionienow@gmail.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.