Fires destroy Western Cape trails
By now most of you would have heard about the terrible fires that have been burning in the Western Cape. It seems most of the fires have been extinguished however hundreds of kilometers of trails have been destroyed.
Albert posted the following update on the Jonkershoek area.
“Jonkershoek reopened today after the recent fires, so I went up there after work to do a short ride, partly to check out my knee and partly to see what damage the fire has caused. In short everything the upriver side of the dam has burnt down, both sides of the valley, from the river to the top of the mountain. This means that the pine forests around the following ST sections has burnt down/been badly damaged:
* The downhill section of the new XC single track.
* Elioti
* Upper and lower radiata
* Both sections of “river” single track
The “newish” section of ST on the north side, as well as the three Canary tracks are all untouched.”
He also went on to say.
“I have a feeling that the tracks will be destroyed in due course; I can’t see MTO leaving the dead trees standing for too long. Anyhow, by this time next year (if the trees are left alone) the trees will start falling over. In the short term, though, I believe that creating water drainage paths where erosion will take hold in the winter months will be a good idea. It is unbelievable to see the amount of water seepage now (after so many dry months) now that the Pines are dead/dying. Just indicates how much water they actually retain/use!”
Its clear that the damage to the trails is quite extensive and that a lot of work needs to be done to get the trails safe and ridable once again. Thanks to Albert for the pics and update on what is happening in the area. If any of you are getting together to rebuild or repair sections of the trail, let us know and we will gladly post up the info on the site. The more people we get involved in rebuilding the trails the faster the process will be.
